Following revelations that Texas A&M President Mark Welsh defended LGBT content in a children’s literature course, calls for his termination have abounded. Yet, Welsh has long promoted leftist ideals, which the university’s leadership knew before naming him president of the flagship campus.
A Long History of DEI Advocacy
Before becoming A&M’s president, Welsh served as dean of the university’s Bush School of Government and Public Service—and was central to embedding DEI into its operations.
Under his leadership, the Bush School launched its first “Diversity Town Hall,” set up a DEI Committee, and imposed mandatory DEI training for both students and staff. Welsh himself declared, “In my world, diversity is strength, equity builds trust, and inclusion is an imperative. And so that’s where we need to go.”
Welsh also helped create new “incident reporting” mechanisms for even “subtle” behaviors not covered by the university’s hate speech rules. He was pushing this agenda ahead of most university leaders statewide, even as controversy and legal risks mounted.
Obama-Appointee, Proponent of ‘White Privilege’ Ideology
Welsh’s roots in left-leaning circles extend beyond academia. He’s a retired four-star Air Force general, picked by former President Barack Obama for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In that role, Welsh was openly supportive of social justice initiatives in the military.
He repeatedly expressed belief in “white privilege,” telling A&M students and faculty after George Floyd’s death that “there is no question in my mind that it exists. I should know, I grew up with it.”
He explicitly endorsed the “Black Lives Matter” message and called for social change along racial lines, even while quietly distancing himself from the violent protests.
Defending (and Circumventing) DEI Post-Ban
In 2023–2024, as the Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 17 to crack down on university DEI bureaucracies, Welsh was repeatedly caught advocating for exceptions, defending leftist programming, and continuing targeted, DEI-aligned recruitment under different names.
He admitted that Texas A&M was still engaged in DEI courses and “targeted” student recruitment—even after the law went into effect. When pressed, he claimed these activities were “exempted” and that state auditors had signed off—positions repeatedly challenged by lawmakers and watchdogs.
“Shared Governance” and Blocking Conservative Oversight
Welsh has publicly fought the idea that A&M’s conservative-leaning Board of Regents should exercise effective oversight on academic hiring—insisting, “The hiring process is owned and operated by the university … Period. We make that call.”
That “shared governance” philosophy was widely criticized as it undercuts legislative and public accountability and ensures faculty activist groups retain major power. A new state law ended shared governance this year, relegating faculty to an advisory capacity and centralizing power with the Board of Regents.
Latest Events: The Pattern Continues
When a wave of outrage broke over an A&M’s children’s literature course featuring content on how to introduce LGBT topics to minors, Welsh at first defended the course in recorded audio and justified its content—only reversing, under immense pressure, to announce terminations.
Welsh’s pattern—defend first, then reverse if public outcry makes it unavoidable—follows the same script seen when Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to fire him in January for sponsoring a DEI conference. Only with his job on the line did Welsh backtrack and withdraw A&M’s support.
His decades-long embrace of leftist ideology, DEI activism, and institutional resistance to conservative reform is exhaustively documented. Whether the controversy is DEI or LGBT curriculum, faculty hiring, or “white privilege” ideology, Welsh’s priorities have always leaned strongly left.
Who Knew?
Despite Welsh’s background, the Texas A&M University System’s Board of Regents appointed him to the position of president.
At the time, Regent Chairman Bill Mahomes stated, “The board is certain that General Welsh will make a Texas-sized impact as President of our world-class flagship. His remarkable career embodies Aggie core values.”
Now, in response to the latest debacle, the regents have stated they “will not tolerate actions that damage the reputation of our institutions.”
While TAMU System Chancellor Glenn Hegar “commended” Welsh for firing the professor who sought to inject the LGBT agenda into a class about children’s literature, the outrage from Aggies has yet to subside.
State Rep. Brian Harrison (R–Midlothian), an A&M alum, released the recordings of the professor’s class as well as Welsh’s response, which was to defend the professor and course content. Harrison continues to call for Welsh’s termination.
