How a secret recording of a gender identity lecture upended Texas A&M

Classroom 466, where former professor Melissa McCoul taught her ENGL 360: Literature for Children class, inside the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at Texas A&M University on Sept. 18, 2025 in College Station. (Credit: Antranik Tavitian for The Texas Tribune)

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COLLEGE STATION — It was the third week of Texas A&M’s summer semester and students in the ENGL 360: Literature for Children class were reading “Jude Saves the World,” a novel that features a 12-year-old protagonist who navigates coming out as nonbinary.