Faculty, Students Speak Out Against Censorship at Texas A&M

Dr. Leonard Bright, the president of the Texas A&M (TAMU) College Station AAUP chapter, spoke publicly against the censorship of Plato in philosophy class. Two days later, his own class was cancelled - and he found out via an email sent to the entire Bush School of Government & Public Affairs. The dean specifically named professor Bright in an email to his colleagues and used the course cancellation as a warning about following university processes. TAMU System's Policy 08.01, which came into effect in December 2025, subjects all syllabi to review and approval by system administrators. This course review led to the censorship of Plato's Symposium in Dr. Martin Peterson's intro-level philosophy class for the reading's discussion of love and biological sexes. As the TAMU AAUP-AFT chapter president, Dr. Bright has been leading the conversation against censorship at the university.

Dr. Bright has taught his graduate-level class, "Ethics of Public Policy," for six years- the syllabus for which has largely remained unchanged each year. His syllabus this year even included a statement clarifying the types of discussion the class is expected to have: "Students are not expected to agree with the instructor's perspectives, and respectful disagreement and critical engagement are explicitly welcomed and encouraged." Lori Taylor, the head of the department of public service and administration, asked professor Bright to justify his course content on whether "professionals in the field are required to know the information" or if "the content is necessary for accreditation."

Dr. Bright says he uses "case studies, theories, and current events to explore ethical dilemmas faced by public servants whom he believes should be aware of their blind spots." Coursework and discussions outside of accreditation requirements are what makes academic programs competitive: will students have the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of the field beyond the bare minimum? Will students enter an increasingly competitive workforce with the skills and social intelligence to set them apart from the hundreds of other graduates applying for the same jobs? When a world-class university like Texas A&M lowers its educational standards to merely "is it required for accreditation?" it is no longer a prestigious institution and instead has set itself on a path to becoming a degree-mill.

Faculty and students want better for their school. Yesterday, Texas AAUP-AFT joined with the TAMU chapter of MOVE Texas in a press conference to condemn course cancellations and attacks on academic freedom. Speakers included Dr. Joan Wolf, associate professor of sociology, Dr. Bright, Dr. Peterson, Vice President of the A&M chapter of MOVE Texas Robert Day and sociology undergraduate student Leah Tolan. As the leaders spoke, a crowd gathered around to listen to their statements.

"We are being laughed at in the rest of the world. No one takes Texas A&M seriously anymore. Degrees, your degrees, the thing that you pay lots of money for, will not have the same value because you are being censored." - Dr. Joan Wolf

Student speakers emphasized the cheapening of their education. Robert Day, a junior civil engineering student, says "The promise of college, and the promise of learning freely without fear is taken away. I wasn't the only student that was promised to." Leah Tolan says "We deserve the education we are investing our money in. Students are left without the tools to understand real-world issues that they will inevitably encounter beyond the classroom."

Professor Peterson noted that it is becoming more difficult to recruit faculty: "The first question we get from candidates has to do with academic freedom. It's not easy to recruit when candidates are scared."

"We have families to feed and mortgages to pay. We don't have the privilege to change jobs. We do this job because we care about civil discourse," said Dr. Wolf.

Dr. Bright closed out the press conference with demands to the TAMU system: "Today we demand that Texas A&M ends classroom censorship immediately, restore academic freedom to the faculty, reinstate improperly cancelled courses, let Plato out of his cage, guarantee truthful, rigorous education for our students, end all retaliation against faculty who refuse to voluntarily censor their courses, return circular authority back to the educators, back to the experts, to the faculty, protect the value in credibility of Texas A&M's degrees and reaffirm its commitment to all of Texans."