BUZZ
The University of Oklahoma announced Monday that it has stripped a graduate student of their teaching duties for giving a Christian student a zero on her Bible-based essay, calling the grade “arbitrary.”
“Based on an examination of the graduate teaching assistant’s prior grading standards and patterns, as well as the graduate teaching assistant’s own statements related to this matter, it was determined that the graduate teaching assistant was arbitrary in the grading of this specific paper,” according to a statement published by the university.
“The graduate teaching assistant will no longer have instructional duties at the University,” it added.
The university had recently faced the threat of funding cuts from Republican state lawmakers over the controversy regarding the essay, in which Christian student Samantha Fulnecky wrote a paper about why she opposes modern gender ideology for her online psychology class.
The assignment asked students to react to an article about gender stereotypes, including “why you feel the topic is important and worthy of study (or not)” and how the study applies “to your own experiences.”
Fulnecky “wrote that traditional gender roles should not be considered stereotypes” and that transgenderism deviates “from God’s original plan for humans,” Inside Higher Ed reported.
“Society pushing the lie that there are multiple genders and everyone should be whatever they want to be is demonic and severely harms American youth,” Fulnecky wrote in her essay.
The essay was graded by Mel Curth, a graduate student who identifies as transgender. Curth told Fulnecky the reason for her failing grade was that she did not use “empirical evidence,” and parts of the essay were offensive, the OU Turning Point USA chapter wrote in an X post.
The graduate assistant’s attorney, Brittany Stewart, told The Oklahoman on Monday her client may appeal the decision.
“My client, Mel Curth, received notification from the University of Oklahoma that an investigation determined that she engaged in arbitrary grading of a student’s paper,” Stewart said in the statement. “Ms. Curth continues to deny that she engaged in any arbitrary behavior regarding the student’s work, and is considering all of her legal remedies, including appealing this decision by the university.”
The University of Oklahoma, in its statement Monday, also said Fulnecky’s grade appeal “was decided in favor of the student, removing the assignment completely from the student’s total point value of the class, resulting in no academic harm to the student.”
“The claim for discrimination has been investigated and concluded. The University does not release findings from such investigations,” it added.
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