Texas A&M President's Resignation Raises Key Question

Texas A&M University President Katherine Banks resigned on Thursday following a botched hiring process involving a Black journalism professor, as questions remain as to who exactly made multiple offers to the applicant and how diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) played a role in them not wanting to accept the position.

Kathleen McElroy, a 1981 Texas A&M graduate and former editor at The New York Times, was announced on June 13 to have accepted an offer to take over A&M's new journalism program. At the time, McElroy said that she "couldn't pass up this opportunity to be a part of something transformational."

However, the deal evaporated in less than a month after faculty members reportedly expressed concern about her DEI-based initiatives while at the newspaper, the Texas Tribune reported earlier this month.

DEI concerns in public education across all levels have garnered more attention in recent years. Between the spring of 2020 and January 2023, it was estimated that public schools spent nearly $22 million on DEI-related programs. In addition, data from Live Data Technologies shows that chief diversity officers across all employment fields have experienced a 40 percent turnover rate, according to The Wall Street Journal, with the number of job searches for that position down a whopping 75 percent in the past year.

Banks submitted her resignation letter late Thursday, according to A&M, one day after the university's Faculty Senate passed a resolution to create a fact-finding committee into the mishandling of McElroy's hiring. The former president denied being privy to changes in the job offer, but took some responsibility and claimed that McElroy was a victim of "anti-woke" hysteria and outside interference. Dean Mark Welsh III will be the university's acting president.

"The recent challenges regarding Dr. McElroy have made it clear to me that I must retire immediately," Banks wrote in her letter. "The negative press is a distraction from the wonderful work being done here."

In a statement to Newsweek on Friday, Texas A&M University spokesperson Kelly Brown said, "We are unable to provide all the answers at this time, but Texas A&M University is determined to get to the bottom of what happened and why."

McElroy, currently a tenured professor at the University of Texas at Austin and director of its journalism school between 2018 and 2022, then agreed to a second offer with a five-year contract position without tenure, not requiring a review by the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents.

Another offer, her third, was then proposed by the university who offered her one year with an emphasis that she could be fired at any time. McElroy rejected that offer and ultimately had no desire to work at the university any longer.

José Luis Bermúdez, A&M's interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, reportedly told McElroy that her potential hiring "stirred up a hornet's nest" and he could not protect her from criticisms or possible termination should she did take the position.

Newsweek reached out to Bermudez via email for further comment.

"I feel damaged by this entire process," McElroy told The Texas Tribune on July 11. "I'm being judged by race, maybe gender. And I don't think other folks would face the same bars or challenges. And it seems that my being an Aggie, wanting to lead an Aggie program to what I thought would be prosperity, wasn't enough."

Questions remain as to what Banks knew about chatter regarding McElroy's position, how much she was involved, and who was deliberating the details of the multiple offers.

"Apparently, no one knows who made the offer, no one knows how many offers were made, nobody knows who signed which offer, and nobody knows who read or wrote those offers," Raymundo Arróyave, an engineering professor at the university, told The New York Times on Friday. "Frankly, we look incompetent."

In February 2022, Banks announced a revamping of the university's journalism program that she hoped would become "the number one choice for students wanting a journalism degree."

Meanwhile on Friday, some Twitter users felt that Banks' resignation was warranted.

"[Banks] blames 'negative press' not her own terrible judgment," tweeted Guardian columnist Margaret Sullivan.

"Who could've guessed that racism and first-class higher education would be incompatible?" tweeted Mark Jacob, a former editor at the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times.

Hofstra University Dean Mark Lukasiewicz tweeted that Banks' resignation is a result of "consequences" surrounding McElroy's hiring process.