Texas A&M flags courses on race and gender, sparking debate over academic freedom
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Texas A&M University has flagged hundreds of courses as administrators work to implement a new systemwide policy that restricts classroom discussion of race and gender.
The changes, which came just days before the start of the Spring semester, included directing a philosophy professor to remove Plato readings from one of his courses.
In November, the Texas A&M System Board of Regents approved a new policy requiring university leaders to approve courses that advocate “race and gender ideology” or include topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity.
It came on the heels of an incident where a student secretly recorded a professor discussing gender identity in a children’s literature class. The video went viral on social media and created outrage from top Republican leaders and state lawmakers, leading to the firing of that professor and former Texas A&M President Mark Welsh to step down.
The discussion of these topics is banned in introductory or core curriculum courses unless administrators determine the material serves a “necessary educational purpose.”
The university has been reviewing courses ahead of the start of the Spring semester on Monday as school leaders work to interpret and comply with the new systemwide rule.
It flagged two lectures in Professor Martin Peterson’s “Contemporary Moral Issues” class that address “Race and Gender Ideology” and include assigned readings from Symposium by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato.
“I have taught that course in the past. I’ve talked about race and gender issues. That has not been an issue,” Peterson said. “But now we have a new policy that bans discussions of race and gender issues in the classroom, and of course, many contemporary moral issues are focused on such issues.”
Earlier this week, he got an email from his department head, telling him to change his syllabus to “remove the modules on race ideology and gender ideology” and the Plato readings on those subjects, or be reassigned to teach a different course.
“I was not entirely surprised because in a technical sense, the ban is correct, if you take that policy seriously, but I was still surprised that they’re willing to censor Plato in the philosophy department,” Peterson said. “What is left to discuss in the philosophy department if we’re not going to talk about Plato? Plato invented the university. His academy was the first university in the world. So it’s of course obvious that we should be allowed to discuss all of Plato’s texts, not just the subset selected by the university.”
In a statement to KVUE, Texas A&M University said it has not fully banned Plato and “numerous dialogues” by Plato will be taught “in a variety of courses this semester and will continue to do so in the future.”
“In alignment with recent System policy, university administrators are reviewing all core curriculum courses to ensure they do not teach race or gender ideology,” Texas A&M said.
The university said it approved other sections of the same course that include works by Plato, but “do not include modules on race and gender ideology.”
Asked about the university’s response, Peterson said it almost made him laugh.
“Sure, Plato also makes claims that aren’t that controversial, and we can apparently teach those parts of his works,” he said. “But come on, in the philosophy department, we should be allowed to teach all of Plato’s dialogues. We shouldn’t censor him. The claim that it’s okay to just select some of the text is ridiculous.”
In the required reading sections from Symposium, Plato discusses human sexuality as natural and states that there are more than two genders. That is different from the conservative view of gender, which is that there are only two.
“Plato clearly thought that there are more than two genders. He clearly supported or had no problem with homosexual relations, so therefore I think he is particularly relevant for the course on contemporary issues,” Peterson said. “Students need to know that Plato did not support the narrative that some politicians want to defend today.”
State Rep. Brian Harrison (R-Midlothian), who has been a vocal critic of DEI and instruction on race and gender said he believes Texas A&M made the right decision. He said he is okay with students learning about these topics as long as it is not funded by taxpayers.
“Plato has not been banned,” Harrison said. “This appears to be nothing more than a manufactured scandal and is one more example that the inmates have been running the asylum in Texas universities.:
The university said the coursework in question was added after the Board of Regents approved the new policy, but Peterson said that was not his intention. He said he had taught the course several times before and used the same module on race and gender issues, but this time he singled out Plato’s readings and made them explicit in the syllabus.
“It is fairly normal to update the syllabus every time you teach a course, especially if it’s a course on contemporary moral issues,” Peterson said. “What is the contemporary issue varies over time.”
Peterson said he decided to comply with the university’s request to change his syllabus. He has replaced the lectures on Plato with new lectures on free speech and academic freedom. With the changes, he said he feels students are getting a less rigorous, challenging education in the classroom.
“I’m not a victim here. It’s my students who are victims. They don’t get to study Plato, and that is very unfortunate,” Peterson said. “I don’t think that any student supports this ban, and they will not benefit from this. They don’t need to be protected. Plato is not dangerous. My students are adults. They can definitely read and discuss Plato.”
As professors have had to reconsider what is in the syllabus, some are unsure whether they will teach certain classes, and some sections of courses have been canceled.
Peterson said he does not blame the deans or department heads who are forcing professors to make changes to comply with the Board of Regents policy, which he called “self-inflicted harm.”
“Administrators at A&M are doing a good job in what is an impossible job at the moment,” he said. “I support them. I have no reason to complain about them as people. It’s the policy that is the problem. It’s not the people enforcing the policy.”
Critics have raised concerns that the policy limits academic freedom. The Texas A&M Chapter of the American Association of University Professors said the university’s actions “raise serious legal concerns.”
“Silencing 2,500-year-old ideas from one of the world’s most influential thinkers betrays the mission of higher education and denies students the opportunity to engage critically with the foundations of Western thought,” the Texas A&M AAUP Chapter said in a statement. “A research university that censors Plato abandons its obligation to truth, inquiry, and the public trust—and should not be regarded as a serious institution of higher learning.”
Graham Piro, a Faculty Legal Defense Fund Fellow at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, said he is concerned that this could all run afoul of the First Amendment.
“Academic freedom finds its roots in the First Amendment,” Piro said. “The First Amendment, as the Supreme Court once wrote, considers academic freedom to be a ‘special concern,’ meaning that the right to academic freedom is clearly bound up in broader First Amendment rights.”
Piro said he has serious concerns about viewpoint discrimination in addition to violations of constitutionally protected academic freedom.
“We’re absolutely concerned that this is the beginning of what is going to be an attempt to purge disfavored ideas from the classroom and that flies in the face of the First Amendment,” Piro said.
Piro said when those in positions of authority start putting their thumb on the scale for specific viewpoints or ideas in the classroom, it can be a slippery slope.
“When you start picking and choosing what ideas can and cannot be expressed, that faculty cannot speak about in the classroom, you’re starting down a dangerous road if political power changes hands,” Piro said. “The other set of political leaders may decide that they have a series of disfavored ideas that they don’t want to express in the classroom.”
Even if their courses have not been flagged, this has left some faculty members unsure about what they can or cannot teach in their classrooms, creating a chilling effect across the university.
“We’re concerned that faculty feel as if they’re going to have to walk on eggshells or think twice before putting specific reading or leading a specific discussion, for fear of potentially touching on one of these topics, race and sex, both of which are incredibly broad topics,” Piro said. “Therefore, they’re going to feel as if they need to self-censor, and that hurts the rights of the faculty member and the educational experience at these institutions.”
In a bit of an ironic twist, Peterson is the chair of the Academic Freedom Council at Texas A&M. The council held a meeting Friday morning to discuss what is happening at the university.
“In my opinion, we are not on the right track at Texas A&M,” Peterson said. “I speak for myself, not for the university, of course, but I cannot see that censorship would be a path to academic excellence.”
Peterson said he is concerned that this undermines the university’s ability to be a bastion of free thinking, discussion, and debate.
“The fact that Plato so clearly expressed his opinions that they disagree with it shouldn’t be a reason for censoring him. No one really likes censorship. Censorship is not a viable path to excellence in academia,” Peterson said. “Leading universities in the world do not censor faculty at all. Other leading research universities, of course, permit faculty to teach Plato as they see fit.”
Texas A&M is not the only university that has taken a similar step. Texas Tech has banned race-or sex-related content in courses, except when mandated for licensing, certification, or patient care. Texas State has asked its professor to review their course descriptions and titles to ensure they are “discipline-appropriate” and “ideologically neutral.”