Martin Peterson, the Professor Who Manufactured the 'Plato Ban,' Resigns from Texas A&M
He leaves having never been fired, never been formally sanctioned, and having lectured on a NYT article about himself. He admitted "I've woken up with a smile every day this semester."
Peterson’s resignation letter, as posted by Dr. Leonard Bright on Twitter/X.
Prof. Martin Peterson is leaving Texas A&M for Southern Methodist University this fall. He departs having never been fired, never been formally sanctioned, and having spent his final semester giving, by his own count, his 35th or 36th media interview. He told the Chronicle of Higher Education: “I’ve woken up with a smile every day this semester. This has been the best semester ever for me because I finally get to, well, make a point.”
At The Aggie Standard, we were among the first to expose the fact that The Plato Scandal is Fake News, going against the entire mainstream media and The Battalion, which repeatedly pushed the narrative that genuine inquiry and Western canon were being censored at Texas A&M. They published nine articles1 pushing that narrative, including an official editorial in which the Battalion’s own editorial board (chosen by an Editor-in-Chief appointed by a faculty-controlled Publications Board) condemned the student who filmed McCoul and demanded answers from the Board of Regents: “We also condemn the student who decided to secretly record the lecture and leak it to Harrison… What exactly are you protecting the System from? All we can hope for is that our next president can protect us from you.”
Read that again. The official student newspaper of Texas A&M condemned a student for blowing the whistle on a professor teaching college students that “queerness is not too adult for little kids” and that “childhood is the time for figuring out how to be a boy, girl, or another gender.” That is whose side the Battalion chose, someone who favors sexualizing children’s education.
I also participated in the first public debate in which Peterson was forced to defend his own syllabus record face-to-face. I was joined by Prof. Adam Kolasinski, a Mays Business School professor who has followed the issue closely. Peterson attempted to reject claims of indoctrination, but Prof. Kolasinski had brought Peterson’s own textbook, which presented systemic racism as a settled fact, citing three left-leaning academics while excluding any of the mainstream right-leaning scholars who challenge the premise.
Here is the heated moment where Prof. Kolasinski and I confront him directly about manufacturing the Plato hoax:
Peterson and those who defend him use the nice-sounding euphemism of academic freedom because if they told you what they actually defend, no one would support them. They defend Melissa McCoul's sexualization of children’s education. If you want a refresher on what they actually defend, here is what reporter Robert Montoya found in a Texas Scorecard investigation of WGST course content:"
“Introduction to LGBTQ Studies” taught by Koyel Khan, whose syllabus studies the “histories of and theories regarding Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ+) identities and communities,” and “the institutional ways in which homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia are systematically deployed.”
Dr. Pamela Edens’ “Psychology of Women” honors course treated gender as a “social construct” and even included a scheduled “Menstruation Party” and a “Celebration of Reproduction/Sexuality” party on her syllabus. Her assigned textbook, Gender: The Basics, references a fictional world where individuals are not classified by sex, a radical departure from biological reality.
Dr. James Francis’s “Intro to Women’s and Gender Studies” required students to read The Gendered Society by Michael S. Kimmel, which asserts that “only white people in our society have the luxury not to think about race every minute of their lives” and that “only men have the luxury to pretend that gender does not matter.”
Juan Quiroz’s “Introduction to Gender and Society” utilized a textbook titled Social Theory which featured writings by communists Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin, and Mao Zedong. While the editor of the textbook claimed earlier authors were dropped because their theories “have not endured the test of time,” the inclusion of the architects of communism suggests the department viewed these destructive ideologies as enduring truths.
At the January 29th “Academic Freedom” protest, WGST faculty member Joan Wolf complained that the administration “only wants you to learn skills that will help you in your profession and make you a better citizen” adding: “How can we not talk about topics related to sexual orientation? It’s not possible… It’s an impossible policy to follow!” (see 0:49 and 1:34).
That is what they are actually defending. Not Plato. Not the Socratic method. While Peterson likes to say that he is at least getting more people to read Plato, he didn’t even have Plato in his syllabi all the way back to 2021! He borrowed Plato for a semester to manufacture a headline, then put him back on the shelf after having twisted him to support his own beliefs. And here is the deepest irony: it is the left that has spent decades stripping the Western Canon from curricula across the country. and his side of the aisle has spent years censoring Plato for being too “eurocentric” in favor of “multiculturalism.” If anyone has been censoring the foundational texts of Western civilization, it has not been the right.
Is it “academic freedom” to smile through 36 media interviews, claiming you don’t advocate for any ideology, while your own textbook presents systemic racism as a settled fact? Is it “free inquiry” to manufacture a Plato scandal, get on the front page of the New York Times, and then lecture on your own coverage in your own classroom? Is it “education” to use hardworking parents’ tax dollars to indoctrinate their children against their values, their faith, and the country that welcomed you as an immigrant, granted you citizenship, and pays your salary?
Texas A&M exists to educate students, not to force parents to pay the taxpayer-funded salaries of activists who teach their kids to hate the values that built their country and their university. Thankfully, Peterson is leaving. His political activism and manufactured hoaxes will not be missed.
Gig ‘em,
Justino Russell
Student, Founder, Editor
The Aggie Standard
Sept. 23, 2025 “Gallery: Fight for Academic Freedom Protest” https://thebatt.com/multimedia/gallery-fight-for-academic-freedom-protest/ (Uncritical photo gallery of the first protest, including heroic pictures of Michael Alvard, a former anthropology professor arrested for trespassing at the BLM Sully protests in 2020)
Sept. 24, 2025 — "Editorial: Students first, not politicians" https://thebatt.com/opinion/editorial-students-first-not-politicians/ (The Battalion's official editorial board condemns the student who filmed McCoul and attacks the Board of Regents: "We also condemn the student who decided to secretly record the lecture and leak it to Harrison… What exactly are you protecting the System from? All we can hope for is that our next president can protect us from you.")
Sept. 24, 2025 “Texas A&M students protest for academic freedom after former President Mark Welsh’s resignation” https://thebatt.com/news/am-students-protest-for-academic-freedom-after-former-president-welshs-resignation/ (Entirely sympathetic to protesters, frames it as political interference, zero differing points of view mentioned, says McCoul was fired for her “discussion of gender studies” when she was fired for teaching her college students that modern gender ideology, including “queerness”, is appropiate for children)
Nov. 11, 2025 “Regents to vote on revised race, gender classroom discussion policy” https://thebatt.com/news/regents-to-vote-on-revised-race-gender-classroom-discussion-policy/ (Frames the policy as an assault on academic freedom, again says McCoul was fired for her “discussion of gender studies” when she was fired for teaching her college students that modern gender ideology, including “queerness,” is appropriate for children))
Nov. 26, 2025 “Former President Mark A. Welsh III receives $3.5 million payout from Texas A&M System, faculty committee defends McCoul” https://thebatt.com/news/former-president-mark-a-welsh-iii-receives-3-5-million-payout-from-texas-am-system-faculty-committee-defends-mccoul/ (Frames McCoul firing as unjustified, again repeats the above misleading statement)
Jan. 13, 2026 “Plato readings removed from philosophy course, igniting online controversy” https://thebatt.com/news/plato-readings-removed-from-philosophy-course-igniting-online-controversy/ (Broke the Plato story, little due diligence on Peterson, his motives, and what he actually wanted to teach, which was that Plato “believed there were more than two genders, at least three, and that homosexuality is fully normal, natural, and fully okay)
Feb. 13, 2026 “Opinion: The Board of Regents has failed to protect A&M’s independence” https://thebatt.com/opinion/opinion-the-board-of-regents-has-failed-to-protect-ams-independence/
Feb. 19, 2026 “PEN America holds panel discussion in Rudder Tower on academic freedom” https://thebatt.com/news/pen-america-holds-panel-discussion-in-rudder-tower-on-academic-freedom/ (Like all the rest, pushes the myth that there is widespread censorship and says burning books leads to burning people. In reality, only six of the over 5,400 course syllabi reviewed ( 0.11 percent) were canceled, the WGST had only 56 students enrolled who will be allowed to finish their degree, and Plato is being taught in more than 150 courses throughout the Texas A&M University system.
Mar. 4, 2026 — “Philosophy professor gives Plato lecture following forced removal of original course materials”https://thebatt.com/uncategorized/philosophy-professor-gives-plato-lecture-following-forced-removal-of-original-course-materials/