Overview
- Philosophy professor Martin Peterson removed passages from Plato’s Symposium after being told to delete race and gender modules or be reassigned, and he will teach a revised PHIL 111 next week.
- College of Arts and Sciences leaders identified roughly 200 courses as potentially affected, with some classes canceled, renumbered, or altered days before the semester begins.
- Administrative emails show an introductory sociology course on race and ethnicity was canceled and a communications course was renumbered to remove core credit.
- The system is using AI tools to scan syllabi for language that could trigger the policy, and the university says this is not a ban on Plato, noting other approved sections that include his work without flagged modules.
- Faculty groups including AAUP, FIRE and PEN America criticized the restrictions as threats to academic freedom and raised First Amendment concerns, with potential litigation under discussion.