Texas A&M president resigns after turmoil over gender identity discussions in children's literature class
https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/18/texas-am-university-president-mark-welsh-resigns/Texas A&M President Mark A. Welsh III to step down after a week of turmoil over viral classroom video
Calls for Welsh’s ousting intensified over his handling of a student’s complaints about gender identity discussions in a children’s literature class.
By Jessica Priest
Sept. 18, 2025
Texas A&M University President Mark A. Welsh III will step down on Friday after more than a week of turmoil sparked by a viral video of a student confronting a professor over gender content in a children’s literature course, the Texas A&M University System announced Thursday.
The video, along with an audio recording of Welsh initially refusing to fire Professor Melissa McCoul, first circulated online on Sept. 8 after state Rep. Brian Harrison, R-Midlothian, shared it on the social media platform X.
Welsh fired McCoul a day later, but the move did not satisfy Harrison, or Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who did not think Welsh handled the situation properly.
“His ambivalence on the issue and his dismissal of the student’s concerns by immediately taking the side of the professor is unacceptable,” Patrick posted on X last week. “Most parents, students, and Aggie alumni expect Texas A&M to reflect the values of our state and our nation as well as A&M’s rich history. If President Welsh will not or cannot reflect those values, then change needs to happen.”
Welsh’s departure comes amid a broader campaign by Republican leaders to tighten control of curricula, hiring and speech at the state’s public universities.
In January, Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to fire Welsh after the university’s business school invited advanced PhD students and faculty to a conference designed to recruit Black, Hispanic and Indigenous graduate students. After the threat, Welsh said Texas A&M would pull out of the conference completely.
....
= new reply since forum marked as read
It’s amazing what the GOP can do — specifically, Leonard Leo or the Heritage Foundation or some other little big boys club — with a little strategy and a lot of money.
Mark Welsh - Texas A&M - professor included gender teachings
Liz McGill - Univ of Penn - Dec 2023 - congressional hearing about Gaza protests
Minouche Shafik - Columbia Univ - Aug 2024 - congressional hearing about Gaza protests
Katrina Armstrong - Columbia Univ - Mar 2025 - Trump $400 M funding freeze
Claudine Gay - Harvard - Jan 2024 - congressional hearing about Gaza protests, 1997 plagiarism
Michael Schill - Northwestern - Sep 2025 - Trump funding freeze
Jim Ryan - Univ of Virginia - June 2025 - DEI policies
Martha Saunders - Univ of West Florida - May 2025 - DeSantis / Heritage cronies on board
-> Note: new pres expected to make $800K to $1.2 M
I am sure this list could be far longer.
DeSantis deserves special mention. He puts his guys on the board of trustees, then they select some political crony. Florida Atlantic University got a new president this year, Adam Hasner, and the board raised the salary to “$1.0 to $1.5 M”. Adam Hasner was a GOP state representative then executive vice president for the private prison company, The Geo Group.
From GOP in state house to private prisons Geo Group to very well paid university president, Adam Hasner:
Kick in to the DU tip jar?
This week we're running a special pop-up mini fund drive. From Monday through Friday we're going ad-free for all registered members, and we're asking you to kick in to the DU tip jar to support the site and keep us financially healthy.
As a bonus, making a contribution will allow you to leave kudos for another DU member, and at the end of the week we'll recognize the DUers who you think make this community great.