A Texas A&M professor who was fired for teaching gender studies is suing on free speech grounds

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 firing even after two separate, independent university groups determined that Texas A&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 University to hold it accountable for violations of my constitutional rights to free speech 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 for the Texas A&M University System, said Wednesday that school officials are aware of the lawsuit but have 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 Wells, interim President Tommy Williams, Texas A&M University System Chancellor Glenn Hegar and the Texas A&M System Board of Trustees.

After McCall was fired, Hegar ordered a review of coursework at all 12 schools in the system.

McCall’s lawsuit comes less than a week after Texas A&M University made the announcement 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 McCall’s lawsuit, she responded to claims by Texas A&M University officials that 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 called teaching at Texas A&M University 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 colleagues, and the students of A&M,” McCall said. “I hope this lawsuit makes the university think twice about treating others the same.”