The African Studies Association joined other organizations and scholarly societies this April in a joint statement on academic freedom violations in Texas. Please see below for the full statement and list of signatories.
Statement on Academic Freedom Violations in Texas
The American Philosophical Association and the undersigned organizations are deeply concerned about the violations of professional rights and academic freedom that are occurring across the State of Texas since the passing of the Texas Senate Bill 37. That bill diminished faculty autonomy by giving state-level boards—rather than faculty and university administrators—authority over institutional operations and governance, including the content of course syllabi. In a well-functioning university, responsibility for the content of course instruction should rest with subject matter experts in the faculty. Recent moves at Texas universities to prohibit faculty from including particular course units in their syllabi and even cancel courses and programs based on politically motivated concerns about their content, as well as institution-wide pressure on faculty to alter their courses to preempt such interventions, are serious violations of academic freedom. Additionally, a philosophy professor was recently fired from Texas State University for expressing constitutionally protected speech in a context separate from the university, raising further concerns about the professional rights of faculty in Texas.
Limitations on academic freedom strike at the core of the discipline of philosophy. In order to obtain a deep and accurate understanding of the range of human experience—knowledge which is central to a functioning democracy—it is imperative that philosophers, and all faculty, be free to express our views and to teach material related to our areas of expertise. As the APA articulated in a letter regarding SB 37 on May 28, 2025, we consider gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality and religious belief to be among the central areas of philosophical inquiry and education. It is imperative for the health of our society that universities remain places where free and open debate over just such political controversies is allowed to flourish, and for academic decisions about how to teach and research key topics to remain academic decisions, made by faculty on academic grounds and free from external political demands. The APA has reiterated this stance by endorsing the PEN America letter of February 10, 2026, and continues to affirm that faculty and students should be free to engage in open discussion of these topics. Only through the free exchange of ideas can students learn to be critical thinkers and to develop and justify their own views, as is necessary for full participation in a democratic society.
The above statement has been endorsed by the following organizations:
American Philosophical Association
African Studies Association
American Academy of Religion
American Association for Italian Studies
American Association of Philosophy Teachers
American Society for Environmental History
American Society for Theatre Research
American Society for Value Inquiry
Association for Informal Logic and Critical Thinking
Association for Philosophy of Education
Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies
Association for Theatre in Higher Education
Association of Philosophy Journal Editors
Bertrand Russell Society
Center for New Narratives in Philosophy
The Charles S. Peirce Society
HOPOS (International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science)
International Association for Japanese Philosophy
International Institute for Field Being
International Society for Comparative Philosophy toward World Philosophy (CPWP)
International Society of Neoplatonic Studies
The John Locke Society
The John William Miller Society
Marxism and Philosophy Association
Molinari Society
National Women’s Studies Association
New England Society for Continental Philosophy
New Mexico Texas Philosophical Society
North American Conference on British Studies
North American Neo-Kantian Society
North American Society for Social Philosophy
Philosophical Antiquities Group
Philosophy Born of Struggle
Philosophy of Animal Minds and Behavior Association
Public Philosophy Network
Radical Philosophy Association
Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy
Society for Anti-Colonial Middle Eastern and North African Thought
Society for German Idealism and Romanticism
Society for LGBTQ Philosophy
Society for Mexican American Philosophy
Society for Natural Religion
Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy
Society for Philosophy and Public Affairs
Society for Philosophy of Agency
The Society For Systematic Philosophy
Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy
Society for the Philosophy of Pacifism and Nonviolence (SPPAN)
Society for the Philosophy of Sex and Love
Society for the Studies of Process Philosophies
Society for the Study of the History of Analytical Philosophy
Society for Yoga and Philosophy
Society of Biblical Literature
The Society of Philosophy and Disability
Western Phenomenology Society
World History Association
