{"id":1256,"date":"2025-10-13T22:26:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T22:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/1256\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T22:26:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T22:26:07","slug":"texas-state-university-upholds-termination-of-professor-after-controversial-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/1256\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas State University upholds termination of professor after controversial comments"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN MARCOS, Texas \u2014 Texas State University has upheld the termination<\/a> of a tenured professor who was fired last month<\/a> for comments made at a socialist conference, the professor’s attorney said Monday.<\/p>\n

University President Kelly Damphousse determined Oct. 13 that Dr. Thomas Alter II’s summary dismissal would proceed following a hearing, according to a statement released by Alter’s attorney.<\/p>\n

“Ordered by the court to reinstate Dr. Alter while he pursued his internal appeal rights, Texas State University has now elected to terminate the employment of a valued and tenured professor for the second time,” the statement said.<\/p>\n

A university spokesperson confirmed the decision, saying that Damphousse “notified Dr. Alter that his employment at Texas State University is terminated, effective immediately. “<\/p>\n

Alter was initially fired last month after making comments at a conference where he was not representing the university.<\/p>\n

PREVIOUS COVERAGE | Texas State fires professor accused of trying to incite political violence in video<\/a><\/p>\n

In his statement, Alter called the termination “part of a broader political attack being carried out by the authoritarian far-right to crush democracy and democratic institutions.”<\/p>\n

“My termination, in clear violation of my First Amendment rights to freedom of speech, association, and of assembly brings shame, embarrassment and a heavy blow to the academic reputation of Texas State University,” Alter said.<\/p>\n

Alter has filed a lawsuit against the university, claiming he was fired without due process and that his free speech rights were violated. He said he looks forward to his day in court.<\/p>\n

Damphousse posted a “special message,”<\/a> saying his “goal as an academic leader has always been to make changes that advance the mission of the university as we adapt to an ever-evolving environment.” <\/p>\n

“What made sense to me didn\u2019t always make sense to others. So, early on in my leadership journey, I embraced the principle of shared governance. That allowed those who were most affected by proposed changes to have a say in the change process. That practice has served me well over the years. Universities are complex organizations, and I often discovered that the changes I proposed were improved by this collaborative process. I still believe in that principle,” Damphousse said.<\/p>\n

He addressed the frustration felt by many following “things that have happened specifically on our campus,” saying he “[mourns] how these past few weeks may have diminished your faith in [his] leadership.”<\/p>\n

Damphousse also said he was unable to specifically address personnel and student issues, but his silence should not be mistaken for “indifference or lack of empathy.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN MARCOS, Texas \u2014 Texas State University has upheld the termination of a tenured professor who was fired…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1257,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1933,1930,1931,1932,1910,1929,1928,27,29,28,1927],"class_list":{"0":"post-1256","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-academic","9":"tag-comments","10":"tag-free-speech","11":"tag-lawsuit","12":"tag-leadership","13":"tag-professor","14":"tag-termination","15":"tag-texas","16":"tag-texas-headlines","17":"tag-texas-news","18":"tag-texas-state-university"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}