HOUSTON (AP) — A Texas A&M University professor who was fired last year after a controversy over a classroom video that showed a student objecting to a children’s literature lesson about gender identity sued the school on Wednesday, alleging the university violated her rights by bowing to political pressure calling for her ouster.
Melissa McCoul was a senior lecturer in the English department with over a decade of teaching experience. Republican lawmakers, including Gov. Greg Abbott, had called for her termination after seeing the video, which showed a student questioning whether the class discussion last July was legal under President Donald Trump’s executive order on gender.
The video roiled the campus and led to sharp criticism of university president Mark Welsh, who later resigned, but didn’t offer a reason and never mentioned the video in his resignation announcement.
The university upheld McCoul's firing even after two separate, independent university groups determined Texas A&M violated her right to due process and did not have cause to terminate her employment.
“Today I did something that would have been inconceivable a year ago – I’ve sued Texas A&M to hold it accountable for violations of my Constitutional rights to free speech and due process of law. There’s no satisfaction in doing this, only sadness,” McCoul said in a statement. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Houston.
Chris Bryan, the vice chancellor for marketing and communications for the Texas A&M University System, said Wednesday that school officials are aware of the lawsuit but have not reviewed it.
“As this is pending litigation, we will not comment further, but we intend to vigorously defend against the claims,” Bryan said in a statement.
Named in the lawsuit as defendants were Welsh, Interim President Tommy Williams, Texas A&M University System Chancellor Glenn Hegar and the Texas A&M System’s Board of Regents.
After McCoul’s firing, Hegar ordered an audit of courses at all 12 schools in the system.
McCoul’s lawsuit comes less than a week after Texas A&M University announced it is ending its women’s and gender studies program, changing the syllabuses of hundreds of courses and canceling six classes as part of a new policy that limits how professors can discuss some race and gender topics.
Other university systems in Texas have also placed restrictions on classroom instruction or have begun internal reviews of course offerings following a new state law.
In her lawsuit, McCoul pushed back on claims by Texas A&M officials that she failed to follow instructions to change her course content to align with the course catalog description. McCoul said her course content was "100 percent aligned with the catalog description, course description.”
“The explanations offered for Dr. McCoul’s termination are inconsistent and nonsensical because they are untrue. Dr. McCoul was terminated because of the so-called ‘liberal,’ ‘woke’ themes she explored in her courses,” according to the lawsuit.
McCoul described teaching at Texas A&M as her “dream job.” She had been at the university since 2017. In her lawsuit, she is seeking reinstatement and monetary damages.
“Despite how I was treated, I still love the institution, my former colleagues, and the students of A&M. I hope that this lawsuit will cause the University to think twice about treating others similarly,” McCoul said.
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FILE - The sun sets over Texas A&M Campus, just outside Rudder Tower, Feb 12, 2016, in College Station, Texas. (Timothy Hurst/College Station Eagle via AP, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Trump administration officials traveled to Los Angeles on Wednesday to outline the president's plan to override state and local rules and speed up the permitting process for the reconstruction of tens of thousands of homes destroyed by last year's wildfires.
Last week the president signed an executive order that the White House promised would allow homeowners to rebuild without contending with “unnecessary, duplicative, or obstructive” requirements. The plan is to allow federal loan recipients to “self-certify” that they meet all state and local building requirements if their permits aren't approved within 60 days.
State and local officials maintain permits are being approved in a timely manner. They questioned whether the Trump administration can legally take over the permitting process and said they have received little to no information about how the new process is to work.
Trump's goal is to help homeowners cut through bureaucratic red tape and “tear through every single obstacle” that's slowing rebuilding, said U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, whom Trump tapped to oversee the effort.
His staff will examine why over 1,000 permit applications have been returned to residents seeking to rebuild, Zeldin said during a Wednesday news conference after meeting with residents in Pacific Palisades, where the first of the two infernos erupted in January 2025.
“We want to know why every single one of these applications are sent back to the applicant,” he said. “What is that hurdle ... that’s preventing them the ability to be able to rebuild their home?”
Roughly 3,000 permits have been approved, with more than 1,000 homes under construction, according to county data.
“Now (Trump) has signed an executive order that goes into effect, when? We don’t know. Is it legal? Almost certainly not," California Gov. Gavin Newsom said at a news conference Monday in San Diego. "He hasn’t coordinated with anyone to tell them. It’s just typical Trump.”
The Palisades and Eaton fires killed 31 people and destroyed about 13,000 residential properties, becoming some of the most destructive blazes in the region's history. The fires burned for more than three weeks and cleanup efforts took about seven months — a timeline that both Newsom and Trump have praised as particularly quick.
Zeldin called on insurance companies to speed up payouts to policyholders.
“There are a number of number of people waiting for their full insurance payment," he said. "They are desperate to receive every last penny that they need from their policy to be able to rebuild their lives.”
Under the new federal rules, anyone approved for a Small Business Administration Disaster loan can self-certify that their building plan meets state and local rules if they don't get a permit within 60 days of applying. The order also directs federal agencies to expedite waivers, permits and approvals to work around any environmental, historic preservation or natural resource laws that might stand in the way of rebuilding.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, whose district was hit by the Eaton Fire, pointed out that there are already local self-certification rules in place that help expedite reconstruction. Most permits are handled by local officials within a month, she said.
Barger, who joined Zeldin on Wednesday, said she shared it's a lack of money, not permitting issues, that are keeping many from rebuilding.
The Trump administration has not approved the state’s $33.9 billion disaster aid request.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass did not join the roundtable, but Zeldin said they met privately. Bass has called the executive order a political stunt and recently said rebuilding plans in Pacific Palisades are being approved in half the time compared to single-family home projects citywide before the wildfires, “with more than 70% of home permit clearances no longer required.”
The office of Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, who represents Palisades, said she was not invited and said the Trump administration's effort would not bring meaningful relief.
The Board of Supervisors passed a motion Tuesday directing county attorneys and planning officials to monitor the federal government's implementation of Trump's executive order and, if necessary, take legal action to defend local permitting authority.
Also Tuesday, the Los Angeles City Council took steps to wave permitting fees in the Palisades, a move that could cost as much as $90 million over three years, according to Matt Szabo, the city’s top budget analyst.
Justin Levitt, a law professor at Loyola Law School, said there is little the president can do in the short term to speed up rebuilding. Trump could press Congress to pass new national permitting laws, which might take years.
But an attempt by the administration to supersede state and local regulations would spark a long fight in the courts.
“The claim that the federal government can just come in and boot these local laws out of existence, that’s not a thing,” Levitt said.
Associated Press writer Julie Watson contributed from San Diego.
FILE - A person walks amid the destruction left behind by the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
FILE - An aerial view shows houses being rebuilt on cleared lots months after the Palisades Fire, Dec. 5, 2025, in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
