The attacks on faculty who are simply doing the jobs we expect of them have become so frequent that individual examples can begin to fade into the woodwork.
But among this whole host of egregious violations of individual rights and academic freedom, the case of Melissa McCoul, an English department lecturer at Texas A&M, teaching a children’s literature course, stands out.
McCoul was the victim of a coordinated attack where a single student complaint ultimately resulted in pressure from Texas Governor Greg Abbott declaring that she should be fired.
These attacks rippled through the entire university and even the state—a true outrage.
An Academic Freedom Outrage at Texas A&M
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September 10, 2025
I want to believe at this point that I am immune to shocks to the system when it comes to the current threats against academic freedom - after all, what could be worse than a major university (Columbia) agreeing to be overseen by a government minder in response to overt extortion - but a recent classroom incident at Texas A&M gave me pause and is an ind…
Melissa McCoul is now talking publicly about her experience thanks to the Faculty on the Front Lines series, sponsored by the AAUP’s Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom, which gathers the testimonies of faculty repression and resistance. We previously introduced the series here and are proud to be able to share Melissa McCoul’s testimony today.
Here is a brief introduction from Anna Feder, the creator of the series:
Meeting Melissa and sharing her story publicly for the first time was a privilege. She is a shining example of the kind of educator that we need at this moment, when the production and dissemination of knowledge is under attack. Melissa never yielded to pressure from the administration to change her syllabus or teaching. She focused on the needs of the many students who chose her popular course and wanted to engage with the material. As Melissa puts it: “The kinds of work we do, building supportive learning communities, teaching students how to close read, teaching students how books allow empathy, those are all skills that every student needs and the grand majority of them really value.”
If you have a story to tell and would like to participate in Faculty on the Front Lines, more information is available at the link below.
The entire playlist of videos is available here.
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The views expressed in this newsletter are those of individual contributors and not those of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) or the AAUP’s Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom.
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