University officials confirmed Monday that the graduate teaching assistant will no longer have instructional responsibilities, citing arbitrary grading practices.
The University of Oklahoma has fired a transgender graduate instructor from teaching duties after a conservative student accused the university of religious discrimination over a failed essay that argued against gender ideology from a Christian perspective.
The decision follows weeks of public scrutiny after Samantha Fulnecky, a 20-year-old junior at the school, said she was penalized for expressing her religious beliefs in a psychology course assignment. University officials confirmed Monday that the graduate teaching assistant will no longer have instructional responsibilities, citing arbitrary grading practices.
“Based on an examination of 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. The graduate teaching assistant will no longer have instructional duties at the university,” the university said in a statement, according to the New York Post.
The dispute stems from a late-November assignment that required students to write a 650-word response to an academic article analyzing whether conformity to gender norms affected popularity or bullying among middle school students. Fulnecky submitted an essay rejecting the idea of multiple genders, arguing that gender is biologically fixed and rooted in Christian belief.
In her essay, Fulnecky wrote that she believes there are only two genders because “that is how God made us.”
“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,” she wrote. “I live my life based on this truth and firmly believe that there would be less gender issues and insecurities in children if they were raised knowing that they do not belong to themselves, but they belong to the Lord,” Fulnecky added.
The course instructor, graduate student Mel Curth, who uses “she/they” pronouns, failed the paper and said the essay relied too heavily on “personal ideology” rather than “empirical evidence.” Curth also described parts of the essay as offensive. “To call an entire group of people ‘demonic’ is highly offensive, especially a minoritized population,” Curth wrote to the student. “You can say that strict gender norms don’t create gender stereotypes, but that isn’t true by definition of what a stereotype is,” Curth added.
After the essay circulated widely online, the university placed Curth on administrative leave and reviewed the grading decision. OU officials said the failed grade would not affect Fulnecky’s final course outcome, and a formal grade appeals process was conducted.
The university also confirmed that Fulnecky filed a discrimination complaint based on religious beliefs, triggering an internal review. A full-time professor has since been assigned to teach the course for the remainder of the semester.
Conservative officials praised Fulnecky following the decision. Oklahoma state Rep. Gabe Woolley called the removal appropriate, writing that the instructor “should never have been employed at a public university” while rejecting biological sex differences. Former state schools superintendent Ryan Walters described Fulnecky as “an American hero” for confronting what he called a broader attack on Christianity.
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