A&M leader: We lost sight of Aggie values in handling of professor controversies

[Leroy N. Soetoro]

https://www.star-telegram.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/other-
voices/article277938898.html

For those of you who know me, you can understand how I was biting my
tongue to keep from responding personally during the recent avalanche of
negative media coverage of Texas A&M University. I chose to wait, however,
for the conclusion of a thorough investigation into the attempted hiring
of Dr. Kathleen McElroy and the controversy surrounding Dr. Joy Alonzo’s
comments about Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

You can read the report (www.tamus.edu/internal-review) for yourself and
view the evidence that supports the investigation’s narrative. It isn’t
always pretty, but it helps explain what really happened. We surely
learned of some bad decision-making to which almost no one was privy at
the time.

Regarding the events in the hiring process for McElroy to lead the
university’s journalism education, it is difficult to recognize the alma
mater I dearly love and to which I owe so much. Texas A&M is far better
than this!

A few, however, forgot our core values.

It is time to come together, put our house back in order, and vow to never
let this happen again. We all must re-dedicate ourselves to the Aggie
values that define us and bind us.

To begin with, I want to apologize publicly to McElroy and fervently hope
we can eventually heal with our mutual love for Texas A&M.

To Alonzo, I am sorry her name was bandied about in the news media four
months after the university had cleared her of allegations she had
criticized the lieutenant governor in a manner that at least one student
found offensive.

The report also corrects the false narrative that I ordered an
investigation into Alonzo and the accusation that I am not a champion of
academic freedom because I took one brief, non-threatening phone call from
the lieutenant governor.

The truth is, the university put Alonzo on paid leave while it
investigated the incident, with no initiation or interference from me.
Further, Alonzo says she has no issue with how the university handled her
case.

Bottom line, Texas A&M investigated when the University of Texas Medical
Branch, where Alonzo was appearing as a guest lecturer, issued a public
statement censuring Alonzo — without providing any evidence, it turned
out. Unfortunately, that university still hasn’t retracted the censure.

What else would you have Texas A&M do but check it out?

As for academic freedom, faculty members across the state were terrified
this spring that the Legislature would follow up on calls to eliminate
tenure, the bedrock of academic freedom. Instead, the tenure policy of
Texas A&M is codified in state law today because we persuaded state
officials that our policy works both for academic freedom and
accountability.

Finally, it has been suggested to me in the media that I let calls from
state officials go to voicemail. I assume that silly suggestion was meant
as a clever turn of phrase, but I always found that when you stop taking
people’s calls, then they cease answering yours.

And that would be bad for the alma mater I love so much — especially after
the last legislative session was the best we ever had.


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We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.

Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.

No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.

Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.

President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.