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When Martin Peterson, a philosophy professor at Texas A&M University, learned on Tuesday that he would need to remove portions of Plato from his course syllabus, he was stunned. According to an email from his department chair, eliminating those materials was necessary for the class to comply with newly adopted university policies restricting discussion of race and gender.

Just days before the spring semester was set to begin, one of the largest public university systems in the United States found itself scrambling to interpret and implement these new rules. Faculty members across Texas A&M were being asked to revise syllabuses at the request of administrators, while others were left uncertain about whether they would be permitted to teach certain subjects at all. Some course sections were canceled or faced reclassification, creating potential disruptions for students trying to finalize their schedules.

Amid the confusion, many professors expressed a deeper concern: that the academic freedom central to university life was being eroded.

“A philosophy professor who can’t teach Plato?” Peterson said during an interview on Wednesday. “What kind of university does that describe? Is that truly the direction they want to go?”

He questioned how philosophy could be meaningfully taught without engaging with Plato, even if some of the philosopher’s ideas provoke debate. For Peterson, controversy is not a flaw of philosophical inquiry but one of its defining features.

Texas A&M, located in College Station, responded with a statement asserting that Plato’s dialogues would continue to be taught in multiple courses throughout the semester and beyond. The university emphasized that other approved sections of the same course included Plato’s work but did not contain material related to race or gender ideology.

Over the past several months, the Texas A&M system’s board of regents has moved quickly to endorse new limits on classroom instruction, responding to mounting pressure from conservative lawmakers in the state legislature.

Under policies approved late last year, courses are prohibited from advocating what the rules describe as race or gender ideology, as well as topics tied to sexual orientation or gender identity. In limited cases, graduate courses and certain non-core undergraduate classes may address these subjects, but only after demonstrating a clear educational necessity.

Universities have long maintained that classrooms should not be platforms for political advocacy. However, the actions taken by Texas A&M’s regents reflect a broader and increasingly vocal debate in Texas over the role of public universities. Republican officials, often echoing critiques popularized during the Trump administration, argue that higher education has drifted away from neutral scholarship and toward liberal activism, particularly around diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

Brian Harrison, a Republican state representative and Texas A&M alumnus who has been a leading voice behind the pressure campaign in Austin, rejected claims that Plato had been banned from classrooms. He described such assertions as misleading and accused critics of exaggerating the situation to inflame public opinion.

According to Harrison, the controversy only reinforced his belief that Texas public universities had been mismanaged for years. He argued that faculty members had exercised too much unchecked control over curricula, to the detriment of students and taxpayers.

Since November 2024, Texas A&M has taken several high-profile actions that have drawn national attention. The university eliminated its minor in LGBTQ studies and saw its then-president’s position threatened by the governor following a conference focused on diversity and inclusion. In September, a lecturer teaching a children’s literature course was dismissed after a lesson sparked intense political backlash. That episode ultimately led to the university president stepping down.

Now, professors from a wide range of academic disciplines are attempting to interpret what the new policies mean for their classrooms as the semester approaches.

It remains unclear how many courses, instructors, or students may ultimately be affected. At large institutions like Texas A&M, individual classes can enroll dozens or even hundreds of students, amplifying the impact of any last-minute changes.

The course Peterson had planned to teach, Philosophy 111, titled Contemporary Moral Issues, is designed to explore major ethical theories and apply them to modern social questions. According to the university catalog, it fulfills a core curriculum requirement for undergraduates.

Peterson’s original syllabus included units on abortion, the death penalty, economic justice, and debates surrounding race and gender. When he submitted the syllabus for review last month, he made clear to his department chair that the course did not promote any particular ideology. Instead, he said, the goal was to teach students how to analyze and evaluate arguments commonly raised in discussions of moral and social issues.

On Tuesday, Peterson received a response from Kristi Sweet, the head of the philosophy program. She explained that university officials had reviewed his syllabus in light of the new system-wide policies and presented him with two options.

One option was to revise the course by removing modules related to race and gender ideology, along with the Plato readings that might touch on those topics. The alternative was to be reassigned to teach a different course focused on ethics and engineering.

The Plato selections Peterson had planned to use included passages discussing Diotima’s Ladder of Love and Aristophanes’ myth of split human beings, both drawn from the Symposium.

Ironically, many conservative critics of higher education have called for renewed emphasis on classical texts and the foundations of Western civilization. Yet the dispute at Texas A&M illustrates how even ancient philosophical works can become entangled in contemporary political conflicts.

Sweet declined to comment publicly on her communications with Peterson. For his part, Peterson said he would reluctantly modify the course, replacing the contested material with lectures on free speech and academic freedom.

Still, he expressed anger and frustration, noting that students would receive a less demanding and intellectually rich education as a result.

The university maintained that Peterson had added the disputed content after the regents approved the new policies. Peterson rejected the suggestion that he was attempting to provoke controversy, insisting that his inclusion of Plato was academically motivated.

He acknowledged that members of the board of regents might disagree with Plato’s ideas, but argued that disagreement was precisely the point of studying philosophy. Exposure to alternative perspectives, he said, is essential to learning.

As chair of the university’s Academic Freedom Council, Peterson warned against allowing only one viewpoint in the classroom. Without debate, he said, education becomes indoctrination rather than inquiry.

Two additional Texas A&M faculty members, speaking anonymously out of fear of retaliation, said they did not plan to revise their syllabuses but were uncertain whether they would be allowed to teach under the new rules.

In one internal email circulated this week, university administrators announced the cancellation of a sociology course, stating that it could not be taught in its current form while remaining compliant with system policies.

The current framework governing instruction took shape over the past year. During a November meeting, Sam Torn, the regent overseeing academic and student affairs, argued that it had become evident that some courses no longer aligned with the curriculum envisioned by system leadership.

Tensions had been building for months, but the debate intensified last September after a lecturer in a children’s literature course displayed a visual aid known as a “gender unicorn,” commonly used to explain distinctions between gender identity and expression. A video of a classroom exchange quickly spread online after being promoted by Republican lawmakers, including Harrison.

In the clip, a student questioned whether the material was legal to teach, asserting that the university president had said there were only two genders. The instructor, Melissa McCoul, responded that the student was mistaken. Shortly afterward, the university terminated her employment.

In November, a faculty appeals panel unanimously concluded that the dismissal was unjustified. Nevertheless, a system official later declined to reinstate McCoul, prompting her attorney to signal an impending legal challenge.

As public attention intensified following that episode, the regents moved to further tighten instructional rules across the Texas A&M system, which serves roughly 165,000 students across multiple campuses and a health sciences center.

By Wednesday, as news of Peterson’s case spread, critics argued that conflicts over free expression were an inevitable consequence of the board’s actions. The College Station chapter of the American Association of University Professors said the move against Peterson raised serious legal and academic concerns.

The group emphasized that its objections extended beyond constitutional issues.

Suppressing ideas that have been debated for more than two millennia, the organization said, undermines the mission of higher education and deprives students of the chance to engage critically with foundational Western thought. A research university that restricts discussion of Plato, it argued, abandons its responsibility to truth, intellectual inquiry, and the public trust, and risks forfeiting its standing as a serious institution of higher learning.