The head of Texas A&M’s communications and journalism department says he has provided the university’s legal staff with materials related to the failed hiring process of Kathleen McElroy, his candidate to lead the new journalism department.
That’s part a letter from Hart Blanton, which was sent by his lawyer and provided to WTAW News by the president of the A&M faculty senate.
Click HERE to read and download Hart Blanton’s lawyer.
Dr. Blanton’s letter contained five bullet points:
• I initiated the recruitment of Dr. McElroy last year, in recognition of her excellence as a journalist, researcher, and educator. As an added bonus she is an A&M graduate. She applied to a job posted for a Professor and Director of Journalism, and we followed standard administrative procedures while conducting the search. The failed effort to hire Dr. McElroy is a great loss to A&M and surely caused her great unnecessary suffering.
• Then-President M. Katherine Banks misled the Faculty Senate at its July 19thmeeting when she represented that the decisionmaking that led to the crisis was at the department level. To the contrary, President Banks injected herself into the process atypically and early on.
• The unusual level of scrutiny being given to the hiring of Dr. McElroy was acknowledged by one administrator to have been based, at least in part, on race. Regardless of the source of any such pressure, I understand it to be illegal for any employer—much less a public university—to subject a job candidate to stricter scrutiny due to her race or color.
• I was shocked to learn an earlier draft of a job offer letter for Dr. McElroy was altered and sent to her without my advance knowledge. The altered draft retained my electronic signature, but reduced the appointment from an earlier-discussed multiyear term to one.
• On Thursday, July 21, 2023, I shared related materials with university legal staff. I was pleased to see that the President then resigned Friday, July 22. Texas A&M cannot have its leaders misleading the faculty, public, or policymakers about how we conduct business.
This Thursday, the Texas higher education coordinating board considers A&M’s request to issue bachelor’s degrees related to the new journalism program.