Professor at Texas A&M Universityfired last yearA student who sparked controversy over a classroom video showing her objecting to a children’s literature lesson on gender identity sued her school on Wednesday, accusing it of violating her rights by bowing to political pressure to remove her.
Melissa McCoul is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English with over ten years of teaching experience. Republican lawmakers, including the governor.Greg AbbottShe called for her termination after seeing a video in which a student questioned whether a class discussion last July was legal under President Donald Trump’s executive order on gender issues.
The video caused an uproar on campus and prompted sharp criticism of university president Mark Welsh.Later he resignedbut gave no reason and did not mention the video in the resignation announcement.
The university upheld McCool’s termination despite two separate university groups finding that Texas A&M violated McCool’s due process rights and that there was no cause for terminating her employment.
“Today I did something unimaginable a year ago – I sued Texas A&M University to hold it accountable for violating my constitutional rights to free speech and due process. There is no satisfaction in doing so, only sadness,” McCool said in a statement. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Houston.
Texas A&M University System Vice Chancellor for Marketing and Communications Chris Bryan said Wednesday that school officials are aware of the lawsuit but have not yet reviewed it.
“As this lawsuit is pending, we will not comment further, but we intend to vigorously defend these claims,” Bryan said in a statement.
Named as defendants in the lawsuit include Welsh interim president Tommy Williams, Texas A&M University System Chancellor Glenn Hegar and the Texas A&M University System Board of Trustees.
After McCool was fired, Hegar ordered a review of the curriculum at all 12 schools in the system.
Less than a week after Texas A&M announced McCool’s lawsuitConcludes its Women’s and Gender Studies Programchanged the syllabus of hundreds of courses and canceled six courses asnew policyThis limits how professors can discuss certain race and gender topics.
Other university systems in Texas have also placed restrictions on classroom instruction or begun internal reviews of course offerings under new state laws.
In her lawsuit, McCool disputes accusations from Texas A&M officials that she failed to follow instructions to change course content to align with course catalog descriptions. McCool said the content of her course “is 100 percent consistent with the catalog description, course description.”
“The explanations for Dr. McCool’s dismissal are inconsistent and ridiculous because they are untrue. Dr. McCool was fired because of the so-called ‘freedom,’ ‘woke’ themes she explored in her courses,” the lawsuit states.
McCool describes teaching at Texas A&M as her “dream job.” She has been attending the university since 2017. In the lawsuit, she seeks reinstatement and monetary damages.
“Regardless of how I was treated, I still love this institution, my former colleagues, and the students of A&M. I hope this lawsuit will make the university think twice about how it treats others,” McCool said.
This story was originally published on wealth network