Jay RosenJul 21, 2023

Amazing story. Have you followed it?

Texas A&M announces a new journalism dean. She's black and she's qualified— and an alum of the school! Ex-New York Times too.

They announce her appointment in a splashy event.

Dark forces of reaction mobilize.

The offer is watered down to one year, with no tenure. She says no way, and withdraws. National news is made. It's negative. And today, the president of A&M resigns!

https://www.texastribune.org/2023/07/21/tamu-president-resign-journalism/

https://www.texastribune.org/2023/07/11/texas-a-m-kathleen-mcelroy-journalism/

#journalism #uspol #science

Texas A&M President Katherine Banks resigns amid fallout from failed hiring of journalism professor

“The recent challenges regarding Dr. McElroy have made it clear to me that I must retire immediately,” Banks wrote in her resignation letter. “The negative press is a distraction from the wonderful work being done here.”

The Texas Tribune
Show threadJay RosenJul 22, 2023

An even more incredible turn in the Texas A&M story, after the president of the University resigned July 20.

The current chair of the journalism department, who recruited Dr. McElroy, released a statement accusing the former president of rank duplicity.

More serious: he says someone altered the draft offer letter to reduce the McElroy appointment from five years to one, without telling him.

It's his signature on the letter.

Read his statement:

#journalism #uspol #texas #science

Show thread🐀 ␆Jul 22, 2023
@jayrosen_nyu A technical observation - one would think that a key requirement of an electronic signature mechanism is that post-facto modification of that which was signed is made extremely obvious, and that the signature is revoked.
Show threadJay Rosen

@walshman23

Now that you say that, I realize I should have worded my post more carefully. I don't know that he signed the draft; rather he was the signatory.

Jul 22, 2023 at 5:29pmWeb