Lawmaker wants A&M president fired, says leadership supports LGBTQ coursework
Texas Rep. Brian Harrison, a Republican from Waxahachie, wants Texas A&M President Mark Welsh III to be fired following an announcement that two faculty members had been removed from leadership positions after a dispute over LGBTQ+ content in a university course.
The statement from Welsh announcing the removal, which was released Monday night, said he “learned this afternoon that key leaders in the College of Arts and Sciences approved plans to continue teaching course content that was not consistent with the course’s published description.”
Harrison called that a lie, saying Welsh knew of university professors teaching LGBTQ+ content long before Monday.
“The statement from last night was embarrassing,” said Harrison. “The president of Texas A&M fully supports LGBTQ coursework.”
A university spokesperson said Welsh was aware of Harrison’s comments, but said the representative “misunderstood what the President’s statement referred to, which was new information he received yesterday.”
Earlier on Tuesday, the Star-Telegram learned the leaders removed were Mark Zoran, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and Emily Johansen, head of the English Department. The university did not respond to a question asking if the two remained employed as professors.
Harrison said he hadn’t received a clear answer to that question, either.
“Texas A&M is pretending like they fired these people, but they won’t respond,” he said. “As of this moment, I have no reason to believe anyone has been fired.”
Later on Tuesday, Welsh announced that professor Melissa McCoul had been fired.
In an interview with the Star-Telegram, Harrison said the state’s conservative leaders failed by allowing Welsh to be in his position in the first place. Harrison said he’d voiced his concerns about courses that touched on LGBTQ+ topics at his alma mater multiple times with multiple people at A&M.
“I have spoken with the most senior leadership of Texas A&M for a period of time that goes back well over one or two years. ... The leadership fully supports transgender indoctrination and DEI,” said Harrison.
Backlash toward the university reached a fevered pitch on Monday after Harrison shared a now-viral video of an A&M student confronting McCoul, an English department lecturer, in a children’s literature class that touched on gender identity.
“I’m not entirely sure this is legal to be teaching, because, according to our president, there’s only two genders,” the student is heard saying to McCoul.
In subsequent social media posts, Harrison shared additional details, including screenshots of emails between Johansen and the student. In one, Johansen informs the student that McCoul doesn’t want her to return to class.
On Tuesday afternoon, Harrison shared audio, purportedly of the same student speaking with Welsh about the issue. The Star-Telegram reached out to Texas A&M, and the university verified the video’s authenticity.
In that video, Welsh says “the biggest disconnect we have is, No. 1, we don’t want anybody signing up for a course that they don’t know what’s in the course.”
When the student objects to LGBTQ+ material being taught at Texas A&M, Welsh says there have been LGBTQ studies at the university “for a long time.” He says those courses are typically taken by students wanting to enter fields like psychiatry, counseling, education and nonprofit work.
“Those people don’t get to pick who their clients are, what citizens they serve, and they want to understand the issues affecting the people they’re going to treat. So there is a professional reason to teach some of these courses,” Welsh tells the student.
In his Facebook post, Harrison called it “bombshell audio,” before saying Welsh “must be fired.”
A Texas A&M spokesperson said the text accompanying the audio recording on Harrison’s Facebook page, which claims Welsh wants to create a “professional track for people who want to study LGBTQ literature,” is misleading.
In the audio, Welsh says the course the student had issues with might be better suited for a professional track focused on LGBTQ literature. The president doesn’t mention creating a new track to accommodate the course.
In a separate social media post on Tuesday, Gov. Greg Abbott called for McCoul’s firing, saying her teaching was “contrary to Texas law.”
This story was originally published September 9, 2025 at 6:02 PM.