Texas A&M University

As students return to colleges and universities across the state, questions remain regarding discussions of gender and race on Texas campuses. Faculty with the Texas Tech University and Texas A&M University systems are dealing with the impact of new policies on their class curriculums, as West Texas A&M continues to face legal challenges to its drag performance ban.

With the semester set to begin next week, professors have been directed to alter courses, and some classes have been removed or reassigned from the core curriculum at the College Station campus.

The new race and gender policy has garnered condemnation from educational rights advocates, including the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which sent a letter to the board of regents earlier this week arguing that the policy amounted to censorship.

University officials dispute the faculty council's conclusion. Melissa McCoul lost her job after a video of a classroom debate went viral.

Some students and professors say recent changes and scandals chill speech at universities. Others argue that conservative opinions can now be shared more freely.

After a viral video stirred controversy at Texas A&M, Texas Tech ordered course adjustments while other university systems like UNT and UT launched reviews. It's unclear what the reviews will look for.

Texas A&M University's president is stepping down after facing criticism over a classroom video that showed a student objecting to a children's literature lesson about gender, which led to the professor's firing.

The committees were made to honor slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk and come as university faculty have come under online scrutiny.

The state isn't providing schools with guidance and advocates say students who still qualify for lower rates are being asked to pay thousands more.

While other universities move to preserve the advisory bodies, Texas State will abolish them under a new state law that curtails faculty's influence on campuses.