The Texas A&M University System approved a sweeping new policy Thursday that places strict limits on how professors may teach topics related to race, gender, and sexual orientation.
According to The Associated Press, under the new rules, any course that “will advocate race or gender ideology, or topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity” must be cleared in advance by the campus president. The policy applies across all 12 schools in the Texas A&M System.
The directive comes months after a viral video of a student confronting a Texas A&M senior lecturer over discussions of gender identity in a children’s literature class triggered political scrutiny, the lecturer’s firing, and the eventual resignation of the university’s president.
The system’s policy appears to be the first instance of a public university system in Texas formalizing guidelines on what faculty may discuss in the classroom on race and gender. Other universities have taken narrower steps or launched internal reviews following changes in state law, but none have codified restrictions as broad as A&M’s.
Critics argue the new rules could chill instruction and raise constitutional concerns.
“It really strikes at the heart of what education means and what universities do, which is circulate the exchange of knowledge without fear of retaliation, without fear censorship,” said Rana Jaleel, chair of the American Association of University Professors’ committee on academic freedom.
The policy defines “race ideology” as any concept that “attempts to shame a particular race or ethnicity, accuse them of being oppressors in a racial hierarchy or conspiracy” or assigns “intrinsic guilt based on the actions of their presumed ancestors or relatives.” It defines “gender ideology” as a belief that self-identified gender can be “replacing and disconnected from the biological category of sex.”
James Hallmark, vice chancellor for the A&M System’s Office of Academic Affairs, told regents the goal is “transparent and document cocurricular review, not policing individual speech.”
Regents did not reference the firing of senior lecturer Melissa McCoul during the vote, though many faculty see a clear link. McCoul was dismissed after Republican lawmakers, including Gov. Greg Abbott, criticized her gender-identity discussion with a student. Texas A&M’s president, Mark A. Welsh III, resigned shortly after, citing no reason.
“Our job is to teach facts, teach the truth, and if … we have to use a litmus test of whether or not it meets someone’s approval, and it could be quite frankly their political approval, then we have no truth,” said Leonard Bright, president of the AAUP A&M chapter.
Eight faculty members spoke against the policy on Thursday, several urging the school to rehire McCoul. Two professors defended the new rules, including Adam Kolasinski, who argued that “academic freedom does not mean you get to teach whatever you want.”
Regent Sam Torn insisted the move is about keeping classrooms focused: “We are educating, not advocating.”
The policy comes amid heightened national scrutiny of university governance and diversity practices, including from President Donald Trump, whose administration has pressed universities to reshape policies on admissions, gender definitions, and campus speech.
Texas A&M, headquartered in College Station, sits roughly 95 miles northwest of Houston.
