A group of professors, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), filed a federal lawsuit against the Texas A&M University System to challenge a policy that the plaintiffs say restricts academic freedom and violates the First Amendment of the <a href="/topic/United-States">United States</a> Constitution.

The complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, maintains that the directive implemented at the end of 2025 prohibits teachers from addressing certain topics related to race, gender and sexual orientation, in addition to establishing a mandatory review process for study programs that, they claim, favors the censorship of certain points of view.

The plaintiffs are professors Leonard Bright, Vanita Reddy, Landon Sadler and Aaron George, along with the AAUP, who argue that the new rules have caused the cancellation of courses, changes in academic content and an environment of uncertainty among teachers at the 12 universities that make up the Texas A&M system.

Canceled courses and works removed from classrooms

According to the lawsuit, politics forced the cancellation of subjects such as World Religions, Introduction to Race and Ethnicity, Ethics in Public Policy and a course dedicated to LGBTQ literature, in addition to the closure of the Women's and Gender Studies program.

The professors also denounced that they had to remove from their programs materials considered fundamental for academic analysis, among them “The Myth of the Androgyne,” by Plato; “White Flight,” by historian Kevin Kruse, and the film “Moonlight,” winner of the Oscar for Best Picture in 2017. Likewise, the lawsuit points out that some teachers were authorized to explain specific historical episodes, such as Phyllis Schlafly's campaign against the Equal Rights Amendment, but not to address the evolution of the Fourteenth Amendment and its application in protecting the rights of women and the LGBTQ community.

“My ethics course, the only one of its kind available to graduate students, was canceled for failure to comply with a draconian censorship policy,” said Leonard Bright. “This policy has affected my ability to do my job, my students’ ability to learn, and my colleagues’ ability to teach without fear of retaliation.”

Texas A&M rejects the accusations

The ACLU maintains that the policy constitutes a form of content-based censorship and discriminates against certain perspectives, which it believes violates the rights of teachers and students. “This policy directly harms Black, Latinx, LGBTQIA people, and all other Texans who have historically been discriminated against,” stated Chloe Kempf, an attorney with the ACLU of Texas.

For his part, Emerson Sykes, an attorney with the organization's Freedom of Expression Project, stated that “the First Amendment clearly prohibits this blatant attack on academic freedom at a public university.”

The authorities of the Texas A&M University System rejected the accusations and announced that they will defend the regulations in court. “We believe this lawsuit is meritless and the system will vigorously defend its policies and procedures,” said Chris Bryan, vice chancellor of Marketing and Communications.

The institution maintains that the measures seek to strengthen transparency and accountability in academic programs. University officials have also noted that only six of the more than 5,400 courses reviewed for the spring semester were canceled.

The litigation unfolds amid a national debate over diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies at public universities, after Texas and other Republican-governed states passed restrictions related to teaching about race, gender and sexual identity.

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