A teaching assistant in Norman, Oklahoma, was embroiled in a viral controversy after she gave a student a zero for a paper that referenced the Bible. After the university student denounced religious discrimination, the school conducted an investigation and then fired the teacher.
The whole incident was summed up by TikTok user Matthew Rein. He shared a statement posted by the University of Oklahoma (UO), in which they addressed the backlash surrounding the essay written by student Samantha Fulnecky, as previously reported.
According to the statement, Fulnecky followed two processes at UO after receiving a zero for her essay, claiming religious discrimination. The UO investigation concluded that the teaching assistant was “arbitrary” in grading Fulnecky’s paper. This was determined based on her “prior grading standards and patterns” and statements.
As a result, the teaching assistant was fired after she was placed on leave. Meanwhile, Fulnecky’s total point value for the class will not be affected by the failing grade. The failing essay will not be considered at all.
“The University of Oklahoma believes strongly in both its faculty’s rights to teach with academic freedom and integrity and its students’ right to receive an education that is free from a lecturer’s impermissible evaluative standards,” the statement continued. “We are committed to teaching students how to think, not what to think.”
An Essay Under Fire, Reactions
In her essay, obtained by The Oklahoman, Fulnecky analyzed an article discussing gender for her psychology class. She repeatedly mentioned God and the Bible, and added that society was “demonic” for “pushing the lie that there are multiple genders and everyone should be whatever they want to be.”
As per KOCO, the teaching assistant, Mel Curth, detailed in her grading comments that she was deducting points for not answering the questions in the assignment. The instructor, who happens to be a transgender woman, called Fulnecky’s “demonic” label offensive. She gave Fulnecky a zero as a result, with a second instructor agreeing with the grading.
Many reacted negatively to the teaching assistant’s firing. Some called for OU to lose its license, pointing out that the educational system in Oklahoma ranks amongst the worst in the country.
“If I were a student at OU rn I’d consider transferring ASAP,” one user commented. Another one said, “Mind you, two people graded it a zero.” A third one added, “RIP your standings in terms of being a research university.”
Curth has not publicly addressed OU’s decision to fire her.
