Texas A&M University issued an apology Thursday (Aug. 3) and announced that it agreed to pay journalism professor Kathleen McElroy $1 million to settle a dispute over her botched hiring after a conservative backlash over her diversity advocacy.

The Associated Press reports that the university hired McElroy in June to revive its journalism department. But the school’s warm welcome suddenly turned cold for reasons that were unclear at first.

An internal investigation released Thursday (Aug. 3) sheds light on what happened behind the scenes to the veteran Black journalist known for promoting newsroom diversity.

At least six of the school’s board of regents members began raising questions about McElroy’s hiring after online platform Texas Scorecard posted an article about her past DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) work. The piece on the conservative website prompted numerous angry phone calls and emails to the university president’s office.

This drama unfolded as several GOP-dominated state legislatures and Republican governors passed laws targeting DEI programs. In June, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill into law that bans DEI offices at public colleges and universities statewide, CNN reported.

Amid the conservative backlash, UT’s then-president, Katherine Banks, and a school dean discussed McElroy’s employment, the investigation said.

According to McElroy, her job offer was reduced from a tenure-track position to a one-year post from which she could be fired at any time. She chose to reject the job offer and return to her previous journalism teaching job at the University of Texas at Austin.

Banks denied having a hand in reducing McElroy’s job offer but resigned after the situation became public. The school’s board of regents later approved negotiating a settlement with McElroy.

The university “has learned from its mistakes and will strive to ensure similar mistakes are not repeated in the future,” Texas A&M said in a joint statement with McElroy, according to the AP.