Table of Contents
Texas A&M board to vote on sweeping classroom censorship proposal
Lynn A. Nymeyer / Shutterstock.com
Old Main graduate school building at West Texas A&M University in Canyon.
This Wednesday, the Texas A&M System Board of Regents will vote on whether to give university presidents sweeping veto power over what professors can teach. Hiring professors with PhDs is meaningless if administrators are the ones deciding what gets taught.
Under the proposal, any course material or discussion related to “race or gender ideology” or “sexual orientation or gender identity” would need approval from the institution's president. Faculty would need permission to teach students about not just modern controversies, but also civil rights, the Civil War, or even ancient Greek comedies.
This is not just bad policy. It invites unlawful censorship, chills academic freedom, and undermines the core purpose of a university. Faculty will start asking not “Is this accurate?” but “Will this get me in trouble?”
That’s not education, it’s risk management.
FIRE urges the board to reject this proposal. And we will be there to defend any professor punished for doing what scholars are hired to do: pursue the truth wherever it leads.
Recent Articles
Get the latest free speech news and analysis from ֭.
Texas State’s ‘value neutral instruction’ walks a fine (and risky) line
Snipers, censorship, and unaccountability: Indiana University’s free speech crisis
5 laws FIREwants on the books to protect free speech