Former TXST professor fights for free speech at UTRGV

Former Texas State University Professor Tom Alter made a stop at UTRGV to share his experience after being terminated from the San Marcos university. 

Alter visited the Edinburg campus as part of his “The Fight For Free Speech with Dr. Tom Alter” tour. The circuit started after Alter was fired Sept. 10, 2025 from his tenured position of associate professor of History at Texas State University (TXST).

According to him, he was fired without due process by TXST President Kelly Damphousse through a social media post. 

During his speech on Wednesday at UTRGV, the professor explained the events of his firing. 

“So President Damphousse fired me over comments I made three days earlier on a presentation I gave during an online socialism conference,” he said. “I made this presentation in my personal capacity, online, from my home office on a Sunday morning.”

Alter said he was never identified as a TXST employee during the conference promotional material. 

He added he was unknowingly recorded during a break period of the conference and answered a question about what it was like working at TXST. 

According to him, the person recording the conference edited the video to make it look like the question he answered was part of the presentation. 

In the video prompting his dismissal, he said “My name is Tom Alter, I am a member of Socialist Horizon in San Marcos Texas and also a member of the Texas State Employees Union.”

“So [Texas State officials] violated the constitutional rights of free speech, freedom of association and due process,” Alter said. “And it should be crystal clear that my illegal firing was a political act.”

According to Alter, Damphousse announced his immediate termination was due to inciting violence. 

“Conduct that advocates for inciting violence is directly contrary to the values of Texas State University,” a statement from President Damphouse read. “I cannot and will not tolerate such behavior.” 

The professor said he believes Damphouse didn’t provide enough evidence to fire him.

“[Damphouse only made] a reference to my online conference,” the professor said. 

During his visit to UTRGV, the professor explained the Revolutionary Socialism Conference that led to his firing. 

“My presentation was a brief overview of working class based organizing, historically and today,” he said. “In this talk I praise the civil disobedience actions of anarchists who have put their jobs, bodies and lives on the line in recent protests against environmental destruction.” 

During the conference, the professor talked about how civil disobedience has a long and cherished history in the U.S. with the American Revolution being the start of it. 

As part of his online presentation, he asked a “hypothetical” question – “Without organization, how can anyone expect to overthrow the most bloodthirsty, profit-driven mad organization in the history of the world, that of the U.S. government?” 

During his speech at UTRGV, Alter said he did nothing against the TXST handbook that says professors could speak on matters of public concern. 

The professor told Vaqueros about how protesting “actually works.” He said the day after he was fired, Bobcats were already protesting for him, which lasted several days. 

A UTRGV philosophy senior who goes by Clark said they heard about Alter from a friend who attends TXST and was excited to hear him speak. 

“I think it’s important because, again, all this happened because Dr. Alter did a socialist conference and someone recorded it even though he’s a private citizen at this time, he still got fired because of it, without due process, and he was tenured,” Clark said. “People fight for their way up to get safe jobs and yet even then it’s not even safe.”

Another Vaquero present was anthropology senior, Brian Valdibi, who said he thinks the idea of free speech is under attack.

“People just need to be more involved,” Valdibi said. 

He added he really wanted to ask how to organize students in a generation that is against debate and filled with algorithms and other people’s thoughts. 

 “The goal of the tour is to speak out for our democratic rights and free speech … to build more political alliances, to build unions and to also build student activist groups,” Alter said.