REAGAN DUGAN: Don’t Weaponize Plato

Last month, the implementation of a hotly contested new policy at Texas A&M made waves in the news and on social media. The head of the school’s Philosophy department told an instructor teaching an introductory philosophy course this semester to remove selections from the philosopher Plato, saying they included “race ideology and gender ideology.” The policy, implemented last November as an update to a previous decision in the fall, states “no system academic course will advocate race or gender ideology, or topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity,” though there are exceptions for non-core curriculum courses and graduate courses.