About a month after adopting a policy requiring approval for courses that address race, gender, sexual orientation or gender identity, Texas A&M University System regents on Thursday approved changes that faculty worry might effectively ban those topics in introductory-level courses.
Regents approved the revisions during a special meeting on Thursday without reading the updated language aloud or discussing its substance in open session. System officials provided a copy of the new language hours after regents had approved it.
According to the revised text, “no system academic course will advocate race or gender ideology, or topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity,” with a narrow exception for certain non-core curriculum or graduate courses. Those exempted course materials must first be reviewed, show that they serve a “necessary educational purpose” and be approved in writing by the campus president.
