There’s an intensifying kind of threat to academic freedom – watchful students serving as informants |
Texas A&M University told philosophy professor Martin Peterson in early January 2026 that he could not teach some of Greek philosopher Plato’s writings that touch on “race and gender ideology.”
The university’s local chapter of the American Association of University Professors, an organization of professors and academics in the U.S., quickly denounced this requirement.
Peterson, in response to his university’s direction, replaced the Plato readings with material on free speech and academic freedom.
Silencing a professor from teaching a certain subject fits within what experts have long recognized as encroaching on academic freedom.
In another high-profile incident at Texas A&M in September 2025, a student filmed an exchange with an English literature professor, Melissa McCoul, who was talking about gender identity.
The student said that McCoul was violating President Donald Trump’s January 2025 executive order that recognized “women are biologically female, and men are biologically male.” As a result, the student told her professor, as seen in her video, “I’ve already been in touch with the president of A&M, and I have a meeting with him in person to show all of my documentation tomorrow.” Her video went viral.
This represents a growing threat to academic freedom: Students who act as informants and police their classes and professors for signs of political incorrectness.
A 2023 study found that 75% of college students feel free to report their professors if they say something objectionable. Self-identified liberal students were more likely than conservative students to report their professors to the administration.
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