Texas AAUP-AFT Calls on the Texas A&M University System Not to Muzzle Faculty, Students in the Classroom

For Immediate Release

Nov. 10, 2025

CONTACT: Brian L. Evans, PhD, [email protected], aaup-texas.org

AUSTIN, Texas - This week, the Texas A&M System Board of Regents will vote on whether or not to add severe restrictions on academic freedom and freedom of expression that not only would codify institutional censorship of curriculum and classroom discussions but also create a climate of fear so potent that instructors are likely to limit further what students learn through self-censorship.

Proposed language from the system's general counsel would amend two system-wide policies to include:

1. "content and materials for all courses on race, gender ideology, or gender identity must be approved by the campus president" (Policy 08.01, Civil Rights Protections Compliance)
2. "a faculty member will not teach material that is inconsistent with the approved syllabus for the course" (Policy 12.01, Academic Freedom, Responsibility and Tenure)

The vote will take place at the Board of Regents' meeting this Wednesday and Thursday (Nov. 12-13). The Texas Conference of the American Association of University Professors (Texas AAUP-AFT) stands resolutely opposed to these changes, which represent further infringements upon First Amendment rights and still another state-sponsored attack on the integrity of our top-tier higher education and research institutions.

"By considering these policy changes, the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents is telling faculty, 'Shut up and teach - and we'll tell you what to teach,'" said Dr. Brian Evans, president of Texas AAUP-AFT. "This language and the censorship it imposes will cause irreparable harm to the reputation of the university, and impede faculty and students from their main mission on campus: to teach, learn, think critically, and create and share new knowledge."

The policy language and the prior restraint it imposes on the freedom of speech are also blatantly unconstitutional and undoubtedly will be challenged in court. This costly spectacle will waste Texas tax dollars to defend, in addition to the immense detriment it creates to the classroom environment, where important dimensions of the human experience - gender, sexuality, and race - will be rendered "off limits."

"Texas A&M has recruited some of the best teachers and scholars in the nation. These dedicated professionals should be treated with the respect they deserve," said Dr. Leonard Bright, president of AAUP Chapter at Texas A&M University. "Instead, we are tasked with serving as foot soldiers in a crusade to decimate what has made Texas higher education a powerhouse of research: the commitment to academic rigor, carried out every day by highly trained and credentialed faculty."

Our state government has paid much lip service to bolstering higher education and ensuring more students are degreed by the year 2030. The policies proposed by the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents directly defy that declared statewide priority.

"The Texas A&M University System cannot issue policies that supersede the United States Constitution," said Zeph Capo, president of Texas AFT. "The Texas A&M Board of Regents is caving to political pressure in this crucial moment and damning our future in the process. If students cannot expect to enroll in a course and be taught about the diverse world and workforce they're entering, they will leave Texas for out-of-state institutions. Likewise, if faculty cannot teach a course without fear of government interference, they'll leave too."

Our objections are rooted in our own experience as faculty, as well as long-standing First Amendment case law:

1. The change to policy 08.01 would empower university administrators to censor course content by barring instructors from addressing certain topics, silencing instructors and inhibiting debate and dialogue in classroom discussion.
2. The change to policy 12.0, meanwhile, would allow a university administration to restrict any and all instructors from bringing their expertise and real-world experience into the classroom to enrich course content and make it engaging and practical for students' learning.

These policy changes amount to prior restraint, which as a matter of First Amendment law, automatically bears a "heavy presumption against its constitutional validity." Furthermore, the Supreme Court has ruled that academic freedom is "a special concern of the First Amendment," because safeguarding such freedom is "of transcendent value" to all Americans.

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The Texas Conference of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), affiliated with the Texas American Federation of Teachers (AFT), has 2,400 members on 95 campuses. We are a faculty-led union defending the right to teach, research, and speak freely. More info .