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 the pro

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