“White” Is Not A Race

When Texas A&M announced that Kathleen McElroy, a respected journalist with a long career, would spearhead the revival of the journalism program, there was fanfare. But, within days, McElroy said she was told there was a target on her back. https://t.co/Dg7CcD7p8O

— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) July 11, 2023

And so is never subject to questions of DEI or benefit

from affirmative action.

In the days after the signing ceremony, she said, A&M employees told her an increasingly vocal network of constituents within the system were expressing issues with her experience at the Times and with her work on race and diversity in newsrooms, McElroy said. 

Behind the scenes, A&M spent weeks altering the terms of her job. After hearing about the concerns, McElroy agreed to a five-year contract position without tenure, which would have avoided a review by regents. On Sunday, she received a third offer, this time with a one-year contract and emphasizing that the appointment was at will and that she could be terminated at any time. She has rejected the offer and shared all of the offer letters with the Tribune. 

The situation comes at a fraught time at Texas public universities. Schools are preparing for a new state law to go into effect in January that bans offices, programs and training that promote diversity, equity and inclusion. Recently, the Texas A&M System started a systemwide audit of all DEI offices in response to the new law. 

Conservative Texans — from locally elected public school trustees to top state officials — have labeled several books and schools of thought that center the perspectives of people of color as “woke” ideologies that make white children feel guilty for the country’s history of racism. Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court banned the consideration of race in college admissions, effectively ending affirmative action in American higher education. 

McElroy said she was told that her appointment was caught up in “DEI hysteria” as Texas university leaders try to figure out what type of work involving race is allowed. “I feel damaged by this entire process,” said McElroy, who is a Black woman and a native of Houston’s Third Ward, and whose father, George A. McElroy, was a pioneering Black journalist. 

“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.”

If she were white, this wouldn’t have happened. She wouldn’t be judged by her race. Although she might still have been judged for her work at the Times. But then her “sin” would be political, would be being a “liberal.” It wouldn’t be because she was white.

Because white is not a race.