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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsVideo of clash over gender-identity content in Texas A&M children's lit class leads to firings
https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/08/texas-am-video-professor-student-gender-identity-content/Video of clash over gender-identity content in Texas A&M childrens lit class leads to firings
After the video fueled outrage, two college leaders were removed from their administrative roles for approving plans to teach content inconsistent with the courses published description.
By Jessica Priest
Sept. 8, 2025
Facing growing political pressure, Texas A&M University President Mark A. Welsh III announced Monday evening that the dean and department head overseeing a childrens literature course at the center of a viral recording were going to be removed, saying they approved plans to teach material inconsistent with the published course description.
The announcement came after a video circulated online Monday showing a student confronting a professor over LGBTQ-related content in the class, sparking backlash from Republican lawmakers and calls for investigations, a response from the U.S. Department of Justice, and a statement from the Texas A&M System chancellor pledging to discipline the professor.
Our students use the published information in the course catalog to make important decisions about the courses they take in pursuit of their degrees, Welsh said in a statement posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, late Monday. If we allow different course content to be taught from what is advertised, we let our students down. When it comes to our academic offerings, we must keep our word to our students and to the state of Texas."
Welshs announcement marks a sharp turn from his comments captured in one of the clips circulated Monday, in which he told a student upset about the content that firing the professor was not happening. His statement follows mounting political pressure from Republican lawmakers, including Texas Rep. Brian Harrison, R-Midlothian, who posted the clips online and called on state and federal officials to investigate.
Also Monday night, Texas A&M System Chancellor Glenn Hegar said he would work with the Board of Regents to discipline a professor after the video drew national attention.
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TommyT139
(1,920 posts)Emphasis added by me.
The video, which does not show anyones face, captures audio of a student objecting to a professor teaching that there are more than two genders. The student says this conflicts with President Donald J. Trumps executive order and her religious beliefs, and the professor responds she has a right to teach the lesson and the student has a right to leave. It is unclear when the video was shot, and Texas A&M officials have not identified the student or the professor involved.
walkingman
(9,851 posts)to be indoctrinated with Christian beliefs? What about those that are Agnostic or Muslim or Hindu....this is a backwards ass state run by backwards ass people.
TommyT139
(1,920 posts)Believing that there are only two genders is not a Christian belief...at least according to the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ, Lutherans, Methodists, and other mainline Protestant churches and parishes, as well as smaller branches of the Catholic Church. They welcome trans people into the life of the Church in varying ways, up to and including health insurance coverage for trans employees, ordination, and, in the case of the Episcopal Church, explicitly stating that transgender people can be consecrated as bishops.
walkingman
(9,851 posts)is breaking up over the gender issue....maybe it's a Tejas thing?
TommyT139
(1,920 posts)... that's often cover for discomfort around same sex marriage. (Not always, but rooted in similar theological grounds.)
The Methodists have had a really painful split, partly (in my opinion - raised Methodist, clergy in my family, now Episcopalian) from there being such a freedom to experience God and the Holy Spirit however one did, at least in the core of how the Wesleys preached what became the original Methodist message. But the growth of the denomination in the US branched into more fundamentalist and literal interpretations in some places, and deep commitment to social justice, changing with the times, in other places. In a way, it was surprising that the Methodists didn't split earlier...but the decentralized structure of church polity likely facilitated that.
Anyway -- not just a Texas thing, if that's what you meant by Tejas -- although influenced by similar social forces that have driven other splits in the last few decades.
(If someone has a closer view of all this, please chime in to amend or correct.)
newdeal2
(4,132 posts)If they cannot handle being exposed to different ideas then they should not be in college.
Conservatives are the true snowflakes and cancel culture.