Students and attendees on a tour walk out of Dallas Hall at Southern Methodist University on Friday, Dec. 5, 2025, in Dallas.
Christine Vo/Staff Photographer
Martin Peterson, a philosophy professor at Texas A&M University who made headlines earlier this year after administrators directed him to cut some lessons on Plato, will leave to teach at Southern Methodist University this fall.
Peterson, who has taught at A&M since 2014, said the Texas A&M System’s new policies limiting what faculty can teach about race and gender fueled his resignation. Such restrictions, which ban the advocacy of “race and gender ideology,” spurred the scrutiny of the Plato excerpts in Peterson’s “Contemporary Moral Issues” course in January.
Article continues below this ad
Peterson said he didn’t believe he would be granted the freedom to decide what students should learn in his classes at Texas A&M anytime soon.
“It’s not realistic to hope that things will get any better,” Peterson said of his decision to leave for SMU. He will begin as a philosophy professor at the private university in August.
Related: Republicans are remaking Texas’ public universities. Some professors are leaving
Make Dallas News a preferred source so your search results prioritize writing by actual people, not AI.
Add Preferred Source
Peterson garnered national attention in recent months, emerging as a symbol of how sweeping the political remaking of Texas’ public universities has been. But now, he said, he is ready to shed that title, noting that none of his efforts have pushed Texas A&M leadership to roll back any of its restrictions on what can be taught in the classroom.
Article continues below this ad
“It’s given me a lot of attention but not so much power,” he said. “The university didn’t listen to me or anyone else who spoke up. They aren’t willing to negotiate or search for compromise. They just enforce the censorship policy. So why should I stay?”
Since January, Peterson has given nearly four dozen interviews to the media about his experience, he said Tuesday. He participated in his first-ever demonstration in February, at 50 years old, against censorship at universities. He spoke in front of the Texas A&M Board of Regents twice last year, urging them to reconsider their policies.
During that time, A&M officials modified hundreds of syllabi under the ban on race and gender ideology teachings, and eliminated the flagship campus’ women’s and gender studies program. System leaders have said the new policies will help restore public trust, ensure students are learning topics that align with their degree and guarantee faculty are “educating, rather than advocating.”
“The likelihood of being effective, of achieving something in the end, was relatively slim,” Peterson said, adding that staying at A&M and fighting would likely have “eventually made me bitter.” Peterson ultimately complied with the university’s policy and replaced his course’s lessons on race and gender with those on free speech and academic freedom.
Article continues below this ad
Related: Texas public universities face more state oversight under new law. Here’s what to know
When leaders from SMU, a private institution that is not subject to state oversight, reached out about an open position, it was an easy decision, Peterson said.
Eric Barnes, the chair of SMU’s philosophy department, said he first began recruiting the “renowned philosopher” in January, in part because “the news about his syllabus being ‘canceled’ … suggested he might be open to move.”
“SMU began to solicit his interest partly for that reason,” he said in an email. “Thankfully it has worked out well.”
Article continues below this ad
Peterson will serve as the Scurlock Chair in AI Ethics, where he will continue his work researching the ethics of artificial intelligence. SMU’s philosophy department has identified a “growing need” for classes that address this issue, Barnes said.
Related: Dallas-based AECOM can’t find enough top AI engineers. They’re turning to SMU for help
SMU President Jay Hartzell said he was “especially excited about [Peterson’s] courses that will help our students wrestle with the toughest issues of the day.”
“His appointment reflects our broader strategy of attracting established, high-impact faculty who can help accelerate SMU’s academic momentum while also helping our students develop into principled leaders,” Hartzell said in a statement.
Article continues below this ad
Hartzell added that SMU has “several more offers outstanding” and expects several new faculty to join the school this fall.
Peterson said he was drawn to the fact that SMU seems more committed to the humanities and “traditional core values of the university,” such as faculty playing a large role in shaping academic decisions, compared with Texas A&M. As a Christian who grew up in Sweden, Petersen said the similarities between the teachings of the Church of Sweden and the United Methodist Church were also attractive.
Related: Who controls Texas’ colleges? Faculty power shrinks under new state oversight law
“The university is a fairly ancient innovation,” he said. “This idea that we can make universities better by censoring faculty — that’s a non-starter, and SMU understands that.”
Article continues below this ad
A Texas A&M spokesperson said university officials are “looking ahead” and working “to fill every vacancy to ensure students get the best instruction possible.”
“More broadly, faculty recruitment at Texas A&M University continues to progress very well for the upcoming fall semester,” spokesperson Tim Eaton said in a statement, noting “strong momentum” in the philosophy, chemistry and English departments.
Peterson said that he’s “pleased” with this chapter in his career, and ready to move onto the next at SMU. There, he wants to focus on his scholarly field and be “done with academic freedom.”
By signing up, you agree to our Terms Of Use and acknowledge that your information will be used as described in our Privacy Policy.
“I want to return to philosophy and focus on that. I don’t think that I have so much more to say,” Peterson said. “Let me do what I do best now.”
Article continues below this ad
The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.
The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, Judy and Jim Gibbs, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Ron and Phyllis Steinhart, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks, and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.