Post

Texas Tribune
@texastribune.org

Texas A&M University will not reinstate a lecturer who was fired after a video of her teaching about gender identity in a children’s literature class went viral, despite a faculty appeals panel unanimously concluding that her dismissal was not justified.

texastribune.orgTexas A&M won’t reinstate fired lecturer despite findingsA vice chancellor upheld the firing of Melissa McCoul, seen in a viral video being confronted by a student on her gender identity teachings, saying the termination was done with “good cause.”

347 reposts894 likes

Helen
@helenm40.bsky.social

Presumbly FIRE will be taking up her case? And the case of the TA who was fired for giving a religious zealot a well earned failing grade? What's that? They only care about academic free speech for bigots? Shocking.

Bill Stewart
@billstewart.bsky.social

It mostly only matters to Texans, or to people who would've hired better-educated Texans but now hire other people. My dad was born in TX, moved during elementary school, had to relearn the history of The War Of Yankee Aggression, which Texas didn't teach was about slavery.

Sam
@irishwol.bsky.social

It matters a lot to the academic who was targeted and also to students who won't get the best from their professors in future because their professors are watching their back rather than teaching to their best ability.

Ash
@ashnewonblue2025.bsky.social

Yet another institution that will not attract the best and the brightest students, faculty, or administration. I hope they lose donor money and every sporting event they participate in. Time to pay the piper when you overrule your fact-finders and debase your values on the throne of white supremacy.

Boo!klynxman
@brooklynxman.bsky.social

Gonna be more than a few universities whose degrees will mean nothing in a few years. I don't want to judge students going there now, transferring can be difficult, especially if you're local to the university, but in a few years? You knew what you were signing up for.

Julie
@1stfirebird.bsky.social

James Hallmark be cursed with gangrene fat cells. Mediocre male nurses and horrific hospital conditions because house keeping staff were all deported. Quiet, James Hallmark, piggy. After reading the article. He deserves all I said above and more.

jace cavacini
@dysamoria.com

So the entire faculty appeals panel process is a fucking fiction. I hope a lot of the faculty can afford to leave their jobs and move house because this university doesn’t give a fuck about any of them.

KCWC
@kcwc.bsky.social

I'm not sure that faculty governance is really thriving anywhere-- either admin backs you, or they don't. If they don't, they "can't talk about personnel issues for legal reasons."

jace cavacini
@dysamoria.com

I’ve seen cases where admin seems to hold to facility governance, and even student governance somewhat. In a case like this, if admin doesn’t back a unanimous facility governance decision, it’s pretty clear the whole facility governance thing is a lie.

jace cavacini
@dysamoria.com

“facility” should be “faculty”. Fuck iOS. At this point, my profile should read “if my post looks like I can’t spell or have shit for vocabulary, it’s because of fucking iOS. Fuck the tech industry straight into the fucking sun”.

Mazarin221b
@mazarin221b.bsky.social

So what you're saying is we're all riled now by public opinion instead of our actual moral fiber. Got it. Living via X post. May as well get the Chinese social credit system set up while we're at it.

Mg
@themg.bsky.social

Except that the EEOC is quietly torpedoeing all gender identity cases, and cases that aren't about gender identity at all but involve a trans person.

Geoff
@dontinnovate.bsky.social

Reactionaries don’t care about fairness. Their cowardice and insecurity demand domination. They want her gone because she’s decent and cares about students, not because of what she did or didn’t do in this instance. It’s bad faith by definition

Daniel Vortisto
@danielvortisto.bsky.social

The policy of controlling our sexual orientations and identities by preventing the propagation of knowledge about sexuality aims at increasing the birth rate, thus the reproduction of workforce for the capitalists behind Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025. Why don‘t lecturers join a union and a CP?

Daniel Vortisto
@danielvortisto.bsky.social

What about emigrating to a state where you are a free citizen and can decide whether and to whom you want to sell your workforce? What about staying in TX and joining a CP to take over the means of producing oil&energy, food&feed, digital, movies and weapons? FYI: CPUSA is growing rapidly.

Terry Klefstad
@terryklefstad.bsky.social

The best administrators are the people who least want the job, usually. Most good educators avoid administrative service as much as they can. It’s a real conundrum. Most of the people who pursue these jobs are the very ones who should not have them.

Hoodoo Vudu
@vudu-yudu.bsky.social

Panel concludes dismissal was unjustified. Its almost like Texas A&M don’t care: < Chris Bryan, the system’s vice chancellor of marketing and communications, also confirmed McCoul was not reinstated, but declined to comment further. > Now, what could be driving their failure to reinstate?

Kelly Barnhill
@kellybarnhill.bsky.social

It did not "go viral". It was intentionally filmed and disseminated using a network of coordinated bots, amplified by an algorithm designed to spread this kind of content quickly. This was a harassment campaign, intended to silence everyone. Call it what it is.