Texas A&M University conducts curriculum review, Plato under scrutiny

Faculty at Texas A&M University’s College of Arts and Sciences say at least 200 courses at the school have been flagged or canceled by university leaders because of content related to gender or race, as the school reviews all course syllabuses. Inside higher education.

This is just the beginning of the course review process mandated by the System Council. Teachers were asked to submit core course syllabi for review in December, and some teachers have yet to receive feedback from spring classes, which are scheduled to begin Monday.

So far, queer filmmakers, feminist writers and even ancient Western philosophers are getting under the knife. One faculty member — philosophy professor Martin Peterson, who was supposed to teach contemporary moral issues this spring — was asked by university leadership to remove several passages from Plato from his syllabus.

In an email from department chair Christy Sweet, Peterson was given two options: Either remove “modules on racial and gender ideologies, and readings on Plato that may include these,” or be reassigned to teach a different philosophy course.

“Your decision to ban a philosophy professor from teaching Plato is unprecedented… You have put Texas A&M on the map — but not for the right reasons,” Peterson said in response to Sweet. Inside higher education. Platonic texts include passages from his Socratic Dialogues forum Discusses patriarchy, masculinity, gender identity, and the human condition. The Greek playwright Aristophanes said in an excerpt from The Myth of the Hermaphroditus, “First of all, you should understand the nature of human nature…for first of all, there are three kinds of human beings, and not two as now, male and female. No, there is a third, the union of the two sexes.”

Peterson ultimately chose to revise his syllabus and replace the censored material with lectures on free speech and academic freedom. “I’m considering this as a case study [to] Assign some texts to discuss that were written by journalists who covered the story,” Peterson told Inside higher education Through words. “I think [students] Understand what is being reviewed. ”

Another course reviewed was Introduction to Race and Ethnicity. Students taking a sociology course this spring were told via email Tuesday that the course had been canceled because it could not be brought into compliance with system policy. An unnamed professor was asked in the fall to remove content related to feminist and queer cinema from a film history course. The professor refused, and the dean resubmitted the course syllabus as a non-core “topics” course and notified registered students on Wednesday.

“As we speak, I see enrollment declining,” the professor said.

Denial of admission may have the same consequences as course review.

“It is expected that many courses will eventually be canceled, not because of content but because of insufficient enrollment,” said another professor in the College of Arts and Sciences, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Faculty in the College of English received an email on Tuesday from Cynthia Werner, the college’s senior executive associate dean, telling them that literature with major plot points involving gay, lesbian or transgender identities should not be taught in core courses.

In a follow-up email on Wednesday, Werner said, “If a course includes eight books and only one features a protagonist who is LGBTQ-identified and the plot does not focus excessively on sexual orientation (i.e., the main plot), I personally think it is OK to keep the book in the course.” She also clarified that teachers can assign chapters in textbooks that deal with transgender identities as long as they do not talk about the material or include it in assignments or exam questions.

In November, the Texas A&M University System Board of Trustees decided that courses that “advocate race or gender ideology, sexual orientation, or gender identity” would be subject to presidential approval and launched a system-wide, AI-driven course review process across all five campuses. Faculty members remain confused about who exactly is reviewing their syllabuses.

“Different departments and schools across the university are doing different things. They are interpreting these policies differently,” said Leonard Bright, a professor of government and public services at Texas A&M University and president of the university’s American Association of University Professors chapter. “I’ve heard some people say they were told there were committees [carrying out the review]. I’ve heard some say it’s just the provost and his close subordinates. We really don’t have a really clear answer on how to make these decisions. “

It’s unclear whether Texas A&M violated a Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board rule that requires institutions to seek its approval before modifying their core curriculum and “removing courses.” A spokesman for the university did not respond Inside higher educationQuestions raised about Wednesday’s review include a question about how many classes have been canceled in total so far.

The Texas A&M AAUP condemned the university’s decision to censor Plato in a statement Wednesday.

“This conduct at a public university raises serious legal concerns, including viewpoint discrimination and a violation of constitutionally protected academic freedoms,” the AAUP chapter wrote. “In addition to the legal implications, the moral hazard is profound. The silencing of 2,500 of one of the world’s most influential thinkers ”

The Foundation for Personal Rights and Expression also slammed the move.

“Texas A&M University now believes that Plato does not belong in an introductory philosophy course,” Lindsie Rank, FIRE’s director of campus rights advocacy, said in a statement. “This is what happens when a board of trustees gives university bureaucrats veto power over academic content. Not only does the board invite scrutiny, but it has immediate and foreseeable consequences. You can’t protect students by banning a 2,400-year-old philosophy.”