For Texas A&M University, the cost of caving to a racist backlash is $1 million. That’s the amount the school has agreed to pay to Kathleen McElroy, a Black journalism professor who accepted a position and then backed out after her job offer was severely modified in response to complaints about her previous work increasing diversity in newsrooms.
As part of the settlement, the school has apologized to McElroy, saying in a statement, “Texas A&M acknowledges that mistakes were made during the hiring process relating to Dr. McElroy. The leadership of Texas A&M apologizes to Dr. McElroy for the way her employment application was handled, has learned from its mistakes and will strive to ensure similar mistakes are not repeated in the future.”
“I hope the resolution of my matter will reinforce A&M’s allegiance to excellence in higher education and its commitment to academic freedom and journalism,” McElroy said in a statement released in tandem with A&M’s.
McElroy, a professor of journalism at the University of Texas, Austin, was hired as director of A&M’s journalism school in June, part of a much-hyped effort to revive the program. McElroy was offered a tenure track position, but soon after she accepted, the school started modifying and reducing it.
First the job was changed to a five-year contract. Then it was reduced further to a one-year contract that gave the school power to fire her at any time and for any reason. At that, she withdrew her acceptance of the job and returned to UT Austin.
McElroy learned these changes were happening at the behest of unnamed individuals angry about her diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. According to the Associated Press, this included several members of the A&M board of regents. The backlash was apparently stirred up by the right-wing website Texas Scorecard.
University president Katherine Banks denied having any involvement in how McElroy was treated, but she resigned in late July after the story became public. The board of regents authorized negotiating for a settlement with McElroy soon after.
The settlement comes as Texas A&M is embroiled in an unrelated scandal also involving attacks on academic freedom. In July, the Texas Tribune broke the story that professor Joy Alonzo was suspended and investigated by the university after someone reported her to the school for criticizing the state’s Lt. Governor, Dan Patrick.
