A videotaped encounter at Texas A&M posted by a Republican Texas lawmaker led to the dismissal of a professor who taught a children’s literature class. Two administrators in the College of Arts and Sciences were also removed from their positions.
The video does not show anyone’s face, but it captures audio of a student objecting to a professor teaching that there are more than two genders. The student says this conflicts with President Trump’s executive order and her religious beliefs, and the professor responds that she has a right to teach the lesson and the student has a right to leave.
Texas Rep. Brian Harrison, a Republican from Midlothian, posted the clips online calling for an investigation. After what The Texas Tribune reports was pressure from several GOP lawmakers, Gov. Greg Abbott called for the dismissal of the professor – and Texas A&M President Mark Welsh did just that. In addition, Texas A&M System regents ordered an audit of all courses.
Lily Kepner, who covers higher education for the Austin American-Statesman, said groups representing university professors have expressed frustration at what they see as an erosion of academic freedom in Texas.
“Activists who are looking at this say that there is undoubtedly a correlation between pressure put on by Governor Greg Abbott after Republican Representative Brian Harrison brought this to light because Governor Greg Abbott called publicly for the university president to fire this professor, and a few hours later the professor lost their job,” Kepner said. “But the university and their messaging has focused on course description, saying that the professor was teaching something that wasn’t described and how the course was advertised, and trying to downplay the content of the actual speech”
There is no law in Texas against teaching about diversity or LGBTQ or transgender history, Kepner said.
“Senate Bill 37 and Senate Bill 17 from the 2023 legislative session, both in their earliest versions, tried to get at LGBTQ and diverse studies teaching in some way, but were eventually watered down as it went through the legislative process,” she said. “However, this session, a law called HB 229 defines two genders strictly in the state.”
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Abbott wasn’t clear about which law the professor violated during class, and neither was Harrison, who shared the video of the incident.
“But the author of Senate Bill 17 and SB 37, Senator Brandon Creighton, has said that the ‘spirit of the law’ should be followed by universities, praising moves like the elimination of LGBTQ minors and the limitation of coursework,” Kepner said. “So we know that this is something lawmakers want.”
Kepner also pointed out that Texas conservative lawmakers have been laying the infrastructure for this for a while with the passage in 2023 of SB 18, which “weakens tenure at public universities and says that the institution’s president can fire a professor even with tenure for ‘good cause’ or conduct that has ‘moral turpitude,'” she said.
“So, they’ve been planting the seeds for this for a while.”
The Texas chapter of the American Association of University Professors is characterizing this as an issue of academic freedom.
“Academic freedom is a historic concept that says that professors should have freedom over what they teach because of their expertise,” Kepner said. “Today, unpopular speech might be gender identity or socialism, but in the past … it was maybe northern views or New Deal economics or slavery.
“So the argument with academic freedom that the AAUP is saying is that censorship is dangerous for a democracy, and these firings set a dangerous precedent for political interference in the classrooms.”
In addition to the incident at Texas A&M, Kepner said Texas State fired a professor this week who they accused of trying to incite political violence.
“A generous view would say that both of these situations have nuance, and certainly that’s what the universities are trying to focus on,” she said. “But if you look at it broadly as organizations like the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, PEN America, the AAUP, it’s again, what we are talking about of potential political interference in classrooms, because both of these terminations followed conservative pressure to get rid of these professors specifically.
“This is definitely something new that we’re seeing in Texas, at least in the modern age.”
