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Glenn Hegar chose not to attend Texas A&M University when he was first accepted as a teenager. From his little, rural hamlet of Hockley, the College Station school seemed like too large of a leap.
He decided to enroll in North Harris Montgomery Community College District, now known as Lone Star College, because he was a first-generation student who had only ever experienced life on a rice farm. When he was ready, he transferred to Texas A&M a year later.
He had no idea what a chancellor of a university system was at the time, much less that they oversaw and supported a whole network of campuses. At a time when the stakes could not be higher, Hegar resigned from his position as the state’s head accountant more than thirty years later. Young people are beginning to wonder if a college degree is worth the expense at a time when Republican state and federal lawmakers are threatening to reduce funding unless universities adopt their conservative viewpoint.
Hegar is concentrating on making Texas A&M feel approachable because he feels overwhelmed as a student, whereas his predecessor’s term was characterized by large, daring initiatives.
He asserted that there are various routes and that you should advocate for them for various individuals.
Ahead of Hegar’s 30-day tour of the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, which included stops at all 12 colleges and eight state agencies under his direction, the Texas Tribune met with Hegar last week.
On July 22, 2025, Jett McFalls, a research scientist with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, shows deputy agency director Joe Zietsman, TTI agency director Greg Winfree, and Texas A&M University System Chancellor Glenn Hegar around the sediment and erosion control laboratory at the Texas A&M RELLIS campus in College Station. The Texas Tribune’s Cassie Stricker is credited.
In his role as chancellor, Hegar will be in charge of a network that serves 158,000 students from Canyon to Commerce and College Station to Corpus Christi. State entities with a total yearly budget of $7.3 billion that are devoted to emergency management, transportation, agriculture, and other areas are also part of the system.
Hegar, who took office as system chancellor on July 1, stated that he wants to see Texas A&M students finish college, that he doubts the success of the now-defunct DEI programs, and that the system’s schools will probably still have faculty senates even after lawmakers condemned the advising bodies and allowed universities to dissolve them.
These are some conclusions drawn from the discussion.
New rules for faculty s input
This year, the Texas Legislature gave the governor-appointed university system regents more authority over hiring and curriculum decisions than the faculty.
The bill comes after a number of high-profile conflicts between state officials and faculty senates, elected groups composed of college academics who represent their peers and collaborate with university administration on academic issues.
Unless approved by regents, SB 37 mandates that all faculty senates be abolished by September 1. The maximum number of authorized senates would be 60, with two representatives from each institution. Compared to those chosen by fellow professors, half would be nominated by university officials and hold office for longer periods of time.
There are now 120 members of Texas A&M University’s faculty senate, with larger universities having greater representation.
Faculty organizations contend that the new rules go against the shared governance principle, which has traditionally been used to give professors a say in important academic decisions, even if faculty senates are allowed to remain in place. These include recruiting, curriculum, and tenure policies, which shield instructors from being let go without good reason.
At their next meeting on Aug. 27, system officials will provide the board with guidelines on how to apply the new law, according to Hegar. However, he implied that faculty senates at A&M institutions would not vanish.
“I don’t see a situation where faculty senates would not exist at this exact time,” he remarked.
The faculty senate at Texas A&M University in College Station has blasted the board of regents for caving in to political pressure, such as when it did so late last year in spite of faculty protests.
In 2023, when she allegedly chastised Lt. Gov. during a speech on the drug problem, faculty members also voiced their opinions.
On July 22, 2025, Glenn Hegar, Chancellor of the Texas A&M University System, sits down for an interview with The Texas Tribune at the Moore-Connally Building in College Station. The Texas Tribune’s Cassie Stricker is credited.
Following the talk, Patrick received a direct message from former A&M Chancellor John Sharp, who said he would look into the matter and possibly terminate her within the week.
Hegar initially stated that the university president, not him, would probably handle the matter when asked how he would react in a such circumstance.
As a true conservative who stood for reelection in 2022 on the platform of faith, family, and freedom, Hegar, the former Texas state comptroller, ultimately refused to say whether he would defend a professor’s academic freedom and freedom of speech, stating that it would depend on the specific facts of each case.
However, do I believe that someone should force their personal views on you, whether that person is Glenn Hegar, the chancellor, or a professor or associate professor in a course? “No,” he answered, “that is not our role.” Teaching you the course material is our responsibility.
By transferring control of curriculum to political appointees who might not be subject matter experts, SB 37 jeopardizes the freedom to learn, teach, and do research, according to the Texas Conference of the American Association of University Professors. SB 2972 is also criticized by faculty and lawmakers. Faculty caution that arbitrary speech limitations on campus under the guise of safety could result from the law’s ambiguous wording.
Back to the basics
Hegar’s political heritage is similar to that of his predecessor, Sharp. Both later became the state comptroller and represented the same area in the Texas Senate. However, it appears that they will have very distinct leadership philosophies.
that contributed to changing the idea that Texas A&M was the less prominent, less respected, and more rural little brother of the University of Texas System. Under his direction, the system outbid UT for a contract to assist in the management of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, enlarged Kyle Field into the state’s largest football stadium, and purchased a Fort Worth law school.
Hegar, on the other hand, is beginning the position with a greater emphasis on student outcomes than on eye-catching expansion. He stated that his goal is to prevent A&M students from leaving school and assist them in reducing their debt after graduation.
Those are quite significant because, in my opinion, our primary goal is to give students the financial possibility to exit the school in a better financial situation than when they arrived, Hegar stated.
According to data from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, only between 70% and 74% of first-time, degree-seeking undergraduate students at Texas A&M schools in Commerce, Kingsville, Texarkana, and San Antonio continued their studies after their first year, whereas 97% of freshmen at the flagship campus returned for their sophomore year in 2024.
In the meantime, the average amount they owe has gone up from $23,055 to $26,572 during the last ten years, but the proportion has gone down from 46% to 39%.
During his statewide tour, Hegar said he also wants to concentrate on two things he heard the presidents of the system’s regional universities emphasize: the need to expand economic opportunities for the students these campuses were designed to serve and to take control of their own backyard by strengthening relationships with local businesses and communities.
Glenn Hegar, Texas A&M University System Chancellor, left, greets university student bus drivers Isabel Nichols, Dylan Tan, Connor Schultz and Bryan Gonzales during a visit to the RELLIS campus in College Station on July 22, 2025. The Texas Tribune’s Cassie Stricker is credited.
The Texas Legislature recently agreed to to the Texas A&M System after local leaders said the region needed agribusiness and engineering programs that weren t currently available.
Avoiding the culture war crossfire
Hegar expressed a view that many Republican lawmakers have cited as justification for major higher education reforms in the last few years: that colleges focus should be on preparing students for the workforce.
One of the biggest shakeups came in 2023 with offices and programs at public universities.
When asked whether it matters to him that Texas A&M s student body reflects the diversity of Texas, Hegar did not give a direct answer. Instead, he questioned the value of focusing on a single metric and said schools might want to consider whether the student body should reflect the state s diversity, each campus regional diversity or the diversity of students entering the public education system. He also said he wasn t convinced DEI offices had led to more diversity.
The percentage of Black students enrolled at the flagship campus has persistently lagged behind the percentage of Black residents in the state. Some students and alumni of color have said that the university s refusal to , a former Texas governor, confederate general and university president, has given them the impression that their voices do not carry equal weight.
I think what s most important, no matter what is, is you re constantly trying to make sure that you are serving the students you have and you re trying to provide equal opportunities for education across the system and for the state, he said.
The Texas Tribune partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.
Disclosure: Lone Star College, Texas A&M Transportation Institute, Texas A&M University, Texas A&M University System, University of Texas System and University of Houston have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune s journalism. Find a complete.
The lineup for The Texas Tribune Festival continues to grow! Be there when all-star leaders, innovators and newsmakers take the stage in downtown Austin, Nov. 13 15. The newest additions include comedian, actor and writerJohn Mulaney; Dallas mayorEric Johnson; U.S. Sen.Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota; New York Media Editor-at-LargeKara Swisher; and U.S. Rep.Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso.
TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.
