HOUSTON — Texas A&M university professor who It was launched last year After controversy over a classroom video that showed a student objecting to a children’s literature lesson on gender identity, she filed a lawsuit against the school on Wednesday, alleging that the university violated her rights by caving in to political pressure calling for her ouster.
Melissa McCall was a Senior Lecturer in the English Department with over ten years of teaching experience. Republican lawmakers, including Gov. Greg AbbottShe had called for her termination after watching the video, which showed a student questioning whether a class discussion last July was legal under President Donald Trump’s executive order on sex.
The video caused an uproar on campus and led to sharp criticism of university president Mark Welsh, who… He later resignedBut he did not provide a reason and never mentioned the video in his resignation announcement.
The university upheld McCall’s expulsion even after two separate and independent university groups decided that Texas A.U&M violated her right to due process and had no cause to terminate her employment.
“Today I did something that would have been unthinkable a year ago — I filed a lawsuit against Texas A&M to hold him accountable for violations of my constitutional rights to freedom of expression and due process. “There is no satisfaction in doing this, only sadness,” McCall said in a statement. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Houston.
Chris Bryan, vice chancellor for marketing and communications at Texas A University&M University System said Wednesday that school officials were aware of the lawsuit but had not reviewed it.
“As this matter is pending litigation, we will not comment further, but we intend to vigorously defend against these allegations,” Bryan said in a statement.
Named as defendants in the lawsuit are Welsh, interim president Tommy Williams, and Texas A.J&M University System Chancellor Glenn Hegar and the University of Texas A&M System Board of Trustees.
After McCall’s firing, Hegar ordered a review of coursework at all 12 schools in the system.
McCall’s lawsuit comes less than a week after the Texas A.J&University of M announced this Completion of the Women’s and Gender Studies ProgramThe curricula of hundreds of courses were changed and six classes were canceled as part of New policy This limits how professors discuss certain topics of race and gender.
Other Texas university systems also imposed restrictions on classroom teaching or began internal reviews of course offerings after the new state law.
In her lawsuit, McCall responded to Texas A&M She failed to follow instructions to change her course content to conform to the course catalog description. McCall said her course content was “100 percent consistent with the catalog description and the course description.”
“The explanations given for Dr. McCall’s termination are inconsistent and illogical because they are untrue. Dr. McCall was terminated for the so-called ‘liberal’ themes she explored in her courses,” according to the lawsuit.
McCall described teaching at Texas A&M as her “dream job”. She has been at the university since 2017. In her lawsuit, she seeks reinstatement and financial damages.
“Despite the way I was treated, I still love the institution, my former classmates and the A-students&“I hope this lawsuit makes the university think twice about treating others the same,” McCall said.
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