Events following Banks’ resignation

Texas A&M President M. Katherine Banks tendered her resignation to Chancellor John Sharp on the evening of July 20, effective immediately.

“The recent challenges regarding Dr. McElroy have made it clear to me that I must retire immediately,” Banks wrote. “The negative press is a distraction from the wonderful work being done here.”

The departure comes only two days after Banks’ assertion that the administration was unaware of the developments that caused McElroy’s botched hiring at a special Faculty Senate meeting left faculty bewildered.

“I am ashamed to wear my ring,” faculty senator of the School of Veterinary Medicine and former student Dana Gaddy said shortly after Banks left halfway through the discussion to attend another “very important” meeting.

The Senate passed a resolution 55-5 to establish an independent fact-finding committee to look into the McElroy controversy following widespread lack of satisfaction with Banks’ statements.

Gen. Mark A. Welsh III, dean of the Bush School of Government and Public Service, was appointed as acting president.

The next day, a document emailed to select Texas A&M faculty by Hart Blanton, Ph.D., head of the Department of Communications represented that the decision making that led to the crisis was at the department level. To the contrary, President Banks injected herself into the process atypically and early on.” Blanton said at least one administrator attributed the scrutiny McElroy’s candidacy received from the university to her race. ulty Senate meeting that the administration was unaware of, was made without Blanton’s approval, Blanton said. The offer included terms for a one-year contract as director and professor of practice without tenure upon arrival. Despite this, the offer still contained his signature.

“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,” Blanton said. “The altered draft retained my electronic signature, but reduced the appointment from an earlier-discussed multiyear term to one.”

Blanton did not offer any speculation on where the one-year offer originated beyond his statement, but said he was “pleased” by Banks’ departure and Journalism, stated Banks was dishonest about Kathleen McElroy’s botched hiring during the July 19 emergency Faculty Senate meeting and claimed his signature was forged on the second written offer sent to McElroy by the university.

The document concluded with a call for a comprehensive investigation on the failed McElroy hire.

Blanton said contrary to Banks’ claims, the administration was unusually present during the hiring of McElroy.

“Then-President M. Katherine Banks misled the Faculty Senate,” Blanton wrote. “She

“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,” Blanton said. “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.”

The subsequent, diminished offer made to McElroy, which Banks stated during the Fac-

“I request a full and independent investigation of these incidents to be conducted,” Blanton wrote. “Lest they be repeated.”

Blanton’s legal representation, David Schleicher, said the statement was made in Blanton’s personal capacity and that Blanton does not plan on making further public comment.

Shortly afterward, Vice Chancellor for Marketing and Communications Laylan Copelin issued a statement that the A&M System’s Office of General Counsel was commencing an investigation of the McElroy controversy.