A former English literature professor at Texas A&M University sued the institution's leaders Wednesday over her termination, which followed a wave of conservative furor aimed at her teaching of gender identity.

The public university fired Melissa McCoul in September. In part, its termination notice said she failed to align her coursework and syllabus for a children’s literature class with the description listed in the course catalog, according to the lawsuit.  

But in the lawsuit, McCoul described the university’s reasons for terminating her as "shifting, false, and nonsensical." Instead, Texas A&M fired her over the content of her course — "content that was consistent with her syllabus, the course description, and the approved purpose of the course," the complaint said.

The university's decision came within a day of state lawmakers calling for her to be terminated over a viral video of McCoul teaching about gender identity during a summer course.

Texas A&M administrators violated her First Amendment and due process rights, as well as the university's own policies, the lawsuit said. Along with damages, McCoul, who was in year two of her three-year term of employment when she was terminated, is seeking to be reinstated.

The university did not immediately respond to questions on Thursday.

Beyond a viral video

McCoul’s lawsuit refuted the reasons Texas A&M officials had given for her dismissal.

Texas A&M's decision to fire McCoul centered on a video taken of her July 29 class. That day, she was discussing a book addressing themes of gender identity and sexual orientation, the lawsuit said.

A student then stood up and said teaching that there are more than two genders both went against their religious beliefs and violated an executive order from President Donald Trump. 

Trump signed an executive order in January 2025 directing the federal government to only recognize two sexes, male and female, a position at odds with the scientific and medical communities.

"This student appeared to be reading from a script while video-recording her exchange with Dr. McCoul on her phone," the lawsuit said.

The two-minute video of the encounter did not show the face of the student or the professor. In it, the professor — later identified as McCoul — replied that the subject matter is not illegal to teach and “invited the student to leave,” the lawsuit said.

In her lawsuit, McCoul said her invitation was "consistent with University policy" since "she was disrupting the learning experience for the other students."

Following that interaction, the student scheduled a private meeting with then-Texas A&M President Mark Welsh and demanded he fire McCoul, according to the lawsuit. Welsh declined.

The student also recorded that discussion without Welsh's knowledge, it said. The audio eventually circulated on social media.

Texas A&M did not discipline McCoul at that time but ended the course early, the lawsuit said.

The situation largely quieted down until Sept. 8, when Texas State Rep. Brian Harrison, a Republican, shared the student's video recording on social media. Harrison called for McCoul to be fired and was joined by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. The governor's chief of staff also reached out to Welsh directly to call for her to be terminated, according to the lawsuit.

Abbott alleged on social media McCoul's instruction had violated the law.

Welsh, who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, fired McCoul the next day. He announced her termination on his office's Facebook account, which McCoul's lawsuit argued created "the appearance that Governor Abbott was correct that she had violated state law."

McCoul is asking the courts to affirm her classroom instruction did not violate state law.

"Texas A&M University ran roughshod over Dr. McCoul’s due process rights in its haste to meet Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s demand that the University fire her," the lawsuit said.

Conflicting narratives

Texas A&M Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs Blanca Lupiani told McCoul in her termination notice that she was being fired for failing to "change the course content to align with the catalog description and the course description that was originally submitted and approved" after several warnings, according to the lawsuit.

But McCoul contested that framing on multiple grounds.

"Dr. McCoul was never instructed, not once, to change her course content," the lawsuit said. Even if that had been the case, "her course content was 100 percent aligned" with the university standards.

When Welsh issued a statement on McCoul's termination, he said the children's literature course did not align with “any reasonable expectation of standard curriculum.” But rather than address McCoul's actions, he cited academic leadership failures that resulted in a misalignment between coursework and catalog descriptions. 

“This isn’t about academic freedom; it’s about academic responsibility,” he said at the time. “Our degree programs and courses go through extensive approval processes, and we must ensure that what we ultimately deliver to students is consistent with what was approved.”

Following McCoul's public termination, Harrison began calls for Welsh to be fired as well. The president stepped down the following week.

Did Texas A&M follow its policies? 

For a faculty member to be fired, Texas A&M policy says a department head must provide the relevant dean "written charges for the dismissal and an explanation of the evidence." In McCoul's case, the decision to fire her did not originate with her department head and her dean never approved the decision, Wednesday's lawsuit said.

In addition to firing McCoul, Welsh removed the English department head and the dean of the arts and sciences college from their administrative positions.

Officials further violated Texas A&M policy by never providing notice to McCoul of their intent to fire her before they made the final decision, and they didn’t permit her a hearing to respond to the charges as required, the lawsuit said. Instead, McCoul "was forced to hire an attorney to learn she was permitted even a post-termination appeal."

Following that appeals process, two university committees ruled that Texas A&M had no justification for dismissing McCoul and failed to provide her due process.

But Texas A&M Interim President Tommy Williams rejected the final committee’s recommendation, and James Hallmark, the university's vice chancellor for academic affairs declined to reinstate her, the lawsuit said.

McCoul named Williams, Hallmark, the university's board of trustees, and the interim president of the Texas A&M system as defendants alongside Welsh.

"Texas A&M University has refused to right these wrongs, necessitating this lawsuit," it said.