Faculty at all Texas A&M institutions were asked to submit their spring semester syllabi for review and indicate whether any of the material might violate system policy.

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Administrators at Texas A&M University in College Station canceled a graduate ethics course as part of an ongoing course review that seeks to censor instruction on topics related to race, gender and sexuality.

The review process made national news last week when a department chair asked a professor to remove Plato readings from his philosophy course syllabus. Late last year, faculty at all Texas A&M system institutions were asked to submit their spring semester syllabi for review and indicate whether any of the material might violate System Policy 8.01, which states that no class may “advocate race or gender ideology, or topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity.” Non–core curriculum and graduate courses can be exempted from the policy “in limited circumstances upon demonstration of a necessary educational purpose,” according to the policy.

Public policy professor Leonard Bright’s graduate class Ethics in Public Policy did not get such an exemption. It also wasn’t submitted for one, according to an email from Dean John Sherman to all Bush School of Government and Public Service faculty Wednesday. Sherman wrote that he asked Bright to share when and how his class would address race, gender or sexuality, and that Bright “declined” to say.

“We were not able to identify the specific information we needed to submit an exemption request and thus must cancel the course,” Sherman wrote. “[Bright] was asked repeatedly to provide information on his planned instructions on the topics identified in System Policy 08.01. He declined to provide this information, which made it impossible for us to request an exemption.”

Bright contests this. In an email to Sherman on Tuesday, Bright said that “issues of race, gender, and sexuality are not peripheral but integral” to the class, which focuses on ethics in public administration practice and how it is shaped by public servants and the people they serve.

“I tried to underline that throughout the course—in every reading and every case study they have, in current events, in book reviews—[race and gender] will be central to this class. I guess [Sherman] didn’t like that,” Bright told Inside Higher Ed. “It appears to me that he wanted me to say, ‘I’m just discussing it here,’ so they can limit or censor this and say that they’re only approving me to discuss it on this day or that day. I thought that that was inappropriate. I could not teach that class under that kind of condition.”

Sherman notified Bright about the cancellation via email just minutes before he sent a note to all Bush School faculty. He did not respond to Inside Higher Ed’s request for comment Wednesday.

The nine enrolled students were notified of their removal from the class in an email Wednesday, which Bright shared on X.

“I regret to inform you that we were unable to secure an exemption so that Dr. Bright could teach PSAA 642 as he believes it should be taught. Dr. Bright was offered the opportunity to clarify the syllabus for PSAA 642, but he declined. As a result, system policy required the dean to cancel the class,” department head Lori Taylor wrote in the email to the students.

Bright also posted a photo of Sherman’s email to X on Wednesday. Alongside it, he wrote, “The message was clear: Be very afraid no one can save you from being censored at Texas A&M.”