Texas A&M president resigning following backlash over video of gender identity discussion in classroom

Air Force’s retirement general, Mark Welsh, president of Texas A & M University, will resign on Friday in the wake of criticism on the fallout from the release earlier this month of a video that showed a student confronted with a teacher during the class program surrounding gender identity.

“President Welsh is a man of honor who led Texas A&M with altruistic dedication,” said Chancellor Glenn Hegar in a statement announcing the resignation. “We are grateful to its services and contributions. At the same time, we agree that it is now the right time to make a change and position Texas A&M for continuous excellence in the years to come.”

Welshman last week dismissed the professorlater identified with CBS News Texas like Melissa McCoul, in the midst of the political excess of the Texas legislators on video, and also downgraded two senior officials from the Texas A&M University – the College of Arts and Sciences Dean and the head of the English department.

In the video that captures the meeting – which circulated on the Internet – the student quotes decrees signed by President Trump and questions the legality of lessons in the children’s literature class.

“I am not entirely sure that it is legal to teach because according to our president, there are only two sexes and he said that he was going to say that the financing programs of icy agencies promote gender ideology”.

“If you are uncomfortable in this class, you have the right to leave”, another voice, supposed to be the teacher, replies after a brief back and forth.

The representative of the State of Texas, Brian Harrison, published the video on X on September 8 and called on the Trump administration to investigate the school and to fire the officials involved.

The Republican Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, pleaded for the dismissal of the professor in an article on social networks, writing that she acted “unlike the law of Texas”.

Harmeet Dhillon, who is the deputy prosecutor of civil rights to the Ministry of Justice, called the video “deeply concerning” and said that his division “would examine” the question.

Neither the student nor the professor can be visible in the video, who, according to Harrison, said that his office had received from a whistleblower. It is not clear when it was recorded.

A lawyer for McCoul told CBS News Texas that she had called on her dismissal. The lawyer also said that his client had taught the course for years and has never been said to change it.

When reached by CBS News, Texas A & M said that the student involved had chosen not to be identified publicly.

Mr. Trump signed a decree During his first day in power, proclaiming that “it is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, men and women. These sexes cannot be modified and are founded in a fundamental and indisputable reality.” The executive decree also prohibits federal subsidies from being used to promote gender ideology.

In a letter written to Abbott, Harrison allegedly alleged that the professor had taught that “childhood is the moment to find out how to be a boy, a girl, a man, a woman or another sex” and that “children and adolescents are supposed to be without sex, even if our culture values, idealizes and even eroticizes young people”.

In the midst of increasing political pressure, Welsh announced on September 9 of his decision to dismiss the professor and to demarcate the school officials involved, following a “full consideration of the facts,” he said in a statement.

Welsh said in this statement that he had learned about the content of the course during the summer, but the changes that were discussed with the professor were not discussed, and “the college continued to teach the content incompatible with the description of the course published for another course this fall”.

In the future, Welsh said, the university departments will undergo an audit process to ensure that the offers and descriptions of the prices correspond.

“It is not a question of academic freedom; it is academic responsibility,” said Welsh in his press release last week. “Our programs and study courses follow in -depth approval processes, and we must make sure that what we finally deliver to students is in accordance with what has been approved.”

The professor’s dismissal aroused criticism from certain education defenders.

“We are witnessing the death of academic freedom in Texas,” said Jonathan Friedman of Pen America, a defense group for literacy defenders, in a statement last week. “The dismissal of university leaders to appease politicians is excessive and stifles freedom of expression and an investigation open on campus.”

Welsh has been president of the school since 2023 following the resignation of Mr. Katherine Banks.