# State lawmakers seek greater control over what universities can teach

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/state-lawmakers-seek-greater-control-over-what-universities-can-teach/
- Published: 2026-11-05T23:30:54+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-06T01:05:17+00:00
- Original publisher: PBS NewsHour (publisher lean: Centre)
- Original article: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/state-lawmakers-seek-greater-control-over-what-universities-can-teach
- Topics: Politics

## Key points

- Texas laws have expanded state oversight of public universities.
- A Plato reading prompted a teaching-policy dispute at Texas A&M.
- More than half of US college students are in states with such restrictions.

## Summary

Texas Republicans have introduced laws and policies that increase state oversight of public universities and restrict some teaching on topics such as race and gender. With Democrats gaining power in the state, questions are emerging about whether they will try to reverse those changes. The debate reflects a national shift in which state governments are taking a greater role in university teaching and campus operations.

At Texas A&M, philosophy professor Martin Peterson said administrators told him that a planned reading from Plato’s *Symposium* violated a policy on teaching race and gender ideology, because it discusses same-sex relationships and the possibility of more than two genders. The university said the dialogue remains taught in dozens of courses. Texas Senate Bill 37 transfers some authority over university curricula from faculty to regents appointed by the governor; PEN America says 22 states have laws or policies aligned with efforts to change universities’ ideology or institutions. More than half of US college students attend institutions in states with at least one law limiting teaching or campus operations.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.