Vox
June 19, 2026
TL;DR
A Texas A&M philosophy professor resigned after being prohibited from teaching Plato's Symposium under a new university policy restricting classroom discussion of gender and sexual orientation, highlighting the tension between institutional control and academic freedom.
“Teaching Plato in the philosophy department can't be something that we should be concerned about. If we end up censoring the classics, someone has been dead for more than 2,300 years, that just makes no sense.”
— Martin Peterson
“How can it be inappropriate to teach Plato in a philosophy class? I teach John Stuart Mill, I teach Aristotle. How could it be a hoax to ask students to read Plato?”
— Martin Peterson
“My job is not to tell them what to think. My job is to help them articulate their views. I almost always disagree with whatever they say. My job is to disagree with students and thereby help them articulate and improve their arguments.”
— Martin Peterson
“I think I am being loyal to the university by criticizing the university. In the long run, this will actually help the university to become a great academic institution.”
— Martin Peterson
1. The Controversy Begins
Martin Peterson, a philosophy professor at Texas A&M, was asked to remove Plato's Symposium from his Contemporary Moral Issues syllabus in January 2025 due to a newly adopted university policy restricting discussion of gender and sexual orientation in the classroom.
2. Understanding Plato's Symposium
The text explores the nature of love through speeches by ancient philosophers, including Aristophanes' theory of sexual identities and discussions of same-sex relationships as natural—the exact content the university deemed problematic.
3. The Policy's Origins and Scope
Texas A&M's Board of Regents, appointed by Governor Greg Abbott, implemented the censorship policy following pressure to fire a lecturer teaching children's literature from a gender perspective, affecting hundreds of courses across multiple departments.
4. The Exception Process and Its Limits
While the policy allows non-core courses to seek presidential approval for restricted content, most philosophy courses are core curriculum classes ineligible for exceptions, making the approval process meaningless for Peterson's department.
5. Peterson's Response and Resignation
After replacing Plato with lectures on free speech and academic freedom, Peterson ultimately resigned in protest, accepting a position at Southern Methodist University (SMU) where academic freedom remains protected.
6. Student and Faculty Reactions
Peterson's conservative and liberal students responded positively, thanking him for encouraging intellectual rigor. Many colleagues privately agreed the policy was harmful but feared retaliation if they spoke publicly.
7. Broader Implications for Higher Education
The censorship threatens Texas A&M's academic reputation and competitiveness, particularly as American universities historically attracted global talent precisely because they protected intellectual freedom from political interference.
8. Peterson's Ethical Framework
Peterson's book 'Ethics in the Gray Area' explores moral decision-making when options are neither entirely right nor wrong, a framework he applied to his decision to speak up while technically complying with policies.
9. Dissenting Compliance as a Strategy
Peterson advocates for 'dissenting compliance'—forcefully expressing objections to censorship while complying with policies to avoid punishment—rather than civil disobedience, which he argues rarely achieves institutional change.
10. Moving Forward at SMU
Peterson's new role as Scurlock Chair in AI Ethics at Southern Methodist University allows him to continue academic work in a private institution where state censorship policies do not apply.