Texas A&M Wrong to Fire Professor Over Gender Lesson, Panel Decides

 Texas A&M Wrong to Fire Professor Over Gender Lesson, Panel Decides

A Texas A&M University appeals panel has unanimously ruled that the school was “not right” to fire a lecturer in September who was accused of teaching a course that recognized more than two genders.

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The decision does not guarantee that the lecturer, Melissa McCall, will be rehired. However, it puts pressure on the university administration as it decides on a case that has placed Texas A&M at the center of a fierce national debate about what can be taught in the classroom.

McCall was teaching an English department course, “Literature for Children,” in College Station when a student filmed a scene from “Gender Unicorn,” which is used to explain the difference between gender expression and gender identity. A student in the class challenged the lesson, saying, "I'm not entirely sure it's legal to teach this because, according to our president, there are only two genders."

After the student continued, McCall replied, "You misunderstand that what I'm saying is illegal."

But a video of the conversation, posted online by a state lawmaker, sparked an uproar, especially among Republican leaders in Texas. The university soon fired McCall and demoted some administrators. Shortly after, Texas A&M announced that its president, Mark Welsh, would step down.

McCall appealed his dismissal to the university's Academic Freedom, Responsibility, and Tenure Committee, which selected eight faculty members to hear the case.

In a four-page decision, the committee chairman stated that the panel was "particularly concerned with the lack of a rigorous examination of the circumstances, details, specific events, and timeline surrounding Dr. McCall's immediate dismissal." The report also cited other misgivings about the university's handling of the matter and repeatedly stated that A&M "failed to demonstrate that there was good cause for Dr. McCall's immediate dismissal."

Texas A&M did not immediately respond to a request for comment. McCall's attorney, Amanda L. Raichek, said the fired instructor was "pleased" with the panel's recommendation.

If Texas A&M's administration does not accept the panel's findings, Raichek warned, "Dr. McCall intends to expeditiously pursue her First Amendment, due process, and breach of contract claims in court."

News of the hearing panel's decision on Tuesday came just a week after the university system's regents voted to tighten rules on what can be discussed in classrooms.

Under the new policy, which the regents unanimously approved, courses cannot support "topics related to race or gender ideology, or sexual orientation or gender identity" without the campus president's approval of the course and related materials. The regents also approved a policy stating that faculty members "may not teach material that deviates from the approved syllabus for the course."

The new policy angered many faculty members across the large system, which includes a dozen universities and a health sciences center, with a combined student population of approximately 165,000.

Sam Torn, chairman of the board's Academic and Student Affairs Committee, didn't directly mention the uproar surrounding McCall when pushing for the policy change, though he said it had recently become "clear" that some instructors were going beyond what administrators expected them to discuss in class.

"The curriculum is designed and approved based on the knowledge our students need to succeed in their chosen professions," Torn said last week. "Teaching any other material instead is unacceptable."