<\/p>\n
Welcome to Aggieland is painted on the central water tower on the Texas A&M University\u00a0campus in College Station, Texas, on Aug. 8, 2019.<\/p>\n
Tom Fox\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n
The Texas A&M University System is threatening legal action against the Texas American Muslim University at Dallas over alleged trademark infringement, one day after state leaders ordered the school to cease operations.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The trademark threat marks another legal challenge for the Richardson-based school. The school, which brands itself as \u201cTexAM University,\u201d made headlines Thursday after Gov. Greg Abbott said it was violating state law by operating as a higher education institution without proper authorization. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, which does not recognize the school as a university, ordered it to cease advertising its programs and enrolling students.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Related: Gov. Abbott, higher ed agency order North Texas Muslim school to stop operations<\/a><\/p>\n On Friday, Texas A&M University System officials sent the school a cease-and-desist letter,<\/a> demanding it immediately stop using names and branding elements that \u201cinfringe upon or dilute\u201d Texas A&M\u2019s trademarks.\u00a0<\/p>\n Texas A&M officials argued that in using \u201cTexAM\u201d or \u201cTexas AM University,\u201d the school could confuse and mislead the public that there is a connection between the two institutions. TexAm University is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Texas A&M system or its flagship campus in College Station.<\/p>\n Make Dallas News a preferred source so your search results prioritize writing by actual people, not AI.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe Texas A&M University System has a responsibility to protect the name and trademarks, which represent more than a century of academic excellence, public trust and institutional integrity,\u201d Chancellor Glenn Hegar said in a Friday news release.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Shahid Bajwa, the school\u2019s founder, did not immediately comment on the release when reached by The Dallas Morning News on Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n To avoid further litigation, Texas A&M officials outlined a series of steps for the school to take, including removing \u201cTexAM University\u201d and any similar name or mark from its secretary of state filings, website, social media content and marketing materials, according to the cease-and-desist letter.\u00a0<\/p>\n All advertising materials with markings similar to Texas A&M branding should also be destroyed, and the school should stop selling any merchandise bearing those marks, the letter says.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n System officials also asked the school to transfer its website domain name \u2014\u00a0texam.education \u2014 to Texas A&M within ten business days.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The Texas American Muslim University at Dallas advertises itself as the first university in the country to offer STEM degree programs with mandatory courses in Islamic studies.<\/p>\n On Thursday, Abbott, who has increasingly scrutinized Islamic schools and sought to curtail activities hosted by Muslim groups, described the school as an \u201cillegal educational institution.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Private universities must be authorized by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to grant degrees in Texas under state law. The law, which aims to \u201cprevent deception of the public\u201d based on \u201cfraudulent or substandard college and university degrees,\u201d requires institutions that are already accredited or working toward accreditation to apply for authorization.<\/p>\n TexAm University does not appear in the U.S. Department of Education\u2019s database of accredited postsecondary institutions and programs.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Bajwa told The News that the school was \u201cactively engaging\u201d with state officials to \u201cclarify any misunderstandings and to ensure full compliance with state regulations.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n He said the school, which started its first semester in October 2025, was aware of the state\u2019s process for authorization. School leaders are \u201cin the process of seeking the necessary authorizations and accreditation and will not offer degrees until all regulatory approvals are secured,\u201d he said in a statement Thursday evening.<\/p>\n By signing up, you agree to our Terms Of Use<\/a> and acknowledge that your information will be used as described in our Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n The school has not granted degrees, certificates or credentials, he said, adding that it is primarily funded through donations.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.<\/p>\n The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, Judy and Jim Gibbs, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Ron and Phyllis Steinhart, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks, and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome to Aggieland is painted on the central water tower on the Texas A&M University\u00a0campus in College Station,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285009,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[732,223,95009,95010,27,29,28,88032,89205,92931,90041,89204,92240,90463],"class_list":["post-285008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-article","tag-news","tag-news-faith","tag-news-politics","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-tp-dallas-fortworth","tag-tp-dallas-isd","tag-tp-ed-lab-legislature","tag-tp-ed-lab-school","tag-tp-education-lab","tag-tp-religion","tag-tp-texas-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285008","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=285008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775016909_917_rawImage.jpg\" "\\"#\\"")
<\/p>\n