Texas A&M University swiftly fired a lecturer and removed two administrators after a student filmed herself arguing that a children’s literature course broke the law because the coursework recognized more than two genders.
The student cited President Trump, who has signed an executive order saying his administration would push for the recognition of only two genders. After the video taken by the student was posted on social media, Republican politicians in the state, including the governor, demanded quick action from the university, accusing the instructor of “blatantly indoctrinating students in gender ideology.”
The school’s moves were condemned by advocates of academic freedom, who say they represented a state that was veering into authoritarianism at a moment when the Trump administration was using the weight of the federal government to target speech it disfavors.
Mark Welsh, Texas A&M’s president, said he terminated the instructor and removed the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and head of the English department from their posts. He said the course content did not meet expectations and that the description of the course did not match its content.
“This isn’t about academic freedom; it’s about academic responsibility,” he said in a message Tuesday. “Our degree programs and courses go through extensive approval processes, and we must ensure that what we ultimately deliver to students is consistent with what was approved.”
He did not provide any detail in his statement about how the description did not match the course content, and a Texas A&M spokesman did not immediately respond to questions. Mr. Welsh also said the university would conduct an audit to ensure course content and descriptions matched.
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The post Texas Professor Fired After Accusations of Teaching ‘Gender Ideology’ appeared first on New York Times.
