Records obtained by Texas Scorecard reveal that a Texas A&M faculty advisory council expressed “concerns” about security efforts intended to safeguard higher education against foreign adversaries. It wrote that there are “existing relationships” between Texas A&M researchers and those in countries identified as national security threats.
In November 2024, Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order requiring higher education institutions and other state agencies to bolster security measures against threats from hostile powers, including the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), North Korea, Iran, and Russia. The U.S. government has identified these nations as national security threats.
Members of the Texas A&M Academic Freedom Council objected to the governor’s order in a January 2025 letter to Provost Dr. Alan Sams, expressing concern about the risk of “overly broad interpretation and excessive compliance” by the university. The letter asserted that the university appeared to be interpreting policies in a “strict and overly compliant fashion.”
The group expressed concern about Abbott’s requirement for regular reviews of state employees, contractors, or applicants to assess factors such as ongoing ties with a foreign adversary and criminal history. It wrote that this was vague and could lead to forbidding collaborations, such as a Texas A&M researcher working on textile studies and weaving with a Chinese researcher because of the latter’s membership in the Chinese Communist Party.
“This effectively renders any collaboration with anyone in China prohibited,” it wrote. “Being ‘connected’ to someone who is a Communist, or holds other political views that are at odds with those of the Governor or Texas, must be explicitly permitted as long as the employee performs all assigned academic duties.”
Council members wrote that Abbott’s ban on receiving gifts from hostile entities and traveling to adversarial nations “for professional purposes” would “impact some Texas A&M faculty who hold fellowships or affiliations with foreign universities or centers, some of which are ongoing,” and would affect faculty who may attend conferences hosted by these nations.
They wrote that the requirement for employees to report “any personal travel to a foreign adversary nation … seems to be a significant violation of personal freedom and privacy.”
Council members also objected to Texas A&M’s research security rule, adopted in April 2023, arguing it lacked clarity. “There are many existing relationships between Texas A&M researchers and researchers (and students) in other countries, some of which have been designated as countries of concern,” they wrote. “However, the research projects are often long-term and ongoing in disciplines that are not considered strategic or critical” and, in many cases, information flows from the foreign country into the U.S. instead of the other way around.
Drs. Martin Peterson and Frank North, chair and vice chair of the AFC, signed the January letter, which asked for “a clear and thoughtful interpretation that accounts for the principles of academic freedom.”
Research security specialist Allen Phelps has warned of a lax attitude toward national security within academia. He’s reported that China and other adversaries target early-stage U.S. higher education research, from which much American technology—including military technology—originates.
In its annual report, the council wrote that Provost Sams “provided valuable additional detail and context” after receiving the AFC letter and soliciting more feedback from faculty.
Since then, Abbott signed into law new higher education research security measures House Bill 127 and Senate Bill 1273.
Texas A&M created the advisory Academic Freedom Council. It was widely reported that the AFC criticized the termination of Melissa McCoul, the professor who was recorded teaching students in a children’s literature course how to introduce transgenderism to minors as young as three.
Texas A&M did not respond to a request for comment before publication.
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