Texas A&M University’s president will step down after facing criticism over his handling of turmoil over a children’s literature course that recognized more than two genders, the university’s Board of Regents announced Thursday.
President Mark Welsh’s last day will be Friday, the board said. The move comes after the university fired the lecturer of the course, Melissa McCoul, and removed two administrators over the controversy. The issue caught national attention after a student filmed herself arguing with McCoul, citing President Donald Trump, who has said his administration would push for the recognition of only two genders.
“President Welsh is a man of honor who has led Texas A&M with selfless dedication,” the university system’s chancellor, Glenn Hegar, said in a statement. He added, “At the same time, we agree that now is the right moment to make a change and to position Texas A&M for continued excellence in the years ahead.”
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The A&M Board of Regents said it would appoint an interim president “to ensure a seamless transition” and initiate a national search for a permanent president.
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The student’s video went viral on social media last week after it was posted by a state lawmaker. Republican politicians in Texas, including Gov. Greg Abbott, criticized the university and accused McCoul of “blatantly indoctrinating students in gender ideology.”
Welsh fired McCoul the next day and explained in a statement then that his decision was not “about academic freedom; it’s about academic responsibility.” He said that McCoul’s course had included “content that was inconsistent with the published course description,” adding, “If we allow different course content to be taught from what is advertised, we break trust with our students.”
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His move was met with a barrage of criticism. Some students and faculty said her termination was indeed a threat to academic freedom.
“This is about trying to tell faculty members not to teach certain topics,” Leonard Bright, a professor of public service and administration at Texas A&M, said Thursday. “The rules are clear — we are the experts in our classes, and we get to design our courses.”
After McCoul was terminated, her lawyer said that her constitutional rights had been violated and that she was appealing the decision.
Welsh was not immediately reachable for comment on his resignation on Thursday. A former Air Force officer, he became president of Texas A&M in 2023, after having served as interim president for five months. He served as chief of staff of the Air Force during the Obama administration and was later dean of the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M.
The fallout at Texas A&M, one of the largest public universities in the country, is the latest clash in an ongoing battle over academic freedom, politics and diversity that has played out on campuses nationwide in recent months.
Trump has threatened to cut billions of dollars in federal funding at many elite universities if they do not acquiesce to a litany of demands designed to reshape the culture of college campuses. Some faculty, students and college leaders have argued the administration’s asks would curtail academic freedom and violate the First Amendment.
In the Texas A&M student’s video, the student accuses McCoul of illegally teaching about “gender ideology.” The video shows McCoul talking about a “gender unicorn,” a tool used to explain the difference between gender identity and gender expression.
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“This very much goes against not only myself, but other people’s religious beliefs,” the student, who has not been identified, said in the video. “I’m not going to participate in this because it’s not legal.” McCoul responded, “What we are doing is not illegal.”
State Rep. Brian Harrison, the Republican lawmaker who posted the video, said he had been trying to get Welsh fired for months.
“We need a bold conservative who will take A&M, restore it to its pre-woke glory and focus on the fundamentals of education,” he said in an interview Thursday.
Harrison, who graduated from Texas A&M, has been pushing the Texas Legislature to pass laws that would eliminate LGBTQ+ programming and gender instruction at public universities. But none of those proposals have been successful.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.