Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing an entity known as Texas American Muslim University for allegedly offering phony degrees and using branding that is “confusingly similar” to Texas A&M University by calling itself “TexAM,” a copy of the lawsuit reviewed by The EDU Ledger shows. 
Operators say they are already complying with the state's demands, but Paxton, in the lawsuit said, it doesn’t matter if they have stopped offering degrees, because the school still did so illegally.
The state of Texas is seeking $1 million in civil penalties, claiming the insitution “repeatedly disregarded Texas law, misrepresented its authority to grant degrees, and risked deceiving students about its legitimacy,” said Paxton in a press release. “My office will not allow illegal, unaccredited degree mills to operate in Texas.”
On the surface, the headlines surrounding the Texas American Muslim University might have just appeared to be another instance of the ongoing crusade against DEI in Texas; after all, the chronology of public events leading up to the Attorney General’s interference does give the appearance that the lawsuit against TexAM could be politically motivated.
First, Amir Omar – a Democrat and the first Muslim mayor of Richardson, Texas – was seen in a video circulating online in which he touted the Muslim university as a potential source of interns and employees and said he would be “more than thrilled” to serve as a “conduit” between the school and government and local industry.
Omar’s video caught the attention of U.S. Rep. Brandon Gill, a Republican from Texas, who reposted the Omar video on X underneath the statement: “We are being conquered.” Both the original post and Gill’s post appeared on May 5. On May 6, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board issued TexAM a cease and desist letter — “determining that TexAM is operating illegally, is prohibited from offering degrees, and is subject to civil penalties,” according to a press release from Paxton.
However, a deeper dive reveals the institution was operating without ever having filed the appropriate paperwork, advertising “STEM degree programs embedded with mandatory courses in Islamic Studies,” including a “Master’s in Artificial Intelligence,” despite not having ever applied for accreditation or even attempting to get even the most basic certifications necessary to legitimately offer degrees. Furthermore, Paxton’s office contends that the institution’s strategic use of TexAM as shorthand for Texas American Muslim University was a “confusingly similar” moniker to Texas A&M University, which allowed registrants to be misled into thinking there may have been an affiliation with the state system headquartered in College Station.
Shahid Bajwa, one of the TexAM operators named in the lawsuit, told The Dallas Express that the school “will not offer degrees until all regulatory approvals are secured,” even though the school’s website was still advertising its degrees, such as a “Master’s in Artificial Intelligence,” for $99 per credit hour.
