Overview

• The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents voted Friday to install Williams on an interim basis while a national search for a permanent president continues.
• Williams is a 1978 graduate, former state lawmaker and former A&M System vice chancellor who later served as a senior adviser to Gov. Greg Abbott before retiring in 2019.
• The leadership change follows Mark A. Welsh III’s Sept. 19 resignation after weeks of turmoil over a student’s confrontation with a professor about gender-identity content captured in videos posted by Rep. Brian Harrison.
• In the fallout, Welsh fired lecturer Melissa McCoul and demoted the College of Arts and Sciences dean and the English department head before the regents authorized a separation agreement on Sept. 26.
• Regents have directed Chancellor Glenn Hegar to audit courses across the system to check compliance with state laws, a step critics say threatens academic freedom.