Red state university sued by ex-professor fired over gender identity lesson
Fired after gender identity lesson, professor sues Texas A&M, arguing her free speech rights were violated
Months after Texas A&M fired a professor over a gender identity lesson, she is suing the university, alleging administrators knowingly violated her free speech and due process rights to appease political critics.
In a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday in Houston, former A&M lecturer Melissa McCoul added new details to how her firing unfolded.
McCoul’s lawsuit says Gov. Greg Abbott’s chief of staff contacted then-university President Mark A. Welsh III to press for her termination and that Provost Alan Sams was told by his supervisors not to give her a required hearing beforehand.
McCoul, who had worked for the university since 2017, said in a statement that she would never have conceived of suing a year ago, describing teaching at A&M as her “dream job.”
“There’s no satisfaction in doing this, only sadness,” she said. “I had hoped to keep doing that work for many years to come. Despite how I was treated, I still love the institution, my former colleagues, and the students of A&M. I hope that this lawsuit will cause the University to think twice about treating others similarly.”
McCoul sued the Texas A&M University System, the nine regents, Chancellor Glenn Hegar, Welsh, interim President Tommy Williams and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs James Hallmark.
She is asking a judge to declare that she did not violate any law or university policy by teaching about gender identity and “was, instead, terminated for exercising her academic freedom guaranteed under the First Amendment.”
McCoul is also seeking reinstatement to her position and punitive damages, back pay and other restitution. She was on year two of a three-year contract when she was fired in September.
The firing came after state Rep. Brian Harrison, R-Midlothian, posted on X a video a student secretly recorded of McCoul teaching about gender identity in a summer children’s literature class. The student had confronted her, arguing the lesson violated President Donald Trump’s executive order.
There is no law against teaching about gender identity. In the lawsuit, McCoul said the children’s literature course was “not intended as an overview of books that educators or parents might read with or to children” but “as a lens through which various aspects of society are examined.”
In the months since the firing, A&M and other public universities in Texas have reviewed course offerings and, in some instances, cancelled courses or limited course content that could be seen as controversial.
A&M passed a policy prohibiting courses from “advocating race or gender ideology, or topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity” except in certain non-core or graduate courses that are reviewed, shown to serve a “necessary educational purpose” and approved in writing by a president at the system’s 12 campuses.
“Dr. McCoul’s firing was the canary in the coal mine for Texas A&M University,” Brian Evans, president of the American Association of University Professors Texas Conference, said in a statement. “They had a chance to stand up to the politicians seeking to meddle in Texas universities, and instead they caved.”
McCoul is a member of AAUP and the American Federation of Teachers, which are covering her legal fees.
Chris Bryan, A&M’s vice chancellor of marketing and communications, said the system is aware of the lawsuit but has not been served with a copy.
“As this is pending litigation, we will not comment further, but we intend to vigorously defend against the claims,” Bryan said.
Asked about the lawsuit’s reference to the role Abbott’s chief of staff played in McCoul’s firing, a spokesman for the governor’s office said the state’s universities should focus on delivering a high-quality education, not political agendas.
“Radical DEI and gender ideologies will not be forced on students by Texas higher education institutions,” press secretary Andrew Mahaleris said in a statement. “Governor Abbott expects our higher education campuses to continue to focus on developing our students into the best and brightest in the world.”
The Texas Tribune partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.
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This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.