Texas A&M faculty stands by hiring practices accused of discriminating against white, Asian men

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (TND) — Even though Texas A&M University is being sued for alleged discriminatory hiring and compensation practices, the university's faculty senate passed a resolution supporting the goals of diversity programs at A&M, some of which exclude individuals on the basis of their race or sex.

The resolution, which was meant to reflect the faculty senate's position on the goals of diversity programs at A&M, was debated and passed on Monday by a vote of 54-12.

Last month, University of Texas-Austin professor Richard Lowery filed a class action lawsuit against A&M and its board of regents alleging a new chapter of the Accountability, Climate, Equity, and Scholarship Faculty Fellows Program (ACES) fellow program – called ACES Plus – discriminated against white and Asian male applicants seeking employment opportunities at the school.

Lowry argues that the alleged discrimination violates Title VI and Title IX of the federal Civil Rights Act, as well as the equal protection clause under the 14th Amendment.

"The Texas A&M University System, along with nearly every university in the United States, discriminates on account of race and sex when hiring its faculty, by giving discriminatory preferences to female or non-Asian minorities at the expense of white and Asian men. This practice, popularly known as 'affirmative action,' has led universities to hire and promote inferior faculty candidates over individuals with better scholarship, better credentials, and better teaching ability," the complaint filed in Lowery's case stated. "These discriminatory, illegal, and anti-meritocratic practices have been egged on by woke ideologues who populate the so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion offices at public and private universities throughout the United States. The existence of these offices is subverting meritocracy and encouraging wholesale violations of civil-rights laws throughout our nation’s university system."

The new addition to the ACES fellowship program was announced in a July memo from A&M's Office for Diversity. The memo indicated that the new program was intended "for new mid-career and senior tenure-track hires from underrepresented minority groups, that contribute to moving the structural composition of our faculty towards parity with that of the State of Texas."

The memo defined under-represented minorities as "African Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans, Native Americans, Alaskan Natives and Native Hawaiians."

"I believe that voting on or even debating this resolution is extremely unwise because one of the programs it endorses is subject to litigation," one of the faculty senators Adam Kolasinski said during Monday's debate over the resolution. "Weighing in on a program that is subject to litigation whose outcome is highly uncertain is an extremely bad idea as we are not court and we are not lawyers," Kolasinski continued.

The National Desk (TND) reached out to the faculty senate at Texas A&M for comment, but did not hear back prior to publication. If a response is received, this story will be updated.