Texas A&M Tightens Rules on Talking About Race and Gender in Classes

The university system will ban advocacy of “race or gender ideology, or topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity” without approval.

Texas A&M University System regents voted Thursday to limit how instructors may discuss matters like gender identity and race ideology in classrooms, tightening the rules in a conservative state where debates over academic freedom have flared for months.

Regents, who met in College Station on Thursday afternoon, unanimously backed a revised proposal decreeing that no courses “will advocate race or gender ideology, or topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity” without a campus president’s approval of the course and related materials.

A related measure that regents approved said that faculty members could not “teach material that is inconsistent with the approved syllabus for the course.”

Taken together, the policies represent an effort by Texas A&M system leaders to assert firmer control over classrooms at a time when Republican officials in the state have been accusing public universities of “indoctrinating” students with liberal ideas about race and gender — a movement that has unfolded in parallel to President Trump’s campaign to pressure elite schools. Professors have fired back that conservative politicians are seeking to stifle open debates and intellectual inquiry.