He was given a one-day deadline. On January 6, the head of the philosophy department at Texas A&M University, a public institution, informed Professor Martin Peterson by e-mail that he would have to remove excerpts from Plato’s “The Symposium” from the curriculum. Under the new regulations of the institution – which state that no academic course may advocate race or gender ideology, or cover topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity – this meant excluding part of the work of an ancient Greek philosopher.
“It is absurd. How can we be told not to teach Plato in a philosophy department?” Peterson asks, speaking to Kathimerini. “He is one of the founding fathers of a discipline, one of the most central thinkers in the history of humanity. How can we be told not to read all his texts?”
The compromise
The professor was forced to comply with the directives. “I don’t want to get fired,” he says. He consulted his lawyer and replaced the Platonic texts with a lecture on freedom of speech, explaining to his students what had been censored.
In “The Symposium,” which is believed to have been written after 385 BC, intellectuals of the time discuss the god Eros (Love). Among the excerpts Peterson’s students at Texas A&M will no longer study is Aristophanes’ speech on Eros – the concept of the “other half,” which explains the androgynous nature of humans. Peterson has been teaching the course “Philosophy 111” or “Contemporary Moral Issues” for years, and as he explains, its core content remained unchanged this year. This year only the title of one section had been altered, from “race and gender issues” to “race and gender ideology,” and his original plan had been to include excerpts from “The Symposium.”
“I just wanted to use this as an example,” he tells Kathimerini. “Already 2,500 years ago, in the birthplace of Western civilization, these issues were discussed, and at least one very famous philosopher expressed opinions that can be interpreted as basically support for moral positions that are discussed today in America.”
Executive order
There is a precedent at his university. In September, an English literature lecturer was fired for addressing different gender identities in class. A student recorded her on video, claiming she was breaking the law. The student cited an executive order that Donald Trump signed at the start of his second presidential term, which recognizes only two sexes – male and female – in the country.
The video spread widely on social media, and following the ensuing uproar, the university took action. Under University Rule 08.01, teaching topics related to racial identity, gender, and sexual orientation was prohibited. In a written response to Kathimerini, a spokesperson for Texas A&M University noted that numerous dialogues by Plato are still included in a variety of courses being taught this semester.
“In a normal academic environment, texts from other periods are studied in relation to their historical context, not as timeless models,” says Angelos Chaniotis, professor of ancient history and classics at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, in an interview with Kathimerini. “We don’t read the ‘Iliad’ to adopt the morals or behavior of Homeric heroes, nor do we study Aristophanes’ ‘The Assemblywomen’ (Ecclesiazusae) to get ideas for communal living.”
Interventions like this in Texas, Chaniotis emphasizes, are not only acts of censorship and restrictions on freedom of thought but also underestimate the maturity of students. “The university assumes that their impressionable little minds will suffer irreparable harm from discussing opinions expressed in a specific time and place. I would remind you that in Texas – a state so sensitive to the alleged dangers of reading philosophical texts – the law allows students over 21 to openly carry firearms in public spaces, as long as the weapon is in a holster,” he points out.
‘In a normal academic environment, texts from other periods are studied in relation to their historical context, not as timeless models’
Criminalization
Stathis Gourgouris, professor of comparative literature and society at Columbia University, is not surprised by this extreme development in Texas. “Since last year, we have been seeing interference with the autonomy of universities,” he tells Kathimerini. “Intellectual integrity is being called into question. Previously, a professor could be reported for expressing sexist or racist views. Now this has been reversed, and anything that is different is being criminalized. A large part of the population seems indifferent to the values of rights and equality.”
As Gourgouris emphasizes, academics can no longer include anything related to gender or race in grant applications, because they risk being labeled as “leftists hostile to the nation.” “They do not want dialogue or the exchange of ideas; universities must serve the purpose of the nation and a specific political faction. Any ideology that is multifaceted, ambiguous, or open to dialogue is considered to weaken society. This is a far-right, fanatical approach,” he says.
“An indiscriminate accusation of antisemitism against anyone who criticizes Israel’s policies is also a generalized attack on freedom of thought,” adds Chaniotis. A common denominator, he notes, is the declared war by the US government and supportive states against “woke” awareness of prejudice.
The two extremes
He points out, however, that “ideological extremism” is not exclusive to the American right. “A few years ago, a respected journal, following the dictates of political correctness, replaced in one of my articles the word ‘slave’ with ‘enslaved person’ and ‘master’ with ‘enslaver,’ with ridiculous results – the ‘hierodoulos’ became the ‘sacred enslaved person,’” he says. When he explained that these are legal and historical terms, the original text was restored.
As he stresses, it has now become a widespread phenomenon for professors of classical philology to warn their students that the texts they are about to read contain views considered unacceptable today.
Peterson clarifies that he does not speak on behalf of the university, but as a citizen of the US. “There is a narrative – and I think a false belief – that professors like me are trying to indoctrinate students. I’m not a left-wing extremist. I’m not a right-wing extremist. I don’t discuss my political opinions in class,” he says. “My students are adults. They are capable of reading Plato. That will not do them any harm.”
Sykoutris faced this before
Almost a century has passed since an attempt was made to censor Plato’s “Symposium” in Greece. In 1936, classical philologist Ioannis Sykoutris was targeted for his translation of the “Symposium.” He was accused of corrupting the youth, insulting the ancient Greeks and praising homosexuality because of the references he made in his prologue to same-sex relationships in the society of ancient Athens.
Sykoutris himself claimed at the time that the instigators of this polemic were his competitors who were trying to discredit him, so that they could win the race for succession for a tenured position at the University of Athens.
The translation of the “Symposium” had been commissioned by the Academy of Athens and its publication had been received with rave reviews. The reactions began about two years later. At the forefront of these attacks was the editor of the magazine Scientific Echo, but he was not alone. The “noisemakers,” as Sykoutris called them, included representatives of various professional branches, such as sellers of sesame bread rings, the coachmen of Patras, the agricultural cooperative from Douneika in Ilia, the porters of the Edipsos baths, the union of large families of Krestena, and the butchers of Aigio. “Honest and respectable people, who neither read the ‘Symposium’ nor were they anticipated of being its readers,” as Sykoutris said.
‘Healthy ethics’
They signed letters of protest to the Holy Synod and politicians. The Ministry of Education supported the professor, noting that it contradicted his beliefs from that time and that he expressed himself very decently “for the perception of contemporary healthy ethics regarding relations between the two sexes and the family.” Sykoutris was sued as a slanderer by his detractors, but in September 1937, at the age of 36, he committed suicide before the trial could take place. In June of the same year, a few months before his suicide, he told Kathimerini: “Plato is who he is, he teaches what he teaches and (with the permission of the sesame bread ring sellers) he will remain, I hope, always standing in front of the Academy [of Athens], in front of every academy.”
