Across Texas, students and faculty at all seven public university systems face efforts to censor student learning and faculty teaching. These efforts have embarrassed Texas institutions of higher education on a national stage and are denying students the rigorous education they need to thrive in their careers after graduation.
Though often justified as required by state law, state law does not require the course syllabus audits or bans on lessons related to race and gender that many institutions have implemented. Instead, Governor-appointed Boards of Regents at public university systems are adopting policies that censor classes in ways that far exceed what the Texas Legislature passed to the students’ detriment. These new censorship policies violate the freedom to teach and the freedom to learn protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Educators from flagship institutions to regional campuses across the state report that these draconian policies have led to the removal of content in courses university administrations object to. This overt censorship leads to instructor self-censorship and creates a chilling effect on classroom discussion and student engagement. Texas leaders jeopardize the state’s future—both its highly educated workforce and the groundbreaking research that drives innovation—every time they pressure institutions to fall in line.
Texas AAUP-AFT and its faculty, staff, and student members across Texas are committed to defending the freedom to teach so that students have the freedom to learn and maintain the excellence of the state’s public colleges and universities.
Texas professors are fighting back across the state. This is where things stand:
The University of Texas System
After the Board of Regents adopted new curriculum restrictions across its 14 campuses on Feb. 19, 2026, University of Texas (UT) Austin professor and AAUP-AFT member David Gray Widder told the Texas Tribune: “The job market is really tough right now, ask any undergrad…We can’t do this to our students.” AAUP has reported directly on these restrictions as well. Also see the concerns raised by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE).
Just days before the board’s vote, UT Austin announced it would close its ethnic and gender studies departments and conduct a review “to determine what majors, minors, and courses will be offered.” The closure affects 500+ students and nearly 80 faculty in these four departments.
Texas A&M University System
On Sept. 9, 2025, Texas A&M University-College Station unlawfully fired AAUP Member Prof. Melissa McCoul over LGBTQ+ course content in her literature course. Prof. McCoul is suing Texas A&M for unlawful termination and violation of her free speech and due process rights. Texas AAUP-AFT and Texas AFT are providing legal counsel and covering all legal fees. The AAUP chapter condemned the firing and is calling for Prof. McCoul’s reinstatement. This unlawful firing caused national embarrassment for Texas A&M as per The New York Times.
In January, shortly after Texas A&M University-College Station began implementing its course content policy, Texas A&M became a national laughing stock for banning Prof. Martin Peterson from teaching Plato. The AAUP Chapter at Texas A&M condemned the censorship, and the event launched international campaigns such as “Legalize Plato.”
Not long after, the same administration cancelled a graduate course on ethics being taught by Texas A&M AAUP President and professor Dr. Leonard Bright in the Bush School of Government and Public Service. The administration would not allow the students freedom to discuss race and gender issues related to ethics and ethical decisions. Dr. Bright fears the impact on his students’ education: “These are students that are going to be police officers, city planners, potentially politicians … Part of the job, a central part of the job, is dealing with the public. The question in this class is how do we deal with the public?”
Texas Tech University System
On Dec. 1, 2025, Chancellor Brandon Creighton decreed what content cannot be taught about race and gender. FIRE raised significant First Amendment concerns and condemned the Texas Tech cancellation of Prof. William Crescioni’s Psychology course due to this decree (Feb. 10). The reasons for course removal cited “implicated content” and race, sex, and gender.
At the start of the Spring 2026 semester, professors were asked to respond to a series of attestations about every Spring 2026 course, resulting in over 500 instances of course content being restricted. The Board of Regents was expected to make final determinations on the pending course reviews in late February but ultimately took no action, functionally barring that content from being taught this semester. AAUP Chapter President Andrew Martin spoke at a rally on campus in Lubbock: “We all need to learn more about the world as it is…The concerns our students are raising are real.”
University of Houston System
The Texas Tribune reported that the University of Houston (UH) Dean of the Graduate College of Social Work removed content focused on race, gender, and sexuality from at least one course after misrepresenting state law requiring such action.
This spring, UH main campus proposed new faculty course self-evaluation guidelines, which include a professor checklist for courses to “prevent advocacy of politics or ideology” in the classroom to be approved by the administration. AAUP member Dr. Holley Love told Houston Public Media that students “are not going to get the real, detailed, in-depth discussions that they might otherwise be able to engage in if faculty are always worried about whether somebody is going to come back and say that they’ve violated an item on this largely arbitrary checklist.” Here are several other faculty quotes and coverage by the Houston Chronicle.
The AAUP Chapter at UH wrote a letter to all UH faculty on Feb. 16 to call out the censorship in the proposed professor course checklist. FIRE issued a scathing letter to the UH administration on Feb. 18 over concerns about First Amendment violations in the proposed checklist.
Texas State University System
On Sept. 10, 2025, Texas State University fired tenured history professor and AAUP member Dr. Tom Alter over comments taken out of context during a presentation critiquing dozens of modern social, political, and labor movements in the United States. Dr. Alter sued the university and the litigation is ongoing. Texas AAUP-AFT and Texas AFT are providing legal counsel and covering all legal fees.
On Oct. 1, 2025, Texas State University initiated an audit of all courses.
University of North Texas System
In summer and fall 2024, University of North Texas (UNT) censored content related to race, gender, gender identity, diversity, and social justice in 130 undergraduate and graduate education courses across multiple colleges. See FIRE’s letter.
In late 2025, UNT joined other university systems across the state and announced a university-wide course content review. In Feb. 2026, the system told the Dallas Morning News that the audit is still underway.
On Mar. 4, 2026 FIRE condemned the UNT administration’s abrupt removal of an art exhibit over an apparent disagreement with the artist’s viewpoints.
Texas Woman’s University System
Texas Woman’s University (TWU) launched a course content review in the fall of 2025. In Feb. 2026, TWU told the Dallas Morning News that the review is still underway.