COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – PEN America, a national free speech organization, brought its message to Texas A&M today, weighing in on the ongoing debate over academic freedom. The organization hosted a public panel on campus with writers from across the country to address the fallout from policies that ban most discussion of race or gender ideology.
The Texas A&M Board of Regents approved a policy requiring campus presidents to sign off on courses that could be seen as advocating “race and gender ideology” topics just days before the spring semester. The ongoing debate over censorship centers on two distinct perspectives: faculty who say their academic freedom is being restricted, and the university, which says it is complying with state law.
PEN America came to Texas A&M with a clear message: academic freedom doesn’t protect itself. Amy Reid, Program Director for PEN America’s Freedom to Learn Program, said the debate over whether something constitutes censorship or policy compliance divides campuses and affects students’ learning environment.
“We really want to engage with students on these issues so that they understand how bills or policies that limit curriculum on campuses impact what they’re able to learn today, which is going to have an impact on what they’re going to be able to do in their careers and in their lives moving forward,” Reid said.
PEN America chose Texas A&M for its panel because of its recent controversies, including Professor Martin Peterson, who was ordered to remove Plato readings from his syllabus, the closure of women’s and gender studies programs and the firing of a professor whose clash with a student went viral.
Professor Peterson, an advocate for academic freedom, said the policies on censorship have gone too far.
“Texas A&M has a great history,” Peterson said. “It’s a great university. The future should be bright. But in order to get there, we have to revise the existing censorship policies.”
Texas A&M University sees the censorship policies differently, saying they’re ensuring compliance and not censoring faculty, after approving a new policy towards the end of the fall semester.
Jennifer Finney Boylan, an English professor at Barnard College at Columbia University and PEN America panelist, said that censorship builds a climate of fear.
“When we have courses that are being canceled, when we have professors who are afraid to share their knowledge, we’re building a climate of fear instead of a climate of curiosity,” Boylan said.
Boylan, along with the other panelists and PEN America staff, urged students and faculty to speak up while also acknowledging that the debate over these policies isn’t settled.
“Freedom of expression matters, and it’s time for all of us to stand up and say, we want to be able to read, we want to be able to write, we want to be able to learn freely,” Reid said.
PEN America says Texas A&M isn’t alone in the trend of censored campuses, with similar academic freedom debates happening across the country at different college campuses. The organization says it will continue to monitor policy changes at Texas A&M and work with faculty and students who want to challenge them.
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