<\/p>\n
Students and attendees on a tour walk out of Dallas Hall at Southern Methodist University on Friday, Dec. 5, 2025, in Dallas.<\/p>\n
Christine Vo\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n
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<\/a>, will leave to teach at Southern Methodist University this fall.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Peterson, who has taught at A&M since 2014, said the Texas A&M System\u2019s new policies limiting what faculty can teach about race and gender<\/a> fueled his resignation<\/a>. Such restrictions, which ban the advocacy of \u201crace and gender ideology,\u201d spurred the scrutiny of the Plato excerpts in Peterson\u2019s \u201cContemporary Moral Issues\u201d course in January.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Peterson said he didn\u2019t believe he would be granted the freedom to decide what students should learn in his classes at Texas A&M anytime soon.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not realistic to hope that things will get any better,\u201d Peterson said of his decision to leave for SMU. He will begin as a philosophy professor at the private university in August.\u00a0<\/p>\n Related: Republicans are remaking Texas’ public universities. Some professors are leaving<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n Make Dallas News a preferred source so your search results prioritize writing by actual people, not AI.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Peterson garnered national attention<\/a> in recent months, emerging as a symbol of how sweeping the political remaking of Texas\u2019 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s given me a lot of attention but not so much power,\u201d he said. \u201cThe university didn\u2019t listen to me or anyone else who spoke up. They aren\u2019t willing to negotiate or search for compromise. They just enforce the censorship policy. So why should I stay?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Since January, Peterson has given nearly four dozen interviews to the media<\/a> 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<\/a> twice last year, urging them to reconsider their policies.\u00a0<\/p>\n During that time, A&M officials modified hundreds of syllabi<\/a> under the ban on race and gender ideology teachings, and eliminated the flagship campus\u2019 women\u2019s 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 \u201ceducating, rather than advocating.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe likelihood of being effective, of achieving something in the end, was relatively slim,\u201d Peterson said, adding that staying at A&M and fighting would likely have \u201ceventually made me bitter.\u201d Peterson ultimately complied with the university\u2019s policy and replaced his course\u2019s lessons on race and gender with those on free speech and academic freedom.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Related: Texas public universities face more state oversight under new law. Here’s what to know<\/a><\/p>\n 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n Eric Barnes, the chair of SMU\u2019s philosophy department, said he first began recruiting the \u201crenowned philosopher\u201d in January, in part because \u201cthe news about his syllabus being \u2018canceled\u2019 \u2026 suggested he might be open to move.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSMU began to solicit his interest partly for that reason,\u201d he said in an email. \u201cThankfully it has worked out well.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Peterson will serve as the Scurlock Chair in AI Ethics, where he will continue his work researching the ethics of artificial intelligence. SMU\u2019s philosophy department has identified a \u201cgrowing need\u201d for classes that address this issue, Barnes said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Related: Dallas-based AECOM can\u2019t find enough top AI engineers. They\u2019re turning to SMU for help<\/a><\/p>\n SMU President Jay Hartzell<\/a> said he was \u201cespecially excited about [Peterson\u2019s] courses that will help our students wrestle with the toughest issues of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHis appointment reflects our broader strategy of attracting established, high-impact faculty who can help accelerate SMU\u2019s academic momentum while also helping our students develop into principled leaders,\u201d Hartzell said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Hartzell added that SMU has \u201cseveral more offers outstanding\u201d and expects several new faculty to join the school this fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n Peterson said he was drawn to the fact that SMU seems more committed to the humanities and \u201ctraditional core values of the university,\u201d 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.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Related: Who controls Texas’ colleges? Faculty power shrinks under new state oversight law<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe university is a fairly ancient innovation,\u201d he said. \u201cThis idea that we can make universities better by censoring faculty \u2014 that\u2019s a non-starter, and SMU understands that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n A Texas A&M spokesperson said university officials are \u201clooking ahead\u201d and working \u201cto fill every vacancy to ensure students get the best instruction possible.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMore broadly, faculty recruitment at Texas A&M University continues to progress very well for the upcoming fall semester,\u201d spokesperson Tim Eaton said in a statement, noting \u201cstrong momentum\u201d in the philosophy, chemistry and English departments.\u00a0<\/p>\n Peterson said that he\u2019s \u201cpleased\u201d 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 \u201cdone with academic freedom.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n By signing up, you agree to our Terms Of Use<\/a> and acknowledge that your information will be used as described in our Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to return to philosophy and focus on that. I don\u2019t think that I have so much more to say,\u201d Peterson said. \u201cLet me do what I do best now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Students and attendees on a tour walk out of Dallas Hall at Southern Methodist University on Friday, Dec.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[732,102,104,103,95010,95012,88032,89512,89397,92203,89396,92239,89204,89398,90463,89304],"class_list":{"0":"post-253263","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-article","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-headlines","11":"tag-dallas-news","12":"tag-news-politics","13":"tag-news-texas","14":"tag-tp-dallas-fortworth","15":"tag-tp-texas","16":"tag-tp-ai-artificial-intellgience","17":"tag-tp-culture","18":"tag-tp-ed-lab-college-career","19":"tag-tp-ed-lab-teach-learn","20":"tag-tp-education-lab","21":"tag-tp-higher-education","22":"tag-tp-texas-politics","23":"tag-tp-university-park"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
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