The president of the Texas A&M University goes off after criticizing a video in the class that showed that a student objected to a child literature lesson about gender, which led to the firing of the professor.
The resignation of school president Mark A. Welsh III was announced on Thursday by Texas A&M University System Chancellor Glenn Hegar, who said it was “the right time for change” at one of the largest universities in the country.
Hegar did not mention the video in a statement. But the departure of Welsh comes after the video has stabbed his campus and criticized him by some Republican legislators, including the Lieutenant Governor of the State.
“Together we believe that this transition is needed to ensure that Texas A&M is well positioned for the future, a future that requires daring leadership, continuous innovation and a relentless dedication to the core values of this university to the challenges we are confronted with,” Hegar said.
The resignation of Welsh will come into effect on Friday, according to the school. The university system did not immediately respond to an E -mail from the Associated Press to request a copy of his letter of resignation.
The university did not immediately respond to an e -mail to ask for Welsh comments.
The decision comes a little more than a week after Welsh announced that he had instructed the campus provost to dismiss Melissa McCoul, a senior teacher in the English department with more than a decade of educational experience, after political pressure from Republican legislators, including Gov. Greg Abbott, who had summoned her termination.
Welsh had said that she was fired after he heard that she had continued to teach the content of a children's literature in a children's literature course “that did not match a reasonable expectation of the standard curriculum for the course.” He also said that the course content did not match the descriptions of the catalog.
McCoul's lawyer, Amanda Reichek, had pushed back his claims and said in a statement that McCoul's “Course content was completely consistent with the catalog and course description, and she never was instructed to change her course content in any way, form or form.”
Welsh had also commissioned the removal of the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and the head of the English department from their administrative functions, while Hegar ordered an audit of courses at all 12 schools in the system.
The actions of Texas A&M were criticized by faculties and writers groups.
Republican Lt. Gov. Then Patrick had destroyed Welsh and his handling of the instructor.
“His ambivalence about the issue and his resignation of the student's concern by immediately choosing the side of the professor is unacceptable,” Patrick posted on X last week.
Hegar described Welsh as tireless and selfless work during his presidential term of office, which started in 2023.
Welsh previously worked as a dean of the university and public service after his retirement of the US Air Force, according to the website of the school.
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