COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Texas A&M University President Mark A. Welsh III will step down on Friday after more than a week of turmoil sparked by a viral video of a student confronting a professor over gender content in a children’s literature course, the Texas A&M University System announced Thursday.

The video, along with an audio recording of Welsh initially refusing to fire professor Melissa McCoul, first circulated online on Sept. 8 after state Rep. Brian Harrison , R-Midlothian, shared it on the social media platform X.

Welsh fired McCoul a day later, but the move did not satisfy Harrison or Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick , who did not think Welsh handled the situation properly.

“His ambivalence on the issue and his dismissal of the student’s concerns by immediately taking the side of t

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