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Former Alamo Trust CEO Kate Rogers speaks at a news conference at Alamo Plaza on Oct. 2, 2025. Rogers sued Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, the trust, its leaders and a foundation affiliated with the trust last year, alleging they violated her First Amendment rights.<\/p>\n
Clint Datchuk\/Clint Datchuk for San Antonio Ex<\/p>\n
Ex-Alamo Trust CEO Kate Rogers has won a procedural victory in her battle against Texas leaders and her former employer over her ouster for academic writings they viewed as conflicting with how they believe the history of the Alamo should be told.<\/p>\n
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U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez ruled Tuesday that most of Rogers\u2019 claims in a federal lawsuit she\u00a0filed last year<\/a> can proceed, including her allegations that\u00a0Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham violated her First Amendment rights by pushing for her resignation from the trust.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Rodriguez rejected most of state officials\u2019 and the trust\u2019s motions to have Rogers\u2019 allegations tossed. The federal judge said Rogers plausibly contends that Buckingham and Patrick wield significant influence over the nonprofit trust and a major public-private makeover of the Alamo\u00a0\u2014 and used that power to go after her.<\/p>\n Attorney Lawrence Morales II said he and Rogers are \u201cvery pleased\u201d by Rodriguez\u2019s decision and \u201clook forward to discovery and trial.\u201d A lawyer for the trust and its affiliate Remember the Alamo\u00a0Foundation declined to comment, and attorneys for Patrick and Buckingham did not immediately respond to inquiries.<\/p>\n RELATED: Ousted Alamo CEO Kate Rogers lands a new job in San Antonio<\/a><\/p>\n The court order is the latest twist in the fight between Rogers, Patrick, Buckingham and the trust\u2019s board, which erupted last year.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n It came about four years after Rogers was hired to lead the trust, which oversees daily operations at the Alamo, and help spearhead a $700 million overhaul aimed at more fully telling the story of the state-owned site. The state is footing most of the bill for the makeover and buying two nearby hotels, while the\u00a0city of San Antonio and\u00a0Bexar County are contributing $63 million and the nonprofit trust has pledged to raise $150 million from private sources.<\/p>\n The tension was sparked by an Indigenous People\u2019s Day post on Oct. 13<\/a>\u00a0on the Alamo\u2019s social media accounts.\u00a0The Alamo said it was \u201crecognizing their history\u201d at the site and noted that the future Alamo Visitor\u00a0Center and Museum, the centerpiece of the makeover, will feature an Indigenous Peoples gallery.<\/p>\n On X, conservative activist Michael Quinn Sullivan said, \u201cWho thought this was a good idea?\u201d and added that Buckingham should address it. Buckingham responded that the Alamo\u2019s post was \u201cunacceptable\u201d and \u201cwoke has no place at the Alamo.\u201d<\/p>\n She also sent a letter to the trust\u2019s board describing the post as part of a pattern of \u201cblatant disregard of the battle-centric focus of The Alamo, that most Texans expect\u00a0\u2014 the liberty or death history.\u201d She noted that the museum\u2019s script included more references to \u201cslavery\u201d and \u201censlaved\u201d than \u201cfreedom\u201d and \u201cliberty.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n RELATED: Kate Rogers out, Hope Andrade in at Alamo Trust after call for resignation<\/a><\/p>\n In the suit she would later file,\u00a0Rogers said she was told at a subsequent trust board meeting that \u201cthe state is too upset\u201d and \u201csomeone is going to have to pay.\u201d Rogers said she offered to resign but the board refused to accept that and instead fired the trust\u2019s communications director.<\/p>\n On Oct. 22, Patrick called Rogers about a dissertation, titled \u201cRole of the Researcher,\u201d that she penned in 2023 for a doctorate in global education from the University of Southern California. The trust did not pay for the degree.<\/p>\n Rogers wrote in the document about lawmakers\u2019 \u201cconservative agenda,\u201d including a ban on Critical Race Theory, voter suppression and women\u2019s reproductive rights, and said educators should be able to teach free from political pressure. She referenced\u00a0\u201cForget the Alamo,\u201d a controversial book that posited the Texas Revolution was fought primarily against Mexico to expand slavery.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Rogers also wrote that General Land Office staff were part of most\u00a0decisions she made about the Alamo, especially those with \u201cpolitical implications,\u201d which meant she \u201chad to be very careful with my study and its implications as it could have negative consequences\u201d for her job and the Alamo redevelopment.<\/p>\n Patrick\u00a0demanded Rogers resign<\/a> based on what he called \u201ctroubling writings\u201d that are \u201cincompatible with the telling of the history of the battle of the Alamo.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOf course the entire story of the Alamo will be told, but the overriding emphasis must be on the \u201813 Days of Glory,\u2019 as nearly 200 men gave their lives to defend liberty and freedom for Texas,\u201d Patrick wrote in a letter to the trust\u2019s board.<\/p>\n Rogers resigned from the trust on Oct. 23.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n In November, she sued Patrick, Buckingham, the trust and affiliated foundation, trust board chair Welcome Wilson Jr. and trust CEO Hope Andrade, alleging that she was retaliated against for the opinions she expressed in her dissertation. After Rogers sat for an interview with Texas Monthly to discuss why she resigned, she said the trust and foundation yanked her severance pay.<\/p>\n In the petition, Rogers painted a picture of Patrick and Buckingham\u2019s in-depth involvement in the Alamo\u2019s redevelopment and what she described as the difficulties of trying to keep them and the trust\u2019s board happy.<\/p>\n RELATED: Texas officials, Alamo Trust say ex-CEO Kate Rogers \u2018sealed her own fate\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Patrick and Buckingham mandated changes to scripts for the museum and were at times in conflict with each other over who they viewed as in charge, Rogers alleged. Buckingham and her staff often criticized input from advisory committees on the project and meddled in the trust\u2019s decisions, such as what materials should be used for a new roof for the Alamo Church, her lawsuit stated.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n State and trust leaders pushed back<\/a>, callings Rogers\u2019 suit a publicity stunt.\u00a0<\/p>\n In court filings, they accused Rogers of \u00a0\u201cbiting the hand\u201d of lawmakers who provided a windfall for the Alamo\u2019s makeover and said she \u201cknew she was playing with fire\u201d when she criticized their priorities.<\/p>\n They said she wrote her dissertation in her capacity as the trust\u2019s leader. They did not force her to resign and she negotiated her severance in bad faith, refusing to agree not to make negative comments about them until after she had already given an interview doing so, they said. They also said they are protected from her claims by immunity.<\/p>\n \u201cRogers\u2019 hubris eventually caught up with her,\u201d Buckingham wrote, adding that Rogers \u201cconsistently placed her interests above the long-term interests of the Alamo\u201d in part by undermining the General Land Office\u2019s attempts to monitor her work.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n