When former Texas A&M University president Mark Welsh stepped down suddenly in September amid a swirling academic freedom controversy, he received an exit package of more than $3.5 million, according to public records obtained by The Texas Tribune.
Welsh, who became president in 2023 after his predecessor, Kathy Banks, stepped down following a controversy of her own, pressed the Texas A&M System Board of Trustees to pay out the remainder of his contract through December 2028, according to recently unearthed records. He earned a $1.1 million base salary with annual retention and housing bonuses of $150,000 each.
Welsh was one of several Texas A&M employees felled by controversy after a conservative state lawmaker accused the university of pushing “leftist DEI and transgender indoctrination” following an exchange between a student and a professor caught on video. In that video, the student objected to a professor’s statement that there are more than two genders. The incident, which the student captured, took place in a children’s literature class.
Welsh initially defended the professor in a conversation with the student but later backtracked, removing the professor and two administrators from their duties over their handling of the issue.
He argued that the incident was not about academic freedom but rather “academic responsibility” and that “the [College of Arts and Sciences] continued to teach content that was inconsistent with the published course description for another course this fall,” prompting his actions.
Despite his reversal, demands for Welsh to resign prevailed.
