(Texas Scorecard) – Texas A&M President Mark Welsh vetoed the faculty senate’s request to include an LGBT class in the university’s core curriculum for social and behavioral sciences.
The authors of the class textbook honor rather than condemn same-sex pederast relationships.
A December 2024 memo from Provost Alan Sams to Welsh, obtained by The Battalion, listed action items approved by the Texas A&M Faculty Senate. That body is chosen by the faculty to represent it under the “shared governance” model, in which the board of regents shares authority with the faculty.
Unlike boards of regents, faculty senates are not accountable to Texans. Faculty senates are often found advancing ideological aims rather than education while undermining boards of regents, which Texans, through their elected public servants, appoint to manage universities.
One of the action items the TAMU faculty senate passed was certifying a class as part of TAMU’s core curriculum for social and behavioral sciences. The class title was “Introduction to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Studies.”
A month earlier, the TAMU board of regents ended the university’s LGBTQ minor. This introductory class was part of that minor.
Outcomes for the Intro to LGBT class, offered in Fall 2024, include: discuss social constructionist and essentialist theories of sexuality and gender, focusing on “LGBTQ identities;” explore intersections with race, class, nationality, and (dis)ability; teach key “LGBTQ” vocabulary for inclusivity; and analyze social, legal, and political structures that “reinforce cis/heteronormativity, homo/bi/transphobia, and heterosexism.”
These were found in the course syllabus.
The course textbook is the 4th edition of “Finding Out: An Introduction to LGBTQ Studies.”
On pages five and six, the writers honor, rather than condemn, the pederast relationships of ancient Greece, framing them as “love between a man and a boy” as opposed to abuse. The younger males in these abusive relationships ranged from about 12 to 18 years old.
The pairing of younger and older males “was designed to provide pleasure and friendship for the older [man] in exchange for protection, training, and social advantage for the younger,” the authors wrote. “The pederastic combination of spiritual and physical connection represented a higher kind of love, more conducive to the military, political, and educational responsibilities of the (male) citizen of the Greek state.”
Provost Sams endorsed the faculty senate’s proposal to make this class a part of the core curriculum. The proposal was found on page 12 of the 13-page memo.
Welsh struck a line through that item, indicating his disapproval. He signed it on February 11, 2025. His action does not discontinue this course offering at Texas A&M.
Neither TAMU nor its parent, the Texas A&M University System, responded to a request for comment.
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