The Death of Open Government in Texas

Digital subscribers can listen to this article. Subscribe today for unlimited access to Texas Monthly. Already a subscriber? Log in. Last fall, Texas A&M University was in the midst of a firestorm. State Representative Brian Harrison of Midlothian, a brash right-wing social media power user, had posted a video to X that a student had recorded of a professor discussing gender identity during a lecture. Harrison included a letter to Governor Greg Abbott demanding that she and university President Mark Welsh be immediately fired. Within two weeks, the professor and Welsh had been pushed out, and Texas A&M, which had cycled through four presidents in five years, was once again in search of a leader.With a colleague at The Texas Tribune, I set out to understand…

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