HIGHER ED: FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND THOUGHT
The oldest public college in Texas is facing a constitutional challenge. A lawsuit has been filed against the Texas Agricultural and Mechanical University System, by professors alleging widespread censorship in the classroom.
Texas A&M is the second university system in Texas to face a constitutional challenge in federal court recently, after the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) challenged the Texas Tech System in July, of which San Angelo’s only four-year university, Angelo State, is a member. You can read about that challenge here.
The lawsuit argues for the same injunctive relief as the Texas Tech suit, but is argued on behalf of four professors by the American Civil Liberties Union. They say that similar discriminatory policies targeted classroom material about minorities, and sought to remove it while preserving opposing viewpoints.
Currently, the A&M university system prohibits professors or instructors from “advocating” for specific race or gender ideologies; sexual orientation or gender identities.
They state in their lawsuit that “exceptions are only permitted through a standardless [sic] pre-clearance process available ‘in limited circumstances,’ upon a showing of a “necessary educational purpose” that the policy does not define.”
This time, the examples of censorship provided by professors are much the same.
In January 2026, University administration demanded that a professor remove two readings from his class titled “Research in American Political History, 1929 to the Present.” These were books titled “The Gay Manifesto” and “White Flight.” While these were flagged for removal, the professor was allowed to teach about writings from conservative activist, and once vocal opponent of feminism Phyllis Schlafly from her book “What’s Wrong with Equal Rights for Women?”
Selections from Plato were removed from courses, and the Academy Award winning film “Moonlight” was not allowed to be shown in a film class.
The section on Plato was removed because it “discusses a theory that humans were one—containing all sexes and genders—until they were split by Zeus.”
They say that the policy was applied with a biased intent to remove content advocating for social justice, and preserve content that opposes it, and call on the court to rule the entire process unconstitutional.
This suit is being brought before US District Court in the Southern District of Texas, in Houston.
