LETTER TO THE EDITOR
The Texas State Employees Union says that the recent ruling restoring Professor Tom Alter to his position at Texas State University after Hays County District Judge Alicia Key granted a temporary restraining order raises serious questions, not just about this single case, but about every decision made under President Kelly Damphousse’s leadership. The move signals that the university’s prior termination decision - announced by President Damphousse in an open letter - was legally flawed.
“The reinstatement underscores a glaring error in management and a pattern of decision-making that demands scrutiny,” says TSEU President Ilesa Daniels Ross.
Troubling Implications: A Leader’s Judgment in Question
When a university president is overruled by the court in such a highprofile matter, it shakes confidence in his judgment. If Damphousse’s decision to terminate a tenured professor was so deficient that it required judicial correction, then what does that say about every other decision he has made under that same judgment?
“What other dismissals, disciplinary measures, or academic decisions were made under political pressure? We know that Alter’s firing is not the only example of free speech being suppressed by Damphousse at Texas State,” says Daniels Ross. “The reversal of Alter’s termination already marks a public embarrassment and institutional liability.”
She continues, “Let this be a cautionary moment for Damphousse: the scales of justice are not swayed by institutional power or political convenience. The integrity of the academy demands that no decision, especially those affecting basic constitutional and academic rights, be made without care, transparency, and accountability.”
In solidarity,
Catarina Kissinger Communications Texas State Employees Union CWA Local 6186
