Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham alleged Wednesday that opioids expert Joy Alonzo told students in a guest lecture that “Your Lt. Governor says those kids deserve to die.” Alonzo denied the claims.
Higher Education
Coverage of universities, colleges, student issues, and education policy shaping Texas’ campuses, from The Texas Tribune.
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Economy
How an internship program hopes to end “brain drain” in Texas’ Permian Basin and other rural regions
This is the third year businesses in the Permian Basin — known for high school football and oil fields — have participated in the University of Texas at Austin program. Students this year say they are seeing their hometowns in a new way.
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Higher Education
Texas A&M University System regents name Mark Welsh interim president of flagship campus
The board also gave university lawyers the green light to negotiate a possible settlement with Kathleen McElroy after the university bungled the hiring of the journalism professor.
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Higher Education
Texas A&M regents could offer a settlement to the journalism professor at center of hiring controversy
The system’s board also plans to formally appoint an interim president after Katherine Banks resigned last week following news that the school changed its job offer to Kathleen McElroy, a Black journalism professor, after outcries from conservative groups.
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Higher Education
Faculty worry about Texas A&M’s future after controversies over higher ed politicization
The university has been rattled by two cases in which university officials were apparently rushed into making faculty employment decisions due to political pressure.
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Health care
Texas A&M suspended professor accused of criticizing Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick in lecture
The professor, an expert on the opioids crisis, was placed on paid administrative leave and investigated, raising questions about the extent of political interference in higher education, particularly in health-related matters.
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Demographics
Race was a factor in Black professor’s failed hiring, Texas A&M department head says
Hart Blanton, the head of the university’s department of communications and journalism, also said then-President M. Katherine Banks interfered with the recruitment of journalist Kathleen McElroy.
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Higher Education
For Black Aggies, questions over professor’s botched hiring persist after president’s departure
In the fallout from A&M’s failure to hire Kathleen McElroy, students and alumni lament the missed opportunity to revive the university’s journalism program and provide students with mentorship.
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Higher Education
Texas A&M President Katherine Banks resigns amid fallout from failed hiring of journalism professor
“The recent challenges regarding Dr. McElroy have made it clear to me that I must retire immediately,” Banks wrote in her resignation letter. “The negative press is a distraction from the wonderful work being done here.”
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Higher Education
Texas A&M president says she didn’t know about job offer changes that led to professor’s botched hiring
M. Katherine Banks told faculty she was unaware of successive, diminished offers to Kathleen O. McElroy, who was recruited to revive a journalism program. Professors demanded an investigation.