Four professors and a national faculty group asked a federal judge Monday to block the Texas A&M University System’s restrictions on teaching about race, gender and sexuality and to reinstate courses canceled under the policy.
The university system bars professors from “advocating” race or gender ideology or topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity. It requires presidential approval to address those subjects in certain courses and, according to the lawsuit, prohibits them in core courses.
The lawsuit asks the judge to rescind instructions requiring professors to remove particular readings or subjects and declare the policy unconstitutional. They allege the restrictions violate the professors’ First Amendment rights and are so vague that faculty cannot determine what they may teach without risking discipline.
The American Association of University Professors brought the lawsuit alongside four professors: Texas A&M professors Leonard Bright, Vanita Reddy and Landon Sadler and Tarleton State University professor Aaron George. They are represented by the ACLU of Texas, the national ACLU and the Houston law firm Yetter Coleman. They sued the system’s regents in a federal court in Houston.
Chris Bryan, a spokesperson for the Texas A&M University System, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
It is the second Texas university system to face a lawsuit in recent weeks over academic restrictions. AAUP and one of its Texas chapters are suing Texas Tech as well.
The Texas A&M system implemented the policy after months of upheaval in College Station that began after a student secretly recorded her confrontation with a professor over a lesson on gender identity last summer. A Republican state lawmaker then posted the video on social media that fall, fueling conservative outrage over what the university was teaching.
See here for more on the Texas Tech lawsuit. Everything I said there applies here, with Glenn Hegar subbing in for Brandon Creighton. These are two very good universities being brought low by mediocre people with insecurity issues, who happen to have a friendly Legislature and a militant federal appeals court giving them cover. I support and applaud this action, I just fear it has no place to go. The Chron has more.