Texas A&M faculty panel report says professor's firing violated her academic freedom [View all]

A Texas A&M University faculty committee created in the wake of two high-profile controversies that raised concerns about political interference in academic and personnel decisions found that the recent firing of English professor Melissa McCoul violated her academic freedom.

McCoul was fired in September after a video of her discussing gender identity in class was recorded without her knowledge and circulated online, drawing intense political and social media criticism. The university said she was fired because the content of her course did not match its catalog description. McCoul is appealing her termination.

In a report dated Sept. 25 and obtained by The Texas Tribune on Monday, the Academic Freedom Council concluded McCoul’s dismissal appeared to be based on what she taught rather than any failure to follow the course catalog. The council compared the course catalog entry, course description and McCoul’s syllabus and said the materials were consistent with one another. The catalog describes the class broadly as covering “representative writers, genres, texts and movements.”

The council also found that former President Mark A. Welsh III did not follow university rules for dismissing her. Those rules require a department head to draft the written charges for dismissal, seek approval from the dean and give the faculty member a notice of intent to dismiss along with five business days to respond. Welsh said on Sept. 9 he directed McCoul’s removal “effective immediately.”

https://www.kbtx.com/2025/11/11/texas-am-faculty-panel-report-says-professors-firing-violated-her-academic-freedom/

***************************************************************************************************************************

I hope she sues, wins, and retires as a wealthy woman!!