Huzzah to my fellow former students for trying to maintain standards of equality, merit, and excellence. Like every other large public university, Texas A&M is riddled with Marxists and leftist ideology, but the student body and the former students trend conservative and are trying to maintain the university’s integrity and identity amidst the onslaught.
The head of Texas A&M University has suddenly left her role amid “negative press” surrounding the hiring of a journalism professor.
President Katherine Banks said she took responsibility for the “flawed hiring process” involving former New York Times editor Kathleen McElroy.
[…]
Dr McElroy, a 20-year veteran of The New York Times, has previously conducted research on the role race plays in the media.
Texas A&M had originally hired her on a tenured track to revive the school’s journalism programme, which was later changed to a five-year and ultimately a one-year offer. She declined the offer.
The initial move to hire her was reportedly met with criticism from some staff members and members of the school’s alumni network.
In a resignation letter, Dr Banks said that “negative press” over Dr McElroy’s job had “become a distraction” at Texas A&M, which has a student body of about 70,000.
“The recent challenges regarding Dr McElroy have made it clear to me that I must retire immediately,” she wrote.
A university statement added that Dr Banks suggested to colleagues Dr McElroy had fallen victim to “anti-woke hysteria” and “outside interference” in the hiring process.
[…]
In the case of Dr McElroy, the Rudder Association – a collection of current and former Texas A&M students and staff – said it had concerns that, in hiring Dr McElroy, the university was not embracing “egalitarian and merit-based traditions” and was instead turning towards the “divisive ideology of identity politics”. It objected to claims that alumni, donors and taxpayers constitute “outside influence”.
I will say that I liked a lot of the work that Dr. Banks had done for the engineering college and some other things in her short tenure. But I understand that she was not well liked by the students, the former students, or much of the staff.