Chair Tim Murphy warned faculty to stay empathetic to students in class discussions at the weekly Faculty Senate meeting on Sept. 16 after an incident at Texas A&M. University professor Melissa McCoul went viral due to a video showing disputes between her and a student over gender identity in children’s literature.
“These are difficult times for all of us … I also believe that the only way we’re going to get through this is as a community, by supporting each other,” Murphy said.
McCoul was fired on Sept. 9, a day after the incident. Following backlash from republican law makers on the handling of McCoul, Texas A&M President Mark A. Welsh III announced his official stepping down as university president on Sept. 17. Welsh received negative feedback from Gov. Dan Patrick and state Rep. Brian Harrison for defending the professor and not the student.
The student used President Donald Trump’s executive order, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” as well as her religion to object to the idea that there are more than two genders.
The head of the Texas A&M English department, Emily Johansen, and the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Mark Zoran, were removed from their positions for approving plans to teach material inconsistent with material outline in the course description.
Murphy reminded UI faculty that their co-workers are on the front lines of situations like these and asked senior faculty to be more supportive of junior colleagues.
Vice Provost Diane Kelly-Riley gave a presentation on deferred and spread pay, where she clarified the new pay system which changes the date on which faculty will be paid.
The Faculty Senate also reminded faculty of the first University Faculty meeting, which took place Wednesday, Sept. 17.
Scarlet Herway can be reached at [email protected].