Texas A&M President Mark A. Welsh III to step down

Welsh’s departure comes amid a broader campaign by Republican leaders to tighten control of curricula, hiring and speech at the state’s public universities.

In January, Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to fire Welsh after the university’s business school invited advanced PhD students and faculty to a conference designed to recruit Black, Hispanic and Indigenous graduate students. After the threat, Welsh said Texas A&M would pull out of the conference completely.

Abbott cannot fire university presidents, but he appoints the members of the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents, who do have that authority.