University Investigates Teaching Assistant and Professor After Evidence of Viewpoint Discrimination
A University of Oklahoma junior, Samantha Fulnecky, received a zero on an assignment after citing her Christian beliefs in an essay about gender norms among middle school students. The essay, which responded to a scholarly article on gender and mental health, argued from a biblical perspective:
“Society [is] pushing the lie that there are multiple genders and everyone should be whatever they want to be is demonic and severely harms American youth.”
Teaching assistant William “Mel” Curth, who graded the paper, explained the low score by saying the essay “does not answer the questions for this assignment, contradicts itself, heavily uses personal ideology over empirical evidence in a scientific class, and is at times offensive.” Fulnecky told Fox News Digital she believes the grade was punitive.
“I was asked to give my opinion on gender binary and gender stereotypes… my views are from the Bible and my Christian kind of worldview,” Fulnecky explained. “And so that’s what I wrote about and I didn’t think anything of it.”
The university intervened, removing the professor from the classroom and placing Curth on administrative leave. Officials emphasized that the classroom should teach students how to think, not what to think, and that any student could attend the protest or counter-protest without penalty. Curth is also on administrative leave pending further review.
The incident has sparked debate about religious freedom, free speech, and ideological bias in higher education classrooms.
Fulnecky told FOX that it is always worth standing up for her beliefs, no matter the cost.
“Jesus is always worth standing up for. it can be scary in a clasroom setting. it can be scary going against all your classmates…but Jesus is always worth standin up for. I want to encourage those people who are dealing with something similar to push back against that kind of behavior and fight for your university to change. If we don’tspeak up they’re not going to do anything to change.”
Fulnecky said she would rather get a zero and tell the truth than lie.
