University of Rhode Island professors worry about possible ripple effects after a Texas A&M University professor was fired for promoting “gender ideology.”
Melissa McCoul, an English professor at Texas A&M, was one of two employees removed from their positions after a video from inside McCoul’s classroom went viral, pressuring university administrators to intervene.
The video, recorded by an anonymous student, shows McCoul arguing with the student. The student claimed that McCoul’s teaching violated President Donald Trump’s executive order, mandating that federally funded organizations only recognize two genders. In particular, the student took issue with McCoul’s use of a “gender unicorn,” a tool used to explain the difference between gender expression and gender identity.
Republican politicians, including Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, who took to social media to call for McCoul’s dismissal. Others, such as Texas A&M public service and administration professor Leonard Bright, agreed that McCoul’s firing was an attempt to censor professors.
Joy Ellison, a gender and women’s studies professor at URI, fears this is the next step in a clear assault on higher education.
“I think it’s important to know that the playbook that people are using was developed by the pro-Israel movement,” Ellison said.
Ellison explained that the Israeli government has partnered with a variety of PR firms to target opponents of Israel’s military occupation of Palestine.
Ellison argued that these partnerships have created organizations that specifically target professors and encourage students to record inside the classroom.
“Charlie Kirk and Turning Point USA directly took that and ran with that and expanded it,” Ellison said. “So, the reasons that I’m afraid… I’ve been afraid for as long as I’ve been teaching.”
McCoul’s dismissal from the university not only violated her contract, but the academic freedom that was once a “hallmark of Texas higher education,” according to a statement issued by McCoul’s lawyer.
McCoul’s firing has been met with varied criticisms from multiple angles. Eight days after the removal of McCoul, the former university president Mark A. Walsh stepped down because of the criticisms, according to a statement issued by the Texas A&M’s Board of Regents. Students at the university staged a protest against McCoul’s firing on Monday.
URI officials, including Markeisha Miner, vice president of the Office of Community, Equity and Diversity, have previously stated that the university will maintain diversity, equity and inclusion programs, which GWS falls under.
“Our very founding is inclusivity, is diversity,” Miner said.
There are no records of URI affinity groups disbanding as a result of federal orders.
“[URI] has not reached out to me to support me, particularly against the current threat,” Ellison said, “ I don’t think I’m the only person in a targeted discipline that is concerned by the lack of concrete action to support us.”
URI’s Leadership Team on Federal Actions released a statement in August on RhodyToday, updating community members on recent federal actions and their impacts on the school. In the statement, the Leadership Team reaffirmed the university’s commitment to “fostering an inclusive, people-centered culture.” The statement does not specify how.
