Texas A&M University: Administrators Cancel Ethics Class After Professor Voices Opposition to Mandatory Subject Matter Review

On January 14, 2026, Texas A&M University Professor Leonard Bright announced on X that the university had cancelled his Ethics in Public Policy course. The cancellation came after a back-and-forth between Bright and university officials concerning a review of all Texas A&M courses that could deal with the topics of race and gender. A&M required any faculty whose course materials could touch on these topics to submit those course materials for review by the administration, at which point the administration would dictate which materials could remain and which had to be removed. 

Bright told university officials that he did not believe it was possible or pedagogically appropriate to specify when topics of race, gender, and sexuality would arise in his course. University officials subsequently told the university’s Bush School of Government and Public Service that because Bright did not provide information about his planned instruction, it was impossible for the university to determine whether an exemption was appropriate, and therefore, the class had been cancelled.