(NEW YORK) — Texas A&M University’s announcement that it was shuttering its Women’s & Gender Studies Program, cancelling a handful of classes outright, and forcing changes to the syllabi of “hundreds of courses” campus-wide marks a dangerous escalation of higher education censorship in Texas.
“With these cuts, Texas A&M is running roughshod over academic freedom, faculty expertise, and the fundamental freedom to teach and learn,” said Amy Reid, Program Director, Freedom to Learn at PEN America. “From banning Plato in one class to culling materials related to race and gender from syllabi, and now ending a well-established interdisciplinary program, TAMU is staking out turf as the epicenter of higher education censorship nationwide. There seems to be no limit to how far they are willing to go. Forcing faculty to restrict what they teach censors the knowledge accessible to students, paving the way for the American public university system to become a mouthpiece for the government. Limiting what can be taught in a university classroom is not education, it’s ideological control.”
This decision comes after Texas A&M regents passed a policy in November to prohibit academic courses from “advocat[ing] race or gender ideology, or topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity” without prior approval, which PEN America previously criticized for “further eroding the climate for free expression on campuses across the state of Texas.” PEN America is committed to supporting academic freedom and students’ freedom to learn on campuses nationwide.
About PEN America
PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression in the United States and worldwide. We champion the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. Our mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible. Learn more at pen.org.
Contact: Malka Margolies, [email protected], 718-530-3582