Texas Scorecard by Valerie Muñoz July 21, 2023
Katherine Banks has overseen several DEI policies during her tenure, and she recently came under fire for the attempted hiring of a DEI-proponent as the university’s journalism director.Texas A&M President Katherine Banks has announced her immediate resignation following a public outcry against A&M’s attempted hiring of a DEI-proponent as the university’s new journalism director.
Texas Scorecard previously reported that Kathleen McElroy was hired as A&M’s new journalism director and was a proponent of DEI measures at UT Austin. McElroy expressed to NPR that journalists “can’t just give people a set of facts anymore. I think we know that and we have to tell our students that.”
Following Texas Scorecard’s coverage, Texas A&M began changing McElroy’s proposed contract, ultimately settling on a one-year deal as a professor without tenure, and a three-year appointment as the director of the journalism program, with emphasis that she could be terminated at any time.
McElroy did not accept the deal and spoke to the Texas Tribune about her decision to stay at UT Austin, where she is tenured.
In the article, A&M’s interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, José Luis Bermúdez, is mentioned speaking to McElroy over the phone warning he would not be able to “protect her” from being fired.
More:
https://texasscorecard.com/state/texas-am-president-resigns-after-public-outcry-over-dei/
