A Texas A&M committee has determined that the university’s choice to dismiss a professor, following the removal of a student who objected to a children’s literature lesson on gender identity, was not warranted.
Earlier this year, a female student captured a video where she questioned Melissa McCoul, a senior lecturer in the English department, about the legality of teaching gender ideology. The student referenced former President Donald Trump’s executive orders, which sought to eliminate such topics from higher education.
The internal committee concluded that the university did not adhere to proper procedures and failed to demonstrate just cause for McCoul’s termination. This week, the committee unanimously agreed that “the summary dismissal of Dr. McCoul was not justified.”
In response, the university stated that interim President Tommy Williams has received the committee’s nonbinding recommendation and will make a decision after a thorough review.
McCoul’s attorney, Amanda Reichek, indicated that the matter might proceed to court, as the university seems intent on pursuing the issue further. She noted that the interim president is under similar political pressures.
McCoul’s lawyer, Amanda Reichek, said the dispute is likely to end up in court because the university appears to want to continue fighting, and the interim president is facing similar political pressure.
“Dr. McCoul asserts that the flimsy reasons proffered by A&M for her termination are a pretext for the University’s true motivation: capitulation to Governor Abbott’s demands,” Reichek said in a statement.
Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republicans had called for her firing after watching the video.
“Fire the professor who acted contrary to Texas law,” the governor wrote on X in September.
The video led to public criticism of university president Mark Welsh, who later resigned, although he did not offer a reason and never mentioned the video in his resignation announcement.
Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republicans had called for the professor’s firing after watching the video. (Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images)
State Rep. Brian Harrison said in a statement to Fox News Digital at the time that the “liberal president of Texas A&M must be fired and all DEI and LGBTQ indoctrination defunded.”
The opening of the video posted by Harrison on social media showed a slide titled “Gender Unicorn” that noted different gender identities and expressions.
Students in the class told The Texas Tribune that they were discussing a book called “Jude Saves the World,” which is about a middle school student who comes out as nonbinary. Several other books included in the course also touched on LGBTQ+ issues.
After a back-and-forth dispute about the legality of teaching the lessons on gender identity, McCoul asked the student to leave the class. Harrison also posted other recordings of the student’s meeting with Welsh that showed the then-university president defending McCoul’s instruction.
President Donald Trump signed executive orders seeking to root out instruction on gender identity in higher education. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Welsh said when McCoul was fired that he learned she had continued teaching content in a children’s literature course “that did not align with any reasonable expectation of standard curriculum for the course.” He also said the course content did not match its catalog descriptions.
“If we allow different course content to be taught from what is advertised, we let our students down. When it comes to our academic offerings, we must keep our word to our students and to the state of Texas,” he said in September, noting that leaders in the College of Arts and Sciences were found to have approved plans to continue teaching course content that was not consistent with the course’s published description.
Earlier this month, the Texas A&M Regents issued a new policy stating that no academic course “will advocate race or gender ideology, or topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity” unless approved in advance by a campus president.
Fox News Digital reached out to Texas A&M for comment.
