August 5th 2023.
Texas A&M University has reached a $1 million settlement with Dr. Kathleen McElroy, the Black professor it had initially hired to revive its defunct journalism department. The university had failed to honor its original agreement with McElroy due to her past curriculum focused on diversity.
In June 2023, the university had proudly announced the hiring of the veteran New York Times journalist with a glowing statement, but this welcome wagon was soon replaced with opposition. McElroy was offered a one-year, at-will contract instead of the tenured position she had been initially promised, an offer she declined.
The Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, José Luis Bermúdez, and Texas A&M’s President Katherine Banks, have since resigned in light of the botched hiring process.
The university has released a joint statement with McElroy regarding the settlement, admitting mistakes were made and assuring students and faculty that the school has learned from its past missteps and will strive to ensure similar blunders are avoided in the future.
McElroy hopes that her willingness to advocate for herself, as well as the university’s subsequent actions, will be a beacon of guidance for future attempts to diversify curriculum and faculty at the historic institution. She has called the matter “resolved” and will continue her work as a journalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin.
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