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Texas A&M University will pay a Black journalism professor $1 million after she said her job offer fell apart due to backlash from her work on diversity and equity initiatives.
According to CNN, Texas A&M reached a million-dollar settlement with Kathleen McElroy and acknowledged there were mistakes in “the way her employment application was handled" back in June.
“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,” the school said in a statement.
The settlement comes after McElroy, who had been teaching at the University of Texas at Austin, told the Texas Tribune her offer of a tenured position at Texas A&M disappeared after officials told her there was pushback due to her past work in diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. A state law prohibiting DEI offices at public universities, including Texas A&M, will go into effect next year, according to CNN.
“I’m being judged by race, maybe gender,” McElroy told the Tribune.
McElroy said she later agreed to a five-year, nontenured contract with the university, but the school again changed the terms of the deal to one-year and said her contract could be rescinded at anytime.
The hiring controversy prompted an internal review and led to the resignation of university president M. Katherine Banks.
According to Thursday's statement, McElroy will now continue her tenured position at the University of Texas at Austin.
“Texas A&M University remains in my heart despite the events of the past month. I will never forget that Aggies – students, faculty members, former students and staff – voiced support for me from many sectors,” McElroy said statement. “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.”
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