While it’s true that many a click-bait headline about the story we broke last week said the university was “banning Plato” (or similarly) one might think this reply by the Interim President does’t really come to terms with the actual academic freedom issue:

I want to address recent reports that we’re banning Plato altogether at Texas A&M. This is simply not true. Stunts intended to create this kind of noise discredit your hard work to incorporate a wide array of perspectives into your classes. A variety of courses this spring will teach Plato dialogues. We can – and will – teach and assign readings from the great thinkers of history while complying with updated System policies.

This rather buries the lede, which is that the “updated System policies” violate the academic freedom of faculty in designing their courses. There is no question Professor Peterson’s syllabus was professionally and pedagogically appropriate, but he had to revise it because the regents at A&M have adopted policies that violate a core academic freedom right of faculty. That is the real story, about which the Interim President is silent, either because he doesn’t care about academic freedom or he fears for his job if he actually stands up for academic freedom. When this case lands in federal court, as it will, I expect the courts to take a different view.

ADDENDUM: A longtime reader reminds me of this amusing case of “burying the lede” from the philosophy blogosphere a number of years back.