Updated story with more details about the @tamusystem board memds
The effort to promote conservative values at A&M extended beyond the journalism program, according to texts between Graham and Bagget.
“Kathy [Banks] told us multiple times the reason we were going to combine arts and sciences together was to control the liberal nature that those professors brought to campus,” Graham wrote. “This won’t happen with this kind of hire.”
I'm guessing she didn't even like the term "liberal arts." But we're not done. We have the receipts:
In 2022, Banks combined several academic programs at A&M into a new College of Arts and Sciences as part of a new strategic plan to reshape the university’s structure. After the deal fell apart, board Chair Bill Mahomes sent a letter to McElroy on July 19 stating that the Board of Regents “did not discourage your hiring” and would not question the hiring of an individual based on their race or gender.
But a month prior on June 19, regent Mike Hernandez had expressed concern via email to Banks and Sharp, stating that “granting tenure to somebody with this background is going to be a difficult sell for many on the [board of regents],” and encouraged them to “put the brakes on this, so we can all discuss this further.”
“While it is wonderful for a successful Aggie to want to come back to Texas A&M to be a tenured professor and build something this important from scratch, we must look at her résumé and her statements made an[d] opinion pieces and public interviews,” Hernandez wrote. “The New York Times is one of the leading main stream media sources in our country. It is common knowledge that they are biased and progressive leaning. The same exact thing can be said about the university of Texas. Yet that is Dr. McElroy’s résumé in a nutshell.”
Damned liberal ideas is un-scientifical!
It has also raised concerns about how these events have damaged the university’s reputation and could slow efforts to recruit and retain academic talent, eclipse decades of work, and erode the love and devotion that students, instructors and alumni have poured into a beloved institution.
I will insert here that my brother and his wife attended TAMU back in the day, and they both recently told it to go pound sand.
In related TAMU news, Dan Patrick just wondered aloud who would rid him of this troublesome adjunct professor:
Patrick’s op-ed confirmed the Tribune’s previous reporting, which found that Buckingham called to alert him that Alonzo allegedly made a statement critical of him. Patrick said he then “simply asked [Sharp] to look into the matter and determine what was actually said.”
“I would do this on behalf of any student or parent who called our office with a similar complaint,” he added.
Patrick characterized the statement that Alonzo allegedly made as a “false and inappropriate personal attack on me” but did not specify what she actually said. Neither UTMB nor Texas A&M has confirmed what Alonzo said that prompted such a reaction from university officials. UTMB students interviewed by the Tribune recalled a vague reference to Patrick’s office but nothing specific.
The accusation, posted to social media later, came through a phone call to Patrick from the Texas Land Commissioner (an elected office in Texas), Dawn Buckingham:
On Wednesday, hours after the Houston Chronicle published an op-ed by Patrick in which he defended his decision to ask Texas A&M to investigate Alonzo, Buckingham posted on social media, “When a professor states, ‘Your Lt. Governor says those kids deserve to die’ regarding the group of kids in Hays County who tragically lost their lives to fentanyl … it has no place in a lecture and is indefensible.”
Buckingham did not attend the lecture, which Joy Alonzo, the adjunct in question and a recognized expert on opioids, has given thousands of times before; but Ms. Buckingham's daughter was there, and duly reported the "offense" to Mama. Who promptly called Dan Patrick, who called John Sharp, Chancellor of the TAMU system. Alonzo was immediately suspended, but "Alonzo said she agreed to go on administrative leave and was satisfied with the outcome, which she said 'exonerated me of wrongdoing.' "
Damned pointy headed lie-beral ideas what ain't based in God-fearin' conservative science!
Let me just add a personal note: as a guy with multiple liberal arts degrees and a law degree: these people are fucking idiots and are no more qualified to run a major university than I am to be an engineer.
And all this time I thought all those Aggie jokes were just jokes....
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