Newly released internal emails show Mark A. Welsh III, then-president of Texas A&M, was closely involved in managing a viral controversy that led to a professor’s firing. The correspondence details campus-level choices about messaging and disciplinary steps before the termination became public. Those events have reignited governance debates: the Association of Governing Boards and other trustees’ groups are urging boards to strengthen protections for academic freedom and shared governance. AGB’s analysis argues academic freedom and faculty governance are interlinked pillars that trustees must defend to preserve institutional autonomy and decision-making integrity.