A new Texas law allows the government to have a say in the core curriculum taught at colleges and universities. (Photo by Mark Felix/Getty Images)
A professor at Texas A&M University was fired this week for discussing gender identity in a children’s literature course. Two administrators were also stripped of their titles.
The actions came after a video of a student confronting a professor over discussing gender identity in a class went viral. The video sparked backlash from Republican lawmakers who demanded an investigation into the university’s coursework.
The student, who said that the professor was “breaking the president’s laws,” referenced an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in January that prevents using federal funds to discuss gender identity, and defines gender as male and female.
Mark A. Welsh III, the university’s president, attributed the removals to “misleading course descriptions” and “academic responsibility,” stating that the college’s department taught “content that was inconsistent with the published course description.”
The university announced that the professor had been fired Tuesday evening. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott called for the professor’s firing earlier in the day and celebrated in a social media post after it happened.
The Texas A&M System Board of Regents also announced that it asked the chancellor to “audit every course and ensure full compliance with applicable laws.”
Despite Abbott’s nod of approval for the decision, state Rep. Brian Harrison (R-Midlothian), didn’t consider Abbott’s stance aggressive enough, urging the university to fire Walsh as well. Harrison, a far right Texas A&M graduate who shared the video on social media, has a long history of opposing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and targeting LGBTQ+ equality efforts.
The interference from lawmakers comes after Senate Bill 37 took effect on Sept. 1. The bill—the first of its kind in the nation—allows the Texas government to have a say in the core curriculum taught at colleges and universities.
The bill creates a “board of regents” appointed by the governor that oversees the school’s operations, and creates committees to review curriculum. The committees are also able to reject any course that is seen as “ideologically charged” or doesn’t align with workforce demands.
“Neither Senate Bill 37 nor President Trump’s executive orders supersede the United States Constitution,” Zeph Capo, president of Texas AFT, said in a statement following the professor’s termination. “Nothing in law strips faculty of their right to due process or free speech.”
“Lawmakers and the governor himself using their considerable platforms to publicly call for the removal of a faculty member, a dean, a department chair, and the president of the university based on viral video clips is an abuse of their power and a level of histrionics that ought to concern us all, regardless of where we fall on the political spectrum,” Capo added. “This is not normal, and we cannot let this race to a moral panic become the new normal.”
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