Texas A&M University did not have good cause to fire Melissa McCoul, an English professor thrust into the spotlight after a video of her discussing gender identity circulated online and drew political backlash, a faculty committee unanimously found in a new report.
The university fired McCoul after a student secretly recorded her in a summer class teaching that there are more than two genders. The video was posted to X by state Rep. Brian Harrison, R-Midlothian, an Aggie who has used his social media to pressure universities to remove course content he finds offensive.
Texas A&M did not dismiss her until after Harrison’s post in September went viral. It said it did not fire her for teaching there are more than two genders, but for failing to change her course content to align with the catalog description. There is no state or federal law prohibiting instruction on gender identity in college classes. She appealed the termination through the university’s Committee on Academic Freedom, Tenure and Responsibility.
An eight-member panel from the committee held a full-day hearing on Nov. 3 and issued its findings to Interim President Tommy Williams on Nov. 18. Williams can accept the finding and reinstate McCoul or reject it and uphold her termination.
The committee reviewed all three reasons Texas A&M gave for firing McCoul — that she failed to perform her duties, violated policies and acted unprofessionally — and unanimously rejected each one. It also found the university failed to investigate, did not follow its own policies and never proved the allegations used to justify her dismissal.
“The university did not provide any documentary evidence that it conducted an investigation, nor did it provide compelling testimony to explain the decision to forgo due process,” the report said, adding that the lack of review “caused considerable confusion in the president’s office and the TAMU administration.”
