Gov. Greg Abbott threatens to fire Texas A&M president over alleged DEI event

Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Monday threatened in a tweet to force out Texas A&M University President Mark Welsh III over a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) event, saying it violated a Texas law banning DEI at state-funded schools.

University emails, leaked online by a conservative activist, invited students to attend a recruitment conference in Chicago by The PhD Project designed strictly for students who are Black, Hispanic and Indigenous.

Right-wing commentator Kurt Schlichter shared the tweet, tagging Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, both Republicans.

In his tweet, Schlichter blamed DEI for the California wildfires, a popular new conservative talking point aimed at Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley, an out lesbian, and Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass, a Black woman. Even Elon Musk has gotten in on the DEI wildfire discourse, tweeting that “they prioritized DEI over saving lives and homes.” “Is my newly adopted state gonna put up with this crap?” Schlichter asked. “Because I came from California, and it leads to thousands of houses getting burned down.”

“Hell, no,” Abbott tweeted in response. “It’s against Texas law and violates the US Constitution. It will be fixed immediately or the president will soon be gone.”

Abbott signed Texas Senate Bill 17 into law May 2023 and it went into effect January 2024, banning Texas universities from participating in DEI initiatives or having DEI offices. Schools that don’t comply risk losing state funding.

Abbott doesn’t have the power to fire the Texas A&M University president directly. However, he does appoint university system regents, who do have the power to terminate Welsh, the Express-News reports.

The twitter screenshot of Texas A&M’s email states that the school’s Office of General Counsel was consulted and deemed The PhD Project permissible thanks to recruitment exemptions in the law.

Welsh, a retired Air Force four-star general, has only served as Texas A&M president for a little more than a year. He was appointed to the role in December 2023 after previous president Margaret Katherine Banks resigned due to a DEI controversy around the hiring of a journalism professor.

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This article appears in Jan 8-21, 2025.