The Battalion — July 20, 2023

THURSDAY, JULY 20 | SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 | © 2023 STUDENT MEDIA

Graphic: A chronological summary

Opinion: Public reactions to McElroy ordeal

Letter to the editor: A&M journalism cut off at knees

News: Recap of special faculty senate meeting

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PAGE TORN FROM A&M

JOURNALISM

By Ana Renfroe and Caleb Elizondo

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exas A&M alumni, former New York Times editor and former director of the University of Texas’ School of Journalism Kathleen McElroy signed a

contract to become the director of A&M’s new journalism program at a ceremony on June 13.

The contract granted McElroy a position as a professor in the Communication and Journalism department, appointed her as director of the journalism program and offered her tenure pending approval by the Board of Regents. However, after McElroy said A&M offered her a different contract, McElroy told The Eagle “I feel now kind of like a pawn in all of this,” and that she would be returning to her position at UT. During a July 19 faculty senate meeting, President M. Katherine Banks said her office only signed off on the first offer.

TIMELINE ON PG. 3

A program’s future at stake University leaders to meet with state authorities to discuss degree approval

By Ana Renfroe @aeoenia On Thursday, July 27, Texas A&M College of Arts and Sciences leaders will present to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, or THECB, in hopes of gaining approval for its journalism degree program.

The THECB’s quarterly board meeting is open to the public and will be held in Austin at the Barbara Jordan Building in Room 2.035 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The outgoing College of Arts and Sciences Interim Dean José Luis Bermúdez, Ph.D, and Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Alan Sams, Ph.D, will present to the THECB on behalf of A&M. In 2004, A&M discontinued its then-55year-old journalism major. The journalism major was replaced with a minor, then later offered as a University Studies degree as a concentration. After university President M. Katherine Banks expanded on her plans to reestablish the program in 2022, the Texas A&M System Board of Regents granted approval for the reinstatement of the journalism major in February.

In Banks’ 2022 State of the University Address, Banks said the reestablished journalism program will emphasize “high-impact learning experiences with industry professionals.”

After Kathleen McElroy, Ph.D, University of Texas at Austin professor, former director and A&M Class of 1981, was announced as the new journalism director on June 13, students and faculty celebrated and welcomed her addition to the program. McElroy held a multitude of writing and editorial positions, garnering nearly 30 years of experience while working for various publications — most notably, The New York Times. McElroy’s expertise also includes race and news media, sports, newsroom ethics and obituaries.

After diversity, equity and inclusion, or

FILE

Front of Bolton Hall, home of the Department of Communication and Journalism, on June 12, 2017.

DEI, institutions were banned from Texas public colleges, McElroy’s interest in race and media led to her being labeled a “DEI proponent.”

“I don’t study DEI. I am not considered a DEI researcher. I’m not a DEI administrator,” McElroy said. “That’s one thing I really want to make clear. I’ve been labeled ‘DEI’ because I’m a black woman.”

On June 13, McElroy publicly signed her contract for director, but soon after, the terms of the position began changing as college leadership was concerned that she would not be approved for tenure by the A&M Board of Regents due to her areas of expertise.

Following weeks of controversy after the failed hiring and contract negotiation of McElroy, A&M and its leadership have received public backlash from faculty, staff, students and alumni. On July 17, Bermúdez

announced he would be stepping down from his position as interim dean after July 31 in light of the situation.

Although the journalism program has yet to secure a director, Bermúdez said the College of Arts and Sciences remains fully committed to the journalism degree and program.

“We will continue the national search for an outstanding practitioner and educator to lead the program,” Bermúdez said in a July 12 email to The Battalion. “Courses are taught by faculty we already have, so the students will be able to learn from those courses and faculty, even before a program director is named.”

Although the search for another suitable candidate continues, Bermúdez said the program can still be implemented without a director but will be administered by the Department of Communication and Journalism.

If the program is approved, Bermúdez said

students will be able to declare journalism as their major by the fall 2023 semester. If students satisfy university and program transfer requirements, they can also request to change their major.

Although the journalism degree has yet to be approved, the future of the program has garnered national interest and media attention, leaving many concerned about “outside influences” that may have impacted McElroy’s hiring and negotiation process.

On July 17, Shannon Van Zandt, the executive associate dean of the School of Architecture, announced to students and faculty that she plans to step down after Aug. 31 after learning about the unfolding of McElroy’s contract.

FUTURE ON PG. 3

NEWS

The Battalion | 07.20.23

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NEWS

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The Battalion | 07.20.23

Photo courtesy of Cameron Johnson

Former Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences José Luis Bermúdez welcomes Professor Kathleen McElroy after her signing of department job offer on June 13, 2023, in Academic Plaza.

TIMELINE CONTINUED FROM PG. 1 On June 15, the right-wing publication Texas Scorecard published an article titled “Aggies Hire NY Times ‘Diversity’ Advocate To Head Journalism Program.” The article refers to McElroy as a “diversity, equity, and inclusion proponent.”

Following the article’s publication, A&M provided a statement to the Texas Scorecard.

In the statement provided, A&M said McElroy was “a superb professor, veteran journalist and proven leader, as well as an Aggie” and that she was “position[ed] uniquely to lead the new program.”

After the signing, McElroy said she was informed that she may be unable to secure tenure due to the approval process by the Board of Regents. According to The New York Times, the regents had read the Texas Scorecard article.

McElroy said she verbally agreed to a fiveyear contract with no tenure and a meeting with the Board of Regents in August.

“I agreed … I’ll change to a multi-year

FUTURE CONTINUED FROM PG. 1 “I no longer feel that I can assure faculty going through the tenure and promotion process that the process will be done fairly and without interference from political forces,” Van Zandt wrote in the letter. “I can no longer confidently communicate to faculty candidates our commitment to diversity, inclusion and equity, nor the integrity of our hiring, tenure, promotion and retention efforts. Further, although generally an optimist, I have lost faith in the ideal of shared governance as it is practiced on this campus. As a planner, I have taught and practiced the ideals of

contract, and then they wanted me to go before the Board of Regents, and I said okay,” McElroy said. “I’d have to explain who I am, but after that one slide about who I am, I’m not just a ‘diversity proponent’ or ‘advocate,’ that I could talk about all the great things we could do at A&M journalism.”

McElroy said she received a call from the interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences José Luis Bermúdez on July 7, warning of people who could force leadership to fire her. McElroy said she was advised by Bermúdez to stay at her position at UT. McElroy said Bermúdez told her that her hiring “stirred up a hornet’s nest” and that “even if he hired me, these people could make him fire me … that the president and the chancellor, no one can stop that from happening,” according to The Texas Tribune.

The Board of Regents met the day before and discussed McElroy’s hiring, according to The Texas Tribune. The agenda lists a discussion of personnel matters in an executive session, which was closed to the public.

McElroy said she received an updated offer on July 9, but it was not the offer she verbally

agreed to. McElroy said she was offered a oneyear appointment as director, but she could be terminated “at will” for any reason, as per Texas state law.

McElroy told The Texas Tribune she would be returning to UT instead of agreeing to the new offer in an article published on July 11. However, McElroy would continue negotiations with A&M’s general counsel during a July 14 meeting.

“Dr. McElroy is an Aggie,” McElroy’s lawyer John T. Lopez said, according to The Eagle. “She loves and admires and respects the university and having the position of director of the journalism program is a dream job for her. She will do everything possible to make sure that there is secure understanding of that by the university and everybody else concerned.”

In a July 17 article, The Eagle confirmed that Lopez is no longer representing McElroy.

In an email addressed to students and faculty, Bermúdez announced on July 17 he will be stepping down from his role as interim dean after July 31.

“I feel in the light of controversy surround-

ing recent communications with Dr. Kathleen McElroy that this is the best thing that I can do to preserve the great things that we have achieved over the last year in creating the College of Arts and Sciences at [A&M],” Bermúdez wrote. “My continuation in this role would be a needless distraction as you all continue the work that we have begun.”

In a faculty senate meeting on July 19, President Banks said the president’s office had no documentation of the five-year contract McElroy said she verbally agreed to. Banks also said she did not know what gave McElroy the impression the original offer had been revoked.

“I was not in any of these conversations.”

Banks said. “Certainly, if I had been asked by her, or others … we assumed that offer was valid and that she would show up August 1.”

transparency and inclusivity to the best of my ability. I see no commitment to those ideals in the current administration of the university or system.”

On July 14, Speaker of the Faculty Senate, Tracy Hammond, Ph.D, wrote a letter to Banks and A&M System Chancellor John Sharp, publicly denouncing any outside influence in the hiring and promotion of faculty.

Hammond said recent opposition to McElroy’s hiring was “the tip of the iceberg,” imploring Banks and Sharp to prevent such future actions.

The Rudder Association, or TRA, a group of A&M former students and community members, has faced past allegations of involve-

ment in influencing the decisions of top A&M administrators.

Recently, TRA has received national attention due to concerns over its level of influence after it expressed concerns to A&M administration about McElroy’s selection. “[The Rudder Association] respectfully disagrees with the characterization of taxpayers, tuition payers and donors as ‘outside influence,’” TRA wrote in a July 15 press release.

Additionally, TRA said it believes regents and elected officials should not be viewed as an outside influence either as they ensure that “the strategic decisions of our state institutions align with the expectations and future needs of all Texans.”

TRA acknowledged statements from A&M faculty senators, but it believes that all university stakeholders, including Texas citizens, share a common goal for the program: “to produce journalists who uphold the highest standards of integrity, thereby restoring public trust in the profession for the benefit of society.”

“We all have a stake in the success of this initiative,” Dr. Matthew Poling, MD, TRA president, said. “Our collective aim should be to foster a journalism department that prepares its students to uphold the principles of journalistic integrity and contribute positively to their profession and our society.”

Editor’s note: Valerie Muñoz, the author of “Aggies Hire NY Times ‘Diversity’ Advocate To Head Journalism Program,” is a former opinion writer for The Battalion.

Photo courtesy of The Dude/WikiCommons

T R E N DY, D E S I G N E R & V I N TA G E

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NEWS

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The Battalion | 07.20.23

Serbino Sandifer-Walker

Sherrilynn Ifill

Vernon E. Jordan, Jr. Esq. Endowed Chair in Civil Rights at Howard University “The outrageous treatment of distinguished journalist Kathleen McElroy by Texas A&M is beyond the pale. They will pay dearly for this disgrace. The choreography mirrors the treatment of Nikole Hannah Jones

by UNC. Univs are bowing to white supremacy,” Ifill tweeted.

Associate Dean of Texas Southern University Journalism “Reading this story made my blood boil because I know Kathleen McElroy.

That the leadership of Texas A&M University attempted to dim, diminish, and destroy a brilliant human being because she is Black is a shame. She’s an alumna of that school. She’s a stellar journalist and a professor,” SandiferWalker tweeted.

Editorial Board

The Eagle Bryan-College Station “Texas A&M University has given itself a black eye in an embarrassing one-two punch that continues to fester with the Kathleen McElroy controversy,” The Eagle Editorial Board said.

M. Katherine Banks

Texas A&M University President

“I’m just sad... I believe we lost a very, very good hire,” Banks said during the July 9, 2023, Faculty Senate meeting.

ACLU of Texas

The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas “Dr. Kathleen McElroy was set to lead the Texas A&M journalism school.

Now, the university has changed their offer — because of her work on race and diversity in newsrooms. Efforts to whitewash and erode the quality of public education threaten our state,” ACLU of Texas tweeted.

Matt Poling

Public Reactions Sherry Sylvester

The Rudder Association President

Former Senior Advisor to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick

“We felt she wasn’t a good fit ... I think identity politics have done a lot of damage to our country, and the manifestation of that on campus, the D.E.I. ideology, has done damage to our culture at A&M,” Poling told the New York Times.

“It’s hard to see how McElroy is the right person for the job. She likes the journalism most Americans have learned not to trust … Texas A&M may want to reconsider if it really needs a journalism school. Unless it can find someone who believes in reporting all sides of the news, it may want to chalk up the McElroy experience as a bullet dodged and take a pass,” Sylvester told The Cannon.

Texas Scorecard

Texas Scorecard publication

“REAL JOURNALISM MATTERS Last month, we reported that Texas A&M University hired a former New York Times senior editor and a proponent of DEI, as director to their new journalism program. Since then, A&M began altering her contract. Last week, she rejected the job offer,” Texas Scorecard tweeted.

Editorial Board

The Houston Chronicle

“Unfortunately, this debacle on the Brazos is probably a portent. As long as those cold-eyed crusaders of antiwokeness, Govs. Abbott and Ron DeSantis of Florida, are competing with each other, our academic institutions are going to suffer,” The Houston Chronicle Editorial Board said.

Susan King

Former Dean of the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill “Those meddling in the appointment of accomplished professionals like Nikole Hannah-Jones and Kathleen McElroy are destroying the very idea of a university, and infringing on its ability to question, explore, discuss, challenge and shape new knowledge,” King said in an article for The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Tracy Hammond

Texas A&M University Speaker of the Faculty Senate “Right now, we are at a pivotal moment in Texas A&M University history. The world is watching us,” Hammond said during a Faculty Senate meeting.

Valerie Muñoz

Writer for the Texas Scorecard and journalism student at Texas A&M “This is a WIN for FACTS and truthful journalism in place of spun ‘journalism’ in the name of DEI. Glad to be the Aggie who exposed this,” Muñoz tweeted.

OPINION

The Battalion | 07.20.23

Letter to the Editor

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Texas A&M journalism cut at the knees

By Ryan Faulkner, Michaela Rush, Casey Stavenhagen and Nathan Varnell Mere months after Texas A&M President M. Katherine Banks promised to “elevate the profession” of journalism and make the university the “number-one choice for students wanting a journalism degree,” a respected journalist and alumnus with decades of relevant experience had a job offer pulled out from under her.

For what feels like the umpteenth time in recent memory, A&M has once again reaffirmed its steadfast commitment to prevent the development of educated journalists.

The political motivations of Texas A&M’s bait-and-switch offer are not as subtle as the administration seemingly believed. Placating easily offended right-wing stakeholders came at the expense of one of the university’s most esteemed journalism alumni and her plan to revive Aggie journalism for the modern age.

The problem? The candidate pushed from the role, Kathleen McElroy, is a Black woman who dares to incorporate topics of systemic discrimination in her reporting and teaching.

The school brought out the pomp and circumstance to rival the hiring of a new fizzling head coach for McElroy’s contract signing. All this for a new journalism director, and only to retract one offer for another, and then for another.

“I couldn’t pass up this opportunity to be a part of something transformational for Texas A&M, for the state of Texas and for journalism,” McElroy told Texas A&M Today. The university’s current leadership, always looking to the past, could never allow something transformational. Instead, the Board of Regents and President Banks sympathized with select alumni shedding tears over “the divisive ideology of identity politics,” some of whom have since attempted to take credit for their influence on the decision.

After several recent public relations nightmares — the pulled sponsorship of Draggieland, attempting to stop printing of The Battalion, attempts to kill Fish Camp and libraries — many alumni have been outraged.

Rarely, though, have so many claimed embarrassment, regret and shame in their alma mater, until now.

Regardless of the politics involved, this move shows Aggieland’s current true colors and rejection of the core values. The move is deceitful, disrespectful and discriminatory. There is no honor in A&M’s cowardice, and there is

no honor in the responsible decision-makers’ fear of speaking publicly for themselves. Despite the many calls for explanation, Katherine Banks and the Board of Regents refuse to comment on proven ties to The Rudder

as sport management and global languages, and professional development opportunities for all Aggie journalists.

In addition to her 20-year tenure with The New York Times, McElroy’s resume ri-

Association or the influence of elected officials sympathetic to the group, such as dues-paying State Senator Paul Bettencourt.

During the months-long hiring process for a director of journalism, McElroy’s visit brought a renewed sense of excitement to campus for students, faculty and alumni alike.

Faculty had a heavyweight champion in their corner, who negotiated conditions to her contract for funding for the department and several tenure-track lines to draw in more teaching talent. Students were met by McElroy with empathy for existing problems and excitement for the possibilities of the future, classes allowing for collaboration across departments, such

vals that of any modern journalistic titan. In the collegiate world, she was the first Aggie inducted into the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association Hall of Fame, a founding board member of Friends of The Battalion and a professor at Oklahoma State and Texas, pursuing a wide range of research topics, including sports, obituaries and collective memory. Her breadth in the newsroom, as a local reporter at the Bryan-College Station Eagle, to being a dining, sports and eventually managing editor at one of the nation’s oldest and most-read publications, proves the enrichment she would have brought to students of any journalistic discipline.

And above all else? She is an Aggie — she is one of our own. And yet leadership had no problem taking one piece of her decades-long legacy, a research interest in racial discourse, and inflating it to justify pulling an offer.

The worst twist of the knife comes knowing A&M initially defended McElroy in a release to the far-right activist publication Texas Scorecard, which published statements she made on recognizing systemic discrimination to inflame resistance to her hiring. Mind you, Texas Scorecard’s publisher, Michael Quinn Sullivan, was fined by the Texas Ethics Commission for failing to register as a lobbyist.

When he called himself a journalist, and exempt from the fine, the commission found his claims “baseless.” This is the “journalism” A&M leadership now caters to.

Instead of being welcomed home to Aggieland, a mistreated journalist has to come forward about what went wrong. If this had happened to any other hire within the system, they might not have had the support or savvy to publicize the wrongdoing. There lies A&M’s hall pass to continue its abuse of those who they decide don’t “put the Aggie back in Aggieland.”

The message this sends to any prospective hires for the position is hideous. A&M may offer you a nice job to get you to leave your post, but the administration may just as well spit on it at the last second.Within the span of a month, a life-breathing job at one of the largest universities in the country was filled and then again left vacant, potentially indefinitely.

The “target” on McElroy’s back, as described by the recently resigned Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences José Luis Bermúdez, is no isolated incident. A&M System leadership have allowed an insidious political culture to take root, in which “even if he hired me, these people could make him fire me … that the president and the chancellor, no one can stop that from happening,” McElroy told The Texas Tribune. It is the same culture that keeps faculty in the dark during administrative consolidation, that pushes out tenured librarians and rends independence from student organizations that appear too “liberal,” “diverse” or “gay.” Bermúdez resigned “in light of the controversy” of recent events — one wonders if it is in protest or shame.

With each further stunt, the thought of slipping on our Aggie Rings or an A&M ball cap becomes a little less attractive.

Ryan Faulkner, Michaela Rush, Casey Stavenhagen and Nathan Varnell, Class of 2023, are former editors of The Battalion.

NEWS

The Battalion | 07.20.23

Banks denies fault

University administration claims no subsequent offers made to McElroy

By Jack Lee @JackTheBatt

During the July 19 Texas A&M faculty senate meeting, President M. Katherine Banks strongly denied revising or revoking Kathleen McElroy’s tenure offer, contradicting reporting by The Texas Tribune that has been disseminated throughout national and local media.

Banks said she was looking forward to McElroy’s arrival, and that there was no outside force convincing A&M administration to turn away McElroy, and that McElroy rejecting the university’s offer came as a surprise to her office.

“We were excited about her coming,” Banks said. “In fact, we scheduled a workshop on the vision of the journalism program for August with the assumption that she would be here.”

In response to an anonymous question asking how accurate the Texas Tribune article was, Banks said that only a single offer had been made by A&M to McElroy. The offer, still valid, according to Banks, contained tenure pending approval from the Board of

Regents.

“Dr. McElroy received an offer for tenure upon arrival by the university,” Banks said.

“She came to campus, she signed that agreement. That agreement has not been revoked.

That agreement is still in place. At this point, I think it’s important to remember that there was no change in that offer. She could have accepted that offer at any time.”

Banks claimed that any additional offers made to McElroy would have been made outside of the president’s office.

“The [Texas Tribune] said that there was a five-year [non-tenure] offer made [after the initial offer],” Banks said. “We cannot find any documentation that there was a five-year offer made.”

Regarding what might have given McElroy the impression that an offer was revoked, Banks said she wasn’t sure.

“I have no idea,” Banks said. “That was never my understanding or anyone else in my office. I was not in any of these conversations.

Certainly, if I had been asked by her, or others … we assumed that offer was valid and that she would show up August first.”

Banks said she was deeply disappointed McElroy rejected the offer.

“Quite frankly, I really wish with all my heart I’d have the opportunity to talk with [McElroy] before she made the decision that she made,” Banks said. “I didn’t. I believe if I perhaps had a little warning before I would have called her directly and talked with her about her concerns, and I’m just sad that I

didn’t have the opportunity to do so, because I believe we lost a very, very good hire.”

Faculty senators present at the meeting reacted to Banks’ claims with confusion. Rajesh Miranda, senator for the College of Medicine, said he was puzzled as to why there was such a large gulf between the president’s office and McElroy’s perceptions of the terms of the offers.

“Dr. Banks and [vice president for faculty affairs] Dr. [N.K.] Anand, after listening to that, I have come away feeling a little more confused than I did at the beginning,” Miranda said. “It just seems inconceivable that there has not been an opportunity to just get together with [McElroy] and talk frankly with her.”

Senator for the College of Engineering Raymundo Arroyave said he was skeptical of Banks’s claims.

“It doesn’t make sense to me,” Arroyave said. “None of us can diagram what actually happened. I don’t know who’s at fault or where the offer came from. There’s so many questions that I have, and I don’t think [Banks and Anand] were credible, given the explanations that they had … even within the department, they never miss the status of an offer or a letter. The fact that they missed the boat … stretches my ability to believe in them.”

Senator for the College of Engineering Jorge Alvarado said Banks and Anand failed to take adequate responsibility for the situation.

“I’m surprised that today, our president and our vice president basically made excuses,” Alvarado said. “Saying the letter didn’t make

Photo courtesy of Cameron Johnson

The Texas A&M University Faculty Senate meets on Wednesday July 9, 2023.

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it from point A to point B, and so on.”

Dana Gaddy, senator for the School of Veterinary Medicine, said the administration’s opacity and apparent obliviousness regarding the McElroy hiring during the meeting was shameful.

“It’s plausible deniability for them, to stand up here to us and say, ‘I’m sorry, we don’t know, we thought everything was going to move forward as planned,’” Gaddy said. “I am insulted … I am an alumnus of this place, I am a faculty member here, and I love this place. I am ashamed to wear my ring.”

Secretary of the faculty senate Andrew Klein said several members of the senate were concerned about the potential influence of The Rudder Association.

“Can Dr. Banks confirm that she has not met with [The Rudder Association]?” Klein said. “Can she tell what conversations she has had with them since this issue has arisen?”

“I have not met with [The Rudder Association],” Banks said. “I’m surprised they would even state that, given that I haven’t.”

A faculty senator later cited a March 2022 article by The Battalion that claimed Banks met monthly with The Rudder Association board members, contradicting her earlier statement.

A resolution calling on the president, chancellor and Board of Regents to “make clear public statements that emphasize outside interference in faculty matters is not acceptable” passed with 55 votes for and five votes against.