Texas A&M president cancels trip to conference excluding white, Asian students after Gov. Abbott threat
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to fire the president of Texas A&M University after it was revealed that the institution was sponsoring student travel to a conference that excluded white and Asian students.
The PhD Project’s Annual Conference, held in Chicago, Illinois, is specifically designed for "historically underrepresented individuals considering business doctoral studies." The event, which promotes diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), explicitly limited eligibility to non-white, non-Asian students.
The controversy began on Monday when activist Christopher Rufo shared an image on social media platform X exposing that Texas A&M was promoting the event despite its discriminatory policy.
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In his post, Rufo wrote: “Texas A&M is sponsoring a trip to a DEI conference that prohibits whites and Asians from attending. The university falsely claims that this use of taxpayer funds does not violate the state's DEI ban. @TAMU is supporting racial segregation and breaking the law.”
Rufo’s post also included screenshots from a partial email in which a university employee wrote that the university’s general counsel’s office had concluded that “supporting The PhD Project is permissible under recruitment exemptions in SB 17.”
The post sparked a quick condemnation from the governor, who replied emphatically, “Hell no. It’s against Texas law and violates the U.S. Constitution. It will be fixed immediately, or the president will soon be gone.”
DEI programs at public universities are prohibited under Texas’ newly implemented law, Senate Bill 17.
Soon after, Texas A&M President Mark A. Welsh III issued a public statement reaffirming the university's commitment to comply with SB-17 and asserted that it does not engage in discriminatory practices.
The statement read: “Texas A&M does not support any organization, conference, process or activity that excludes people based on race, creed, gender, age or any other discriminating factor. The intent of SB-17 is very clear in that regard. We will continue to honor both the letter and the intent of the law.”
In another statement, Welsh later told Fox News he was canceling the trip altogether: "While the proper process for reviewing and approving attendance at such events was followed, I don’t believe we fully considered the spirit of our state law in making the initial decision to participate.
"This particular conference’s limitations on the acceptable race of attendees is not in line with the intent of SB-17, and, as a result, we will not be sending anyone to participate in this conference."
Welsh, a retired four-star general who has served as Texas A&M’s president since 2023, has a history of pushing DEI initiatives. As dean of the Bush School of Governance and Public Service in 2016, Welsh delivered a speech in which he encouraged students to focus on creating diverse job slates and if there is a "tie" among candidates, to choose the individual who brings racial or gender diversity.
The PhD Project’s Annual Conference lists “at least eight other Texas public universities that have participated in the conference” in the past but will no longer be participating, according to the Texas Tribune.
