Until the mouth-breathers got word of a Black woman who used to work at the New York Times running Aggie Pride journalism. Then Texas Scorecard started a lynch mob about her alleged DEI-ing.
And, then, Aggie leadership, starting from the top down in College Station, including, it seems, the Board of Regents, and definitely an interim dean in the College of Arts and Sciences, José Luis Bermúdez, essentially decided to dirk her. The Trib has details at that link. After McElroy agreed to, under some pressure, have the job description changed to make it a non-tenure track position, the Gag Me Aggies changed it AGAIN.
There is stuff missing from the piece, though. As in, didn't the Trib try to get A&M System Chancellor John Sharp (Rethuglican in Democrap drag, still?) to comment? Or College Station President M. Katherine Banks? So what if they no-comment you. Shame 'em, if it does any shaming.
Update, July 21: Banks has resigned! She said "negative press has become a distraction." What a KAREN. And, she's not the only Karen in College Station. John Sharp is, too, because the A&M SYSTEM that released this is his baby:
The A&M System said in a statement that Banks told faculty leaders this week that she took responsibility for the “flawed hiring process.” The statement said “a wave of national publicity” suggested McElroy “was a victim of ‘anti-woke’ hysteria and outside interference in the faculty hiring process.”
Fuck off.
Sadly, as I said on Twitter, there's a possibility the System's regents try to replace Banks with a real wingnut, and given that statement, that would not at all surprise me.
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New update, July 23: To put it bluntly, per this new Trib story, Banks reportedly is some kind of a racist, overarchingly intervened in the hiring process, and essentially forged, or had someone else forge, a signature. That's all according to Hart Blanton, head of the department of journalism and communications and the person whose signature was forged.
Otherwise, it looks like Bermúdez is kind of being hung out to dry, or else is dumb enough to sign up for that voluntarily.
The update story also notes that Bermudez is stepping down as interim dean to head back to a teaching-only faculty spot. Sharp et al will likely look for a winger to run the College of Arts and Sciences.
And, per people warning about Texas (and other anti-DEI-ing states) having problems getting new faculty? A shoe is dropping. With that, I note that McElroy added that "nothing has changed" since her own undergrad days in College Station. Shock me.
Update July 21 from a weekly office email newsletter. The A&M Faculty Senate's executive committee says it wants more transparency in the hiring process and mentioned outside interference. I don't know if they're referring to mouthbreathers like the Rudder Association interfering or they're parroting Sharp's news release and claiming "woke groups" interfered. (It IS Sharp's release at bottom line.) The former is surely more likely, and looking at an earlier update I posted, yeah, that's clearly the case. but it could be either one in these days. As for the mouthbreathers, given that their namesake, when A&M prez, moved the Aggies away from an an all-male college, as well as moving it away from a quasi-military institute, he might not agree with them.
Meanwhile, the Chronic has also weighed in, but its piece doesn't even mention Banks, let alone Sharp, and obviously doesn't try to get comment from either one.
Update, Aug. 28: Did this play any factor in the Trib's recent layoffs? I mean, A&M IS a "sponsor."
Update, Sept. 25: The Observer has a short first-person profile from McElroy, back with the Tea Sippers.
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