{"id":82957,"date":"2025-12-10T10:21:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T10:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/82957\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T10:21:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T10:21:15","slug":"why-texas-am-president-mark-welsh-lost-his-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/82957\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Texas A&M president Mark Welsh lost his job"},"content":{"rendered":"

Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy<\/a>, and give us feedback<\/a>.<\/p>\n

COLLEGE STATION \u2014 At first glance, Mark Welsh III\u2019s credentials<\/a> appeared unimpeachable.<\/p>\n

An Air Force Academy graduate turned four-star general who served as the military branch\u2019s highest-ranking officer. Dean of the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M for seven years. Aggie blood ran through him \u2014\u00a0his father, siblings, and four children all graduated from the College Station university.<\/p>\n

But almost immediately after he was named interim president in mid-2023, some members of the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents, who oversee the university, were raising concerns. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe really need to vet this guy,\u201d John Bellinger, a university regent appointed earlier that year, wrote to then-Vice Chair Robert Albritton. \u201cFrom what I have heard along with this and other articles, I have many questions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bellinger shared a link<\/a> to a post from Texas Scorecard, a conservative website read by many of the state\u2019s Republican elected leaders. The post highlighted Welsh\u2019s public statements advocating for boosting women in the military and diversity in the workforce. Just weeks earlier, the same website emphasized<\/a> that it was former President Barack Obama who appointed Welsh to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, overseeing 660,000 service members of the U.S. Air Force.<\/p>\n

The regents weren\u2019t the only ones who were apparently bothered. <\/p>\n

A day after Bellinger sent that email, Albritton took Welsh to Austin to meet Gov. Greg Abbott<\/a>. In an interview, Albritton told The Texas Tribune he wanted to show the governor Welsh was the right man for the job as regents considered making him the permanent president.<\/p>\n

But it didn\u2019t go as planned.<\/p>\n

\"TexasFrom left: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and A&M Regents Chair Robert Albritton. Ronaldo Bola\u00f1os and Courtney Sacco for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

During the short meeting at the Capitol, Abbott peppered Welsh with questions about the comments Texas Scorecard had dug up, and about Welsh\u2019s views on diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. Abbott was apparently unsatisfied with Welsh\u2019s answers, according to five people briefed on the encounter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt the governor was looking for somebody that was conservative in nature, and I think that he felt that maybe Mark was not as conservative as he was hoping he would be,\u201d Albritton said. <\/p>\n

But the regents felt Welsh was the right leader for the moment. They wanted a steady leader who could calm the waters after a tumultuous summer of back-to-back<\/a> personnel<\/a> scandals that led Welsh\u2019s predecessor to resign<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Over the next two years, Welsh repaired relationships<\/a> with many students, faculty, and alumni. But the skepticism about the \u201cObama appointee\u201d and his conservative bonafides never went away. This September, a video was posted on social media of a student confronting a professor over the teaching of gender identity at A&M. Welsh defended the professor privately to the student, which was also caught on video, setting off right-wing outrage. Soon after, Albritton, who is now chair of the regents, called Welsh to tell him he could either resign or be fired.<\/p>\n

\"\"Former Texas A&M President Mark A. Welsh III stands outside Kyle Field before addressing the senior class during Elephant Walk, the longstanding tradition where seniors take a symbolic walk across campus to reflect on their time at the university, on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023, at Aggie Park in College Station. Meredith Seaver for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

But Welsh wasn\u2019t pushed out over that incident alone. He was in many ways a victim of circumstance \u2014 a rapidly changing political tide, an increasingly watchful board of regents working in lockstep with state leaders, and expectations that seemingly changed overnight about the role of higher education leadership and academic freedom.<\/p>\n

If anything, Welsh suffered from not being political enough. <\/p>\n

\u201cMark is pretty moderate,\u201d said an influential A&M donor and alum who asked not to be named because of their continued relationship with the school. \u201cI think that he was just like many of us in being naive about just how much the far-right was going to come after [DEI]. It wasn\u2019t going to go away, until it was too late.\u201d<\/p>\n

Welsh dutifully implemented policy changes handed down by the regents, even if he disagreed with them. But he would at times express his reluctance to reactively change course based on public opinion,\u00a0and would advocate for faculty to weigh in on decision making, according to thousands of pages of emails and interviews with more than four dozen current and former administrators, faculty, students and alumni, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk without fear of repercussions.<\/p>\n

That approach put him at odds with some regents who started to believe he was relying too heavily on their intervention to resolve difficult issues. Many on the board wanted a more proactive leader who would shut down controversy, as they grew weary of the steady drumbeat of online posts accusing the university of embracing liberal ideology.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Welsh refuted the idea that he needed board involvement to make difficult decisions. He declined to comment on other details in the story. Eight regents either declined to comment or did not respond to requests.<\/p>\n

\"FromFrom left: Texas Scorecard publisher Michael Quinn Sullivan speaks during the Texas GOP Convention in San Antonio on May 23, 2024. State Rep. Brian Harrison, R-Midlothian, on the House floor at the Capitol in Austin on February 25, 2025. Eli Hartman and Lorianne Willett\/The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

Texas Scorecard, run by conservative activist and Aggie alum Michael Quinn Sullivan, would publish more than 115 posts \u2014\u00a0more than one a week \u2014 about A&M during Welsh\u2019s two-year presidency. The site often highlights courses, professors, and programs on campus that it presents as evidence of widespread liberal indoctrination. Many of those posts would be shared online by lawmakers like state Rep. Brian Harrison, <\/a>also an A&M alum, who crusaded<\/a> against DEI on campus.<\/p>\n

His departure punctuates a rapid-fire period of hyper-politicization in higher education as the Trump administration<\/a> and Texas lawmakers<\/a> placed more scrutiny on college campuses over DEI policies and discourse around LGBTQ+ identities. The controversy prompted multiple Texas university systems to conduct their own course audits <\/a>to avoid the same attention Welsh and A&M endured.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely believe the overall climate is a contributing factor to why he was removed as president,\u201d said B. Don Russell, an engineering professor at Texas A&M for more than half a century. \u201cThere was a loss of confidence in him as not being a strong enough or aggressive enough advocate of the kind of culture that the state leadership wants.\u201d<\/p>\n

The role of the regent<\/p>\n

Welsh took the helm at A&M as the political winds were gusting to the right \u2014\u00a0and as university regents were emboldened by state officials to take more active roles on campuses.<\/p>\n

Just three years prior, during the post-George Floyd racial reckoning, A&M\u2019s Board of Regents dedicated $100 million<\/a> toward scholarships to boost student diversity.<\/p>\n

But the pendulum was swinging back. By 2023, Texas became the second state<\/a> in the country to ban diversity, equity and inclusion offices and programs dedicated to retaining and graduating underrepresented students.<\/p>\n

\"StudentsStudents walk down Lamar Street on Texas A&M University\u2019s massive campus in College Station on Nov. 13, 2025. Cassie Stricker for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

State leaders looked to regents<\/a> to set a new tone on the campuses they oversaw. When Abbott appointed a new slate of regents to join university boards across the state in March 2023, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick<\/a> \u2014 then the face of DEI pushback \u2014 individually sat down with more than a dozen appointees before the Senate\u2019s traditionally perfunctory confirmation vote, according to his calendar.<\/p>\n

Patrick interviewed the regents about their views on DEI programs. He wanted them to take a stronger stand against what he viewed as liberal indoctrination on college campuses, according to two employees at separate university systems who were briefed on the conversations.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has publicly been very clear that there is no room for divisive and discriminatory DEI policies or the \u2018woke\u2019 agenda being pushed by liberal elites on campus,\u201d Patrick\u2019s spokesperson Steven Aranyi said to the Tribune, confirming the meetings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Every university system is overseen by its own nine-member board of regents, who are appointed by the governor for six-year terms. They hire system chancellors, football coaches, and university presidents, and ensure universities spend funds responsibly. State statute also says the governing boards are expected to defend a public university\u2019s institutional independence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis board really doesn\u2019t buy into that,\u201d said one A&M System administrator who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly. \u201cThe board thinks they are the representatives of the people, funneled through the people\u2019s top elected official: the governor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abbott declined to answer a list of questions. Spokesperson Andrew Mahaleris told the Tribune Abbott expects regents to \u201censure that our higher education campuses continue to focus on developing our students into the best and brightest in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Albritton acknowledged the board has to pay attention to the lawmakers who fund them. He added they\u2019re not trying to micromanage, but the regents have a responsibility \u201dto make sure things do not spin out of control.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"From left: Texas A&M Regents Sam Torn, David Baggett and John Bellinger, appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott in 2023. Courtney Sacco for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

Abbott\u2019s nearly 11 years as governor mean he\u2019s appointed all of the regents on the state\u2019s public university boards \u2014 and they are often some of his highest-dollar donors<\/a>. Albritton, first appointed in 2015, has donated more than $2.9 million to Abbott. The three regents whom Abbott would appoint at A&M in 2023 \u2014 businessmen Sam Torn, David Baggett, and Bellinger \u2014 each donated between $400,000 and $1.7 million to Abbott.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For much of the past decade, A&M regents were largely deferential to the politically savvy Chancellor John Sharp, who led the system for 14 years<\/a> and retired this summer.<\/p>\n

But in Sharp\u2019s fall 2023 performance evaluation, the board made it clear they wanted to see some changes: They said stakeholders can feel \u201cbowled over rather than full partners.\u201d They directed Sharp to loop them in on any decisions that \u201cmight post significant reputational risk to any part of the system.\u201d<\/p>\n

That summer, A&M was roiled by two controversies revealing an unfamiliar level of political interference within the administration. First, a high-profile Black journalism professor rejected a job offer amid the regents\u2019 pushback, after Texas Scorecard highlighted her prior efforts to increase faculty diversity.<\/p>\n

\"\"Then-Texas A&M Chancellor John Sharp in his office in College Station on March 27, 2023. Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

Former A&M President M. Katherine Banks resigned amid criticism of the botched hiring process. Shortly after, the Tribune reported that A&M had placed another professor on leave after the lieutenant governor asked the system to investigate comments the instructor allegedly made about him during a lecture, further eroding trust among the rank and file.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor most of us, it feels like part of A&M died this month, and I think we need to properly mourn,\u201d former Faculty Senate Speaker Tracy Hammond said during a meeting at the time.<\/p>\n

The fallout raised questions among regents about Sharp\u2019s leadership. He announced his retirement<\/a> the following year \u2014 but in an interview, Albritton said that while Sharp positively advanced the university, many board members \u201cfelt it was time for a change.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI thank the support of Gov. Abbott, Lt. Gov. Patrick, and other state leaders, as well as a large majority of the Regents, for the success I enjoyed over almost 14 years,\u201d Sharp said in an email. \u201dBut I won\u2019t comment on my opinion of Mr. Albritton as a board member.\u201d<\/p>\n

Banks, who was Sharp\u2019s protege, had lost faculty trust by removing them from the conversation as she merged colleges and reorganized key offices. Welsh quickly reversed several of Banks\u2019 controversial changes. He became known as a strong communicator who responded to concerned emails and would show face at student events. And he launched large-scale studies concerning the student experience <\/a>and how the school was going to handle its massive growth, as enrollment was nearing 80,000 students<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He promised to stand up for the faculty and not to micromanage.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a regent calls me and says, \u2018Hey, I really am worried about this,\u2019 I\u2019ll say, \u2018Thank you for the call,\u2019\u201d Welsh told the Faculty Senate a few weeks after being named interim president. \u201cBut I\u2019m not going to call the department head and tell them who to hire.\u201d<\/p>\n

That fall, he told The Washington Post<\/a> that while the university would abide by the state\u2019s new DEI ban, he did not believe it was \u201cbeneficial to where we are trying to go long-range as a society.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Matt Poling, president of The Rudder Association, poses for a portrait next to the statue of former Texas A&M President James Earl Rudder on the Texas A&M University campus in College Station on Oct. 30, 2025. Cassie Stricker for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

Alumni groups like the Rudder Association<\/a> \u2014 created in 2020 to push back against calls to remove the campus statue<\/a> of former A&M president and Confederate general, Lawrence Sullivan Ross \u2014 bristled at Welsh\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs he a radical leftist?\u201d Rudder Association President Matt Poling wrote in an email to two regents before Welsh was named permanent president<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t think so. But that may simply mean that he intends to take Texas A&M in the same direction on a shallower glide path. What Texas A&M and higher education needs right now is a conservative leader.\u201d<\/p>\n

Closing Qatar<\/p>\n

One of Welsh\u2019s first major challenges at the helm involved A&M\u2019s role in the Middle East amid boiling geopolitical tension. <\/p>\n

Weeks after the Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas in Israel, Abbott traveled to the region<\/a> and visited with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. When he returned, he told Sharp that A&M needed to close its school in Qatar, which has allowed Hamas to house a political bureau in its country for years.<\/p>\n

Sharp delivered the directive to the board, according to four people with knowledge of the conversations. <\/p>\n

Welsh saw no reason to abandon the campus, which was established in 2003<\/a> as an engineering-focused school located in an oil and gas hub. He would point out to regents the role the campus played in international relations, spreading American values and educating female engineers in the Middle East, according to four administrators.<\/p>\n

But the political pressure mounted quickly. A pro-Israel nonprofit published a report in late November 2023 falsely alleging<\/a> that terrorist groups had \u201cunrestricted access\u201d to sensitive research at the campus. Right-leaning websites amplified the claims, and it wasn\u2019t long before regents began circulating the stories among themselves via email.<\/p>\n

Welsh, who oversaw the campus in Qatar, pushed back. He issued a public statement<\/a> debunking the allegations. He directed staff to compile a 21-page brief titled \u201cSetting the Record Straight,\u201d which was sent to the governor\u2019s office, according to records. <\/p>\n

It made no difference. <\/p>\n

Abbott wanted A&M out of Qatar. Regents knew the consequence of defying state leadership meant risking the university\u2019s bottom line during the next legislative session. <\/p>\n

\"TexasTexas A&M University at Qatar in Education City, Al Rayyan, Qatar on Feb. 25, 2014. Alex Sergeev via Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n

In February 2024, with no public discussion, the regents voted 7-1 to wind down operations<\/a> in Qatar, citing \u201cheightened instability in the Middle East.\u201d Just one regent, Michael Plank, dissented. Abbott replaced Plank with a new regent the next year. Plank declined to comment. <\/p>\n

Welsh accepted the board\u2019s decision. When he met with Qatari faculty a few days later via Zoom, he acknowledged the decision was a surprise. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be honest, although the discussions with the A&M System and the Board of Regents have been ongoing for several months, I think all of us here are also still processing the events of the last couple of days,\u201d Welsh said, according to a transcript of the meeting.<\/p>\n

Just a couple of months into his new job, as Welsh found himself batting down misinformation about the Qatar campus, he received a friendly email.<\/p>\n

Former A&M President Michael Young \u2014 who\u2019d been watching the heated discourse from the sidelines \u2014 emailed him about one of the false reports, calling it \u201cnonsense.\u201d <\/p>\n

He ended the email on a prescient note: \u201cAre you absolutely positive you want to take this job??\u201d <\/p>\n

The spirit of the Corps<\/p>\n

Before Welsh set foot in the president\u2019s office, a storm was brewing involving one of the university\u2019s most sacred cows: the Corps of Cadets<\/a>, the largest uniformed student body outside the country\u2019s service academies.<\/p>\n

Years prior, a cadet came out as a transgender woman and argued A&M was violating her civil rights by denying access to restrooms in the dorms that matched her gender identity.<\/p>\n

At the time, the federal and state governments were at loggerheads. The Biden administration had proposed<\/a> new rules that would have increased protections<\/a> for transgender students on college campuses. Meanwhile, the state was pushing for laws that moved in the opposite direction, and in June 2023, Attorney General Ken Paxton had sued the federal government<\/a> to stop the new protections.<\/p>\n

Before Welsh took office, university leaders told the student that by her senior year, one gender-neutral restroom would be ready for use. But by fall 2023, its expected completion date, it still wasn\u2019t ready. Now, the student was threatening to report the university to the Biden administration, Kevin McGinnis, the university\u2019s now-retired chief compliance officer, told the Tribune. <\/p>\n

That December, regents met with Welsh and the Corps\u2019 top official, Commandant Patrick Michaelis, to sort out a resolution. The regents were skeptical about the concept of gender-neutral restrooms in the Corps. But they arrived at a consensus: Rather than renovate all dorms across the Corps, the administration would commit to building a gender-neutral restroom in four of the Corps\u2019 12 dorms. <\/p>\n

The effort had continued unhindered throughout spring, with a cost of about $3 million. But as that price tag continued to rise, news of the renovations started to spread. <\/p>\n

\"\"Clockwise from top left: Members of the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets run past Kyle Field in College Station on Nov. 25, 2025. Later, cadets walk an American flag to the flagpole in Academic Plaza. The Corps Arches mark the entrance to the Corps Quad, where most cadets live. Courtney Sacco and Cassie Stricker for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

In May 2024, the Rudder Association posted on its website<\/a> claiming A&M would spend upward of $72 million on renovating every restroom in the Corps, adding that it had come about because of \u201ca senior male cadet who had appropriated the female gender\u201d and it was likely the regents hadn\u2019t \u201cbeen fully advised of this scheme or approved of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Except the regents had discussed it \u2014 and OK\u2019d the plans months prior. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat has been done to set the record straight on this?\u201d Plank wrote to Welsh after the post went live. \u201cWhere have we published our response to these false allegations? Have we formally requested a retraction from The Rudder Association?\u201d<\/p>\n

Outrage poured in. \u201cThis kind of crap makes me despise the university that I used to love,\u201d wrote one alum. <\/p>\n

But Welsh, those close to him said, was steadfast in private conversations: This was the federal guidance, and A&M had to follow it. <\/p>\n

Regents were already fielding angry calls over Michaelis\u2019 proposals to try to crack down on hazing and the perception he allowed too many female Corps leaders. Alumni complained he was disrupting the organization\u2019s storied traditions. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe board had let the chancellor know their frustration that things were going on that just isn\u2019t in the spirit of the Corps,\u201d Albritton said. <\/p>\n

But Welsh stood by his commandant throughout, two people close to the president told the Tribune, and situated himself as a barrier between university officials and regents. In August 2024, the regents told Sharp that they wanted Michaelis out. Sharp relayed the message to Welsh, and days later, in a one-on-one meeting in the president\u2019s office, Welsh fired Michaelis. Michaelis declined to be interviewed for this story.<\/p>\n

Even though Welsh did what the regents wanted, they were frustrated it took him so long and that it required their involvement. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt just got to a level of frustration that Mark always wanted to have a board action in order to make decisions that the board felt should be made at the presidential level, without board involvement,\u201d Albritton said. <\/p>\n

Welsh defended himself in an email.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a pretty long track record of professional decision making, which I\u2019m very comfortable standing behind, including decisions made as president of A&M. I made hundreds of decisions in that job, both easy and hard. Every decision I made was in the best interest of the university. I think the real issue was in a very small number of cases, the board felt a different decision would have better served the university,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn those situations, the board had every right and authority to overturn my decision or direct specific action. All I asked is that they do so formally and be accountable for their action. I believe that\u2019s a fairly routine standard of practice for corporate governance in our country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fraying relationships<\/p>\n

The pressure Welsh faced over LGBTQ+ issues was relentless.<\/p>\n

In January 2024, as Texas Scorecard was repeatedly writing about the teaching of gender identity on campus, Regent Michael Hernandez sent an angry email to Welsh after he was contacted by the website for comment about various LGBTQ+ events and courses on campus the site was preparing to write about.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen does our administration\u2019s obsession with student sexual preferences and lifestyles finally stop?\u201d he wrote. \u201cWhy do we allow the administration to continue to promote these liberal agendas that are clearly against the Texas Legislature and the vast majority of Texas taxpayers?\u201d<\/p>\n

The university\u2019s LGBTQ minor was particularly in the crosshairs.<\/p>\n

Texas Scorecard highlighted<\/a> the university\u2019s new LGBTQ studies minor in 2023, and shortly after<\/a>, the provost\u2019s office launched a broad review that found dozens <\/a>of low-enrolled programs, including the LGBTQ studies minor, and recommended them for removal. By that point, Harrison, the state representative, was whipping up outrage among his followers on X.<\/p>\n

The Faculty Senate saw any action without their input as another attack on academic freedom, the longstanding academic tradition that protects instruction and research from political interference. <\/p>\n

\"RetiredRetired General Mark A. Welsh III, then interim president of Texas A&M University, speaks at a press conference in the Flag Room of the Memorial Student Center on the A&M campus on Aug. 2, 2023. Courtesy of Meredith Seaver\/The Eagle Newspaper<\/p>\n

Welsh proposed a compromise: start the review process over with more faculty input. But the regents, frustrated by his resistance, rejected his pitch. <\/p>\n

In November, they unanimously voted<\/a> to get rid of the LGBTQ minor, along with 51 other minors and certificates.<\/p>\n

By this point, Texas Scorecard was publishing critical A&M posts nearly every week<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Publicly, Welsh would brush aside<\/a> the website.<\/p>\n

\u201cVirtually every article they publish is not fully factual, sometimes not even close to factual,\u201d he told the student newspaper in November 2024. \u201cThey have never printed a retraction when we provided them the facts, and so I don\u2019t worry about them too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it was consuming communication staffers who struggled to manage and respond to the criticism. Government relations officials warned Welsh that lawmakers would bring up Scorecard in conversations, records show.<\/p>\n

In December 2024, an alum emailed Welsh, citing a Texas Scorecard post, and accused him of leading the university down a \u201cWOKE path.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou clearly don\u2019t know me at all,\u201d Welsh wrote back. \u201cI have no idea what \u2018WOKE path\u2019 even means, and I\u2019m certainly not leading anyone down one.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the tensions occasionally veered outside culture war issues. In 2024, when baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle left to coach UT-Austin hours after his A&M team lost in the national championship, Hernandez shot an email off to Welsh.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had better not lose our baseball coach,\u201d Hernandez wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay, let\u2019s be straight,\u201d Welsh replied. \u201cHe\u2019s gone. We didn\u2019t lose him \u2026 he left. \u2026 Not sure what you\u2019re expecting here or what you hope to accomplish with threats.\u201d <\/p>\n

Hernandez retorted: \u201cYou are in way over your head.\u201d<\/p>\n

Welsh takes heed<\/p>\n

In early 2025, internal emails began circulating on X<\/a> that showed A&M inviting faculty and graduate students to attend a national professional development conference intended to increase diversity among faculty. It specified that applicants must be Black, Hispanic, or Native American. The governor quickly weighed in<\/a> that attending the conference violated the state\u2019s DEI ban.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be fixed immediately or the president will soon be gone,\u201d Abbott wrote on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Welsh subsequently directed the business school\u2019s dean to cut ties with the organization. In an email to administrators, he said that whether or not the conference violates the state\u2019s DEI ban, \u201cI just don\u2019t believe it meets the intent and is therefore not a good business decision for us.\u201d <\/p>\n

With the Legislature underway, A&M officials were trying not to rock the boat as hundreds of millions of dollars in state funding for the flagship hung in the balance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe flagship Texas A&M University campus in College Station in November. Cassie Stricker for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

Patrick was already making threats to withhold vital funding. In one early 2025 email, government relations official Julie Kopycinski wrote to Welsh that Patrick would soon try to get the attention of institutions of higher education by threatening<\/a> tens of millions in funding for public universities. <\/p>\n

\u201cJulie \u2014 what part of our \u2018attention\u2019 is he trying to get?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat we have collectively lost our core mission,\u201d Kopycinski wrote back, \u201cand are still too dei and leftist focused.\u201d <\/p>\n

Welsh appeared to take heed. A few weeks after Kopycinski\u2019s email, he vetoed<\/a> a Faculty Senate decision to add a course called \u201cIntroduction to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Studies\u201d to the university\u2019s core curriculum.<\/p>\n

At a town hall three months later, faculty asked why he rejected the class. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a business decision,\u201d Welsh said, according to a faculty member in attendance.<\/p>\n

The ultimatum <\/p>\n

A few weeks into Welsh\u2019s third fall semester as president, he got a call from Tyson Voelkel, the president and CEO of the Texas A&M Foundation, the main fundraising arm for the university that manages a $3 billion endowment.<\/a><\/p>\n

Voelkel told Welsh he\u2019d just heard from the regents chair, Albritton, who had asked whether he\u2019d be interested in the job as interim president, four people familiar with the call said. <\/p>\n

But Welsh hadn\u2019t been fired.<\/p>\n

A few days prior, Harrison, the state representative, had posted a series of videos on X<\/a>, including one showing a student confronting an A&M professor<\/a> over teaching gender in a children\u2019s literature course, and another of Welsh telling the student<\/a> he wouldn\u2019t fire the professor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not happening,\u201d Welsh told the student. (He ultimately fired the lecturer.) <\/p>\n

\"TheThe Texas A&M University System Board of Regents listens to public comment during a regents meeting at the Texas A&M Hotel and Conference Center in College Station on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. Courtney Sacco for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

Albritton said some regents were upset by that comment, calling it bad judgment to state that she would not be fired before knowing all of the facts.<\/p>\n

The fallout<\/a> from the videos was immediate and fierce. For some, it was a tipping point.<\/p>\n

Calls to fire Welsh poured into the chancellor and regents\u2019 inboxes. Records show the system\u2019s top government relations official spoke to the offices of nine state lawmakers in the days after the video went viral.<\/p>\n

Albritton got on the phone with Abbott.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe governor told me it\u2019s a board decision, but he thinks it\u2019s probably time for a change,\u201d Albritton told the Tribune.<\/p>\n

Without Welsh\u2019s knowledge, regents had started looking for options to replace him. Voelkel ultimately rejected the offer in a text message, calling it a \u201cmistake\u201d to push out the current president, according to an administrator who reviewed the message. Weeks later, Voelkel abruptly announced<\/a> his resignation from the foundation. Voelkel did not respond to multiple requests for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The day after Voelkel rejected Albritton\u2019s pitch, Chancellor Glenn Hegar \u2014 whom the board selected to succeed Sharp \u2014 made the same ask to former Texas Sen. Tommy Williams.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He accepted \u2014 days before Welsh resigned.<\/p>\n

\"\"From left: A&M System Chancellor Glenn Hegar and university interim President Tommy Williams. Courtney Sacco and Cassie Stricker for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

Williams had little experience in academia, but is a known quantity in the Capitol as a lobbyist, former lawmaker for 16 years, and former adviser to Abbott<\/a>. He once authored<\/a> a bill that would make it more difficult for trans people to get married, stating at the time<\/a> that \u201cthe Texas Constitution clearly defines marriage between one man and one woman.\u201d Williams did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

With a replacement lined up, Albritton called Welsh on Monday, Sept. 15, to deliver an ultimatum: resign or be fired. <\/p>\n

\u201cI felt a strong loyalty to him, and it was a very hard conversation,\u201d Albritton said. \u201cBut it was a conversation that had to be had.\u201d<\/p>\n

As rumors spread that Welsh was being ousted, supporters campaigned urgently to save him. <\/p>\n

More than 100 current and former student government leaders signed a letter<\/a> supporting Welsh. Wayne Roberts, a top university donor, wrote to Hegar that Welsh \u201cis the best president we\u2019ve had in my lifetime.\u201d He added, \u201cWe desperately need stability in our leadership, something we\u2019ve not enjoyed over the last few decades.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neil Bush, the son of former President George H. W. Bush told the regents that \u201cTexas, and Texas A&M, are too often distracted by narrow political agendas, sensationalized cultural conflicts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe work is serious,\u201d Bush wrote. \u201cIt demands integrity, steadfast leadership, and a vision larger than any temporary partisan moment.\u201d <\/p>\n

Hegar would give Welsh the same ultimatum in the following days, and Welsh submitted his resignation<\/a> on Sept. 18, the day of the next board meeting.<\/p>\n

The Rudder Association published an open letter<\/a> celebrating his departure.<\/p>\n

\u201cNearly two years ago we publicly questioned the appointment of then interim President Welsh to the permanent presidency,\u201d the letter read. \u201cWe were troubled by a pattern of actions and statements which were typical of a DEI ideology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harrison, who sparked the final controversy by posting the video online, took a victory lap, posting<\/a>, \u201cWE DID IT! TEXAS A&M PRESIDENT IS OUT!!\u201d <\/p>\n

Back on campus, hundreds of students, staff and faculty amassed at the administration building to cheer Welsh and his wife as they walked out for the final time, a rare showing for a university that has seen a dozen people in the president\u2019s office since the turn of the millennium.<\/p>\n

\"\"President Mark A. Welsh III and his wife Betty are greeted by A&M faculty, staff and students as he leaves campus after announcing his resignation on Sept. 19, 2025. Cassie Stricker for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

Publicly, system officials praised Welsh for his service and dodged questions about whether Welsh had been forced out.<\/p>\n

But in an email to top administrators the day after Welsh resigned, the chancellor relayed his thoughts more candidly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have learned that major events are often a cumulation of small things that build up over time and that cumulation is rarely seen or heard,\u201d Hegar wrote. \u201cMost events do not happen in a vacuum, which means an easy answer does not bring the clarity we seek.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jessica Priest and Carla Astudillo contributed to this report. <\/p>\n

Disclosure: Texas A&M Foundation and Texas A&M University have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune\u2019s journalism. Find a complete\u00a0list of them here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy, and give…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3099,1864,392,4733,27,2687,3097,29,28,6473],"class_list":["post-82957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-brian-harrison","tag-dan-patrick","tag-greg-abbott","tag-michael-quinn-sullivan","tag-texas","tag-texas-am-university-system","tag-texas-am-university-college-station","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-well-a-homepage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82957","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=82957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}