Texas A&M University president retires amid controversy of Black journalist's hire
Jul 22, 2023
Houston [US], July 22: Katherine Banks, president of U.S. Texas A&M University, is retiring immediately amid a controversy of a Black journalist's hire, university officials said on Friday.
Chancellor John Sharp said on Friday that Banks submitted a resignation letter late Thursday and Mark A. Welsh III, a retired Air Force general and dean of the Bush School of Government and Public Service, will take over as acting president.
The move came after the school's faculty senate passed a resolution on Wednesday to establish a panel to probe into the alleged mishandling of the hiring of Kathleen McElroy, an African American professor with the University of Texas and a former New York Times journalist.
"At the faculty senate meeting Wednesday, President Banks denied knowing about the changes in the job offer but took responsibility for a flawed hiring process after a wave of national publicity suggesting McElroy, who has done research on diversity and inclusion, was a victim of 'anti-woke' hysteria and outside interference in the faculty hiring process," Sharp said in a press release.
"The recent challenges regarding Dr. McElroy have made it clear to me that I must retire immediately. The negative press is a distraction from the wonderful work being done here," Banks wrote in her letter to Sharp one day later, saying she was stepping down immediately.
Texas A&M announced in June it hired McElroy, a Texas A&M graduate, to lead its journalism program. The hire drew backlash across the Republican-led state over McElroy's previous work on diversity, equity and inclusion, policies aimed to boost groups historically underrepresented or discriminated against.
The conditions of McElroy's one-year contract kept changing, and she ultimately turned down the offer, the Texas Tribune reported.
Banks took office two years ago after a decade serving as vice chancellor and dean of engineering at Texas A&M.
Public universities in Texas are now eliminating offices of diversity, equity and inclusion, to comply with a new state law that will go into effect in January.
Texas A&M, a public research university, was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948.
Source: Xinhua
