John Sharp reflects on successes, challenges at Texas A&M

Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.

---

After decades in Texas politics, John Sharp grew Texas A&M’s profile amid increasing scrutiny of higher education and concerns about perceived liberal bias.

In a wide-ranging conversation marking the end of his 14-year tenure as chancellor, Sharp was unapologetic about his approach. He said he focused on expanding research and the system’s physical footprint and brushed off critics who claim the flagship leans left.

“I get a kick out of watching a couple of legislators pick out one faculty member that’s kind of too liberal,” he said during a Texas Tribune event on Tuesday, touting rankings that consistently place Texas A&M among the most conservative colleges in the country.

Under his leadership, the Texas A&M System secured $3.8 billion in legislative funding, oversaw $12 billion in construction, established a footprint in every major Texas metro, and elevated a once-struggling law school into a top-25 national program. The university system also took on a leadership role at Los Alamos National Laboratory; launched RELLIS, a defense research and testing campus in Bryan; and played a key role in responding to Hurricane Harvey.

But his tenure wasn’t without turbulence. In recent years, he’s had to contend with backlash from both sides of the political aisle about faculty hiring and disciplinary decisions.

In 2023, Texas A&M drastically scaled back a job offer to Kathleen McElroy, a Black alumna whom the university sought to revive its journalism program, after backlash from conservative groups and some regents over her work promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. That same year, the university suspended Joy Alonzo, a respected opioids expert, after a politically connected student alleged she had criticized Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick during a lecture.

These incidents foreshadowed the Legislature’s growing oversight of public universities, first with Senate Bill 17, which banned DEI offices and initiatives at public universities, and then with SB 37, which curtails faculty’s influence over hiring and curriculum decisions.

“It’s not hard,” Sharp said of contending with the political controversies.

Sharp said professors must stick to the curriculum in class, but can share their personal views outside of it as long as they don’t use Texas A&M’s name to do so. On the McElroy debacle, he said, “I don’t know what (former University President) Kathy (Banks) was thinking about when she was telling the faculty one thing and telling this lady something else. That was a mistake she freely admits to.”

Sharp noted that faculty have expressed concerns about political interference masquerading as reform for as long as he’s been chancellor. He earned the faculty’s trust by firing a deputy chancellor that former Gov. Rick Perry put in place to spy on him, he said, and kept up the relationship by meeting with them regularly and addressing their needs.

“Aside from students, I mean, they're the heartbeat of what the campus is about,” Sharp said.

Before becoming chancellor, Sharp built his political career as a Democrat before Texans largely stopped electing them to statewide office. He served as a state representative, state senator, railroad commissioner and comptroller. But he hasn’t always done what is politically expedient.

In 1993, Sharp declined Democratic Gov. Ann Richards’ invitation to serve the remainder of Lloyd Bentsen’s term in the U.S. Senate because he said she wanted him to vote a certain way. He stayed with the Democratic Party, unlike his college roommate Perry, because he didn’t want to disappoint his friends in South Texas.

“I mean, that was my happy place — still is, quite frankly — and why we have a campus in McAllen,” said Sharp, who grew up in the Southeast Texas town of Placedo.

Sharp’s successor is a Republican, but one who has had a remarkably similar political career: Comptroller Glenn Hegar. He’s slated to take over on June 30 and it is unclear how he’ll lead a system that now consists of 12 universities that educates more than 165,000 students. Lawmakers recently approved transferring the University of Houston-Victoria to the Texas A&M system.

He declined to say publicly what advice he’s given Hegar other than, “just keep the momentum going.”

“And I think he’ll do that,” Sharp said, “He’s got all the DNA to do that.”

Sharp joked he’s not going to spend his retirement golfing. He’s starting a political consulting firm, even though he dislikes and blames both political parties for contributing to dysfunction in Washington, D.C.

“You can’t even have a Democrat and a Republican get caught at dinner together or somebody reports it to leadership. I mean, how absolutely, totally ridiculous is that? And that’s starting to spread all over the country. It’s just not a recipe for good government,” he said.

The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

---

Tickets are on sale now for the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, Texas’ breakout ideas and politics event happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin. Get tickets before May 1 and save big! TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.