Texas A&M philosophy professor Martin Peterson resigned after being banned from teaching an excerpt from Plato’s Symposium, tying the restriction to a 2025 Board of Regents policy limiting what faculty can teach on race and gender. Peterson said the issue is not a single instance, but continued requirements to revise and remove teaching materials after board direction. Peterson accepted an endowed chair at Southern Methodist University, explaining that the private setting offers protections from state overreach. He also argued that repeated departures in Texas public higher education show persistent problems for academic freedom rather than a one-time policy fix. The resignation adds momentum to broader faculty-gov oversight disputes about content restrictions, compliance expectations, and how governance bodies regulate classroom instruction.