Texas A&M sued over policy restricting teaching of race, gender

A group of Texas A&M professors and a national faculty group are suing the university system over restrictions about how race, gender and sexuality are taught and are asking for courses canceled under the policy to be reinstated.

Under the university system's policy, courses cannot advocate for race or gender ideology or topics concerning sexual orientation or gender identity. The policy restricts core-curriculum classes from teaching the topics at all, and requires non-core and graduate classes to get approval from the campus president.

The lawsuit, brought by the American Association of University Professors and four professors: Leonard Bright, Vanita Reddy, Landon Sadler and Aaron George, claims the system's policy is unconstitutionally vague and violates the First Amendment by discriminating against certain viewpoints.

What they're saying:

ACLU attorney Emerson Sykes called the policy an "egregious attack on academic freedom."

"This broad policy and the university’s opaque enforcement process makes it impossible to teach or to learn freely and endangers course content about everything from the history of slavery to Shakespeare to the hard sciences. Universities are sites of inquiry, debate, and discovery — banning entire categories of ideas is a betrayal of both their mission and the First Amendment," Sykes said.

The lawsuit claims the policy's extensive syllabi review has resulted in prohibitions on Plato's writings on gender and the Oscar-winning film "Moonlight" and claims the system has taken a one-sided censorship approach to its reviews. In one example, the lawsuit claims one of the professors was not allowed to teach about the Fourteenth Amendment's expansion of LGBTQ rights, but was allowed to teach about Phyllis Schlafly's views on the harms of gender equality under the Equal Rights Amendment in another course.

The other side:

System spokesperson Chris Bryan said the lawsuit was without merit and the system would "vigorously defend" its policies.

"The A&M System remains focused on the important work of supporting our students and fulfilling our duty to the state," Bryan said.

Texas A&M implements restrictions on classroom discussions of race, gender, sexual orientation and gender identity

Texas A&M regents approved systemwide restrictions on classroom discussion of race, gender, sexual orientation and gender identity after a video of a professor discussing gender identity in a children’s literature course went viral. The video and subsequent firing led to the removal of Mark Welsh III as president of the system's flagship campus. Welsh had initially supported the professor, but then fired her after the video went viral. Welsh would resign following the incident after criticism from Texas leaders.

System Chancellor Glenn Hager called for an audit of every course across the system's campuses to "ensure full compliance with all applicable laws."

In November, they adopted its policy. They also prohibited faculty from teaching materials inconsistent with an approved syllabus. The policy was revised in December.

The lawsuit alleges the policy is purposely vague, stating it gives no definition to "advocate," which is prohibited under the policy.

The policy defines "gender ideology" as "a concept that self-assessed gender identity should replace the biological category of sex or that biological sex has less value or legitimacy than self-assessed gender identity."

It also defines "race ideology" as "a concept that attempts to shame a particular race or ethnicity, accuse them of being oppressors in a racial hierarchy or conspiracy, ascribe to them less value as contributors to society and public discourse because of their race or ethnicity, or assign them intrinsic guilt based on the actions of their presumed ancestors or relatives in other areas of the world."

The lawsuit states that professors are not prevented from advocating against the views outlined in the policy.

The ALCU said the policy has caused the system to cancel classes of force them to remove content. The said the policy led to the elimination of the women's and gender studies program completely.

"This policy directly harms Black, Brown, LGBTQIA+, and all other Texans who have historically been discriminated against by subjecting discussion of their rights, identities, and indeed very existence to heavy-handed censorship," Chloe Kempf, staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas, said. "What’s more, it undermines all Texans’ First Amendment rights. If public officials can abuse their power to ban these topics and perspectives today, there’s nothing stopping them from targeting other subjects and points of view, including your own, down the line."

The lawsuit is asking for the court to find the policy unconstitutional and in violation of the First Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment. It's also asking the court to block the enforcement of the policy and reinstate canceled classes.

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