Former President Mark A. Welsh III received a $3.5 million payout from the Texas A&M University System, approved by the Board of Regents on Sept. 26 following his resignation, according to documents recently obtained through a public records request by the Houston Chronicle.
In his original contract with the university, Welsh was set to receive $1.1 million annually from 2023 until December 2028. Over three years of his contract remained when Welsh resigned in September.
On Sept. 17, just two days before he left his office for the last time, Welsh emailed Chancellor Glenn Hegar and Executive Vice Chancellor Susan Ballabina, making it known that Board of Regents Chair Robert Albritton supported Welsh’s full $3.5 million payout.
“Can’t believe I forgot to mention this to you today,” Welsh wrote in his email to Hegar and Ballabina. “The idea for the 5-year payout actually came from something Bob Albritton said on our phone call Monday: ‘Mark, I’m so tired of this bullshit. … You gotta trust me that I’m gonna push to get you paid that full contract.’”
In his email, Welsh also said the payout was not entirely supported by the Board of Regents as a whole.
“This is the reason I was a little surprised when you told me they didn’t support the 5-year payout,” Welsh wrote. “I don’t expect you to do anything with this note except double delete it (which is what I’m gonna do after I send it), and I’m not asking you to use it for anything, I just want you to know why trust has gone out the window on my side of all this.”
Welsh’s resignation came as a result of a controversial viral video showing former senior lecturer Melissa McCoul discussing gender identity in her Literature for Children class. The novel McCoul discussed, “Jude Saves the World,” features a 12-year-old nonbinary protagonist.
An anonymous student was recorded confronting McCoul over gender identity discussions in the classroom. The video was circulated by Texas State Rep. Brian Harrison (R-10), who published it online along with unreleased audio recordings of a conversation between Welsh and the anonymous student.
As the controversy grew, Welsh fired McCoul and removed College of Arts and Sciences’ Dean Mark Zoran and the head of the English department, Emily Johansen, from their administrative duties. Welsh’s own resignation followed.
McCoul explored legal action against the university, appealing her termination through A&M’s Committee on Academic Freedom, Tenure and Responsibility.
A panel of eight faculty committee members met on Nov. 3 and unanimously agreed that the university did not have good cause to fire McCoul after evaluating the three reasons A&M provided for her termination — failure to perform her duties, violation of policies and acting unprofessionally.
The committee reported their consensus to Interim President Tommy Williams on Nov. 18, according to a new report.
The decision to uphold McCoul’s termination or reinstate her as a professor remains up to Williams.
