BUZZ
‘Draconian censorship’: AAUP challenges Texas A&M policy that prompted removal of Plato
The American Association of University Professors has filed a lawsuit against the Texas A&M University System alleging its policy that limits leftwing ideology in the curriculum is illegal.
The complaint, filed Monday, argues the policy that prohibits professors from advocating for race and gender ideology in the classroom is too vague and violates the professors’ First Amendment rights.
“The censorship policy was implemented in November 2025 amid a sustained campaign to limit speech on certain topics in the college classroom,” an AAUP news release states. “As a result of the policy change, numerous classes have been cancelled or forced to remove content and the women’s and gender studies program has been shuttered altogether because the program could not be reconciled with the new censorship policy.”
Texas A&M’s system policy 08.01 states that no academic course “may teach race or gender ideology or topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity, unless the course and its materials are approved in advance by a university president.”
“The faculty impacted by this policy work throughout the Texas A&M system, which includes twelve universities, and across departments, from the Bush School of Government and Public Service to English departments,” the AAUP news release states.
The policy made headlines earlier this year after a philosophy professor at Texas A&M University said he was forced to remove sections about “race” and “gender ideology” – including readings by Plato – from his spring “Contemporary Moral Issues” class to comply.
The same policy was also cited in the university’s decision to cancel Professor Leonard Bright’s graduate course, “Ethics in Public Policy,” after he refused to make the syllabus changes Texas A&M leadership requested, as The College Fix previously reported.
Bright is now one of four lead plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
“My ethics course—the only one of its kind available to graduate students—was canceled for noncompliance with a draconian censorship policy,” said Bright, president of the Texas A&M chapter of the AAUP, in the news release.
“This policy has impacted my ability to do my job, my students’ ability to learn, and my colleagues’ ability to teach without fear of reprisal. The chilling effect of this policy is vast and immeasurable, and it poisons the very soul of what a university should be: a place where ideas are free to roam, and debate is uninhibited by the political winds,” he said.
As Inside Higher Ed reported, the association also sued the Texas Tech University system last month over similar policies.
“System lawyers opposed the motion for a preliminary injunction, arguing that what faculty teach in the classroom is not protected by the First Amendment,” the outlet reported.
MORE: Is Plato really cancelled? Texas A&M syllabus review policy stirs debate
