Just ten days after Texas A&M University President M. Katherine Banks resigned, the university is attempting to move on from the highly publicized controversy that led to her abrupt departure.
On Sunday, the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents voted unanimously to name acting President Mark A. Welsh III the interim-president of the system’s flagship institution in College Station. He will serve in that capacity as the university conducts a national search for a permanent president.
Welsh had been appointed acting president by A&M Chancellor John Sharp on July 21 following Banks’ resignation over the botched hiring of Kathleen McElroy, a Black journalism professor at the University of Texas, Austin.
Welsh has been the dean of Texas A&M’s Bush School of Government and Public Service since 2016. Prior to that he had a long career in the United States Air Force, as a pilot. Welsh also commanded the U.S. Air Forces in Europe and NATO’s Air Command at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. Additionally, he served as associate director of military affairs at the Central Intelligence Agency and as commandant of the United States Air Force Academy. Welsh retired from the Air Force in 2016 as the 20th Chief of Staff of the Air Force.
“I cannot think of a better person than Mark Welsh to lead Texas A&M right now,” Sharp said in the university’s news release. “He has experience running a large organization, but he also is widely respected and universally well-liked in the Aggie community. General Welsh has earned a reputation as a smart, thoughtful and collaborative leader. We are lucky to have him in the president’s office.”
The controversy leading to Banks’ resignation began last month when the university publicly announced it was hiring McElroy, who also had served in various editorial roles at the New York Times, to revive its journalism program. However, the appointment unraveled when the job offer was changed from a position with the possibility of tenure to a one-year professor of practice appointment, with the option to renew the appointment. In the end, McElroy turned down the diminished offer, electing to stay at the University of Texas, where she holds tenure.
According to reports in The Texas Tribune, McElroy believed her appointment had been caught up in “DEI hysteria.” “I feel damaged by this entire process,” she’s quoted as saying. “I’m being judged by race, maybe gender. And I don’t think other folks would face the same bars or challenges. And it seems that my being an Aggie, wanting to lead an Aggie program to what I thought would be prosperity, wasn’t enough.”
McElroy’s hiring had been the target of opposition from conservative individuals and groups that took issue with her advocacy for diversity and her prior work at the Times.
While former President Banks has denied that she knew about the changes in the job offer to McElroy, others involved in the process have challenged the accuracy of that representation, claiming that Banks was very involved in the hiring decisions involving the journalist.
The Texas A&M Board took a second step on Sunday, indicating that it also has “authorized officials to negotiate a potential settlement of claims of Kathleen McElroy, Ph.D., whose candidacy to run Texas A&M University’s journalism program fell apart following failed negotiations. Additionally, the regents directed the System’s Office of General Counsel to complete a thorough investigation as quickly as possible and emphasized that they support the release of its the findings to the public.”
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