BY: DM
Published 29 seconds ago
Texas A&M University’s president has removed a college dean from his post and fired a senior lecturer after a viral classroom video showed a student accusing the instructor of illegally teaching “gender ideology.” The video sparked outrage among conservative lawmakers and prompted university leadership to take action. However, advocates and the professor’s attorney argue that she did nothing wrong.
Texas A&M University says the course content was not approved.
The incident unfolded during a summer children’s literature class. In a cellphone video, a student confronted the instructor, Melissa McCoul, objecting to a lesson that acknowledged more than two genders. The student claimed the material was “not legal” under President Donald Trump’s executive order, which recognized only male and female. She also argued that the lesson offended her religious beliefs. McCoul defended her curriculum. She told the student, “What we are doing is not illegal… If you are uncomfortable in this class, you do have the right to leave.” After a tense exchange, McCoul asked the student to leave the class for disrupting the lesson.
State Rep. Brian Harrison — a Texas A&M alumnus — posted the video on X, which quickly went viral. Harrison alleged the student had been “kicked out” for resisting “transgender indoctrination.” He publicly pressured Texas A&M to act, tweeting, “I’m referring @TAMU to the Trump Administration for investigation… and asking Gov @GregAbbott_TX to fire the A&M officials involved and to instruct his Regents at all public universities to immediately end all DEI and LGBTQ indoctrination.”
Texas A&M President Mark A. Welsh III at first appeared to defend his faculty. In an audio clip Harrison shared, Welsh told the irate student that firing the professor was “not happening,” according to Inside Higher Ed. However, by the evening of Sept. 8, Welsh reversed course. He announced he had removed two officials – Mark Zoran, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and Emily Johansen, head of the English Department. – from their administrative roles for approving course content “not consistent with the course’s published description.”
Will Professor Melissa McCoul Take Legal Action?
On Sept. 9, President Welsh also confirmed that Senior Lecturer Melissa McCoul had been terminated. In a campus-wide message, Welsh explained that the decision was about “academic responsibility” rather than freedom. “This isn’t about academic freedom; it’s about academic responsibility,” Welsh said in a press release. “Our degree programs and courses go through extensive approval processes, and we must ensure that what we ultimately deliver to students is consistent with what was approved.”
The politically charged ouster of academic staff at one of Texas’s largest universities has sparked backlash from higher education professionals. The Texas chapter of the American Association of University Professors said it was “deeply concerned” and reminded the administration that instructors have a right to teach their subject “free from government interference.”
Meanwhile, McCoul is pushing back. The veteran instructor, who taught the course for over a decade without incident, insists she did nothing wrong. According to the Texas Tribune, she is disputing the stated cause of her termination and appealing the decision internally. Her attorney, Amanda Reichek, argues that McCoul’s curriculum matched the official course description and that the university never instructed her to change the content.
Do you think Texas A&M crossed the line by firing faculty over this video? Comment below!
