Oklahoma U. Instructor Who Failed Student for Citing Bible in Gender Essay Placed on Leave
“OU remains firmly committed to fairness, respect and protecting every student’s right to express sincerely held religious beliefs”
We covered this story when it broke. This is just an update.
The Associated Press reports:
Oklahoma university instructor on leave after failing Bible-based essay on gender
An instructor at the University of Oklahoma has been placed on leave after a student complained that she received a failing grade on a paper that cited the Bible to assert that the “belief in multiple genders” was “demonic.”
Samantha Fulnecky, 20, filed a complaint with the administration, the latest flashpoint in the ongoing debate over academic freedom on college campuses amid President Donald Trump’s push to end diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and restrict how campuses discuss issues of race, gender and sexuality.
“OU remains firmly committed to fairness, respect and protecting every student’s right to express sincerely held religious beliefs,” the university wrote in an email on Wednesday.
The school added that the failing grade — which was supposed to account for 3% of Fulnecky’s final grade — would not affect the junior’s academic standing. An investigation into Fulnecky’s discrimination complaint is still ongoing.
The assignment was for a psychology class about lifespan development. Students were asked to write a 650-word response to an academic study that examined whether conformity with gender norms was associated with popularity or bullying among middle school students.
Fulnecky wrote that she was frustrated by the premise of the article because she doesn’t believe that there are more than two genders based on her understanding of the Bible, according to a copy of her essay provided to The Oklahoman.
“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.
She argued that promoting the belief in multiple genders would lead society to move “farther from God’s original plan for humans.”
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Comments
Looks to me (based on the VERY incomplete and superficial article quoted above) like the student didn’t answer the assignment. Instead, she responded based on her feelings that she just didn’t like the idea.
She could have written that gender norms are a good thing because they reflect God’s purpose, and that resultant bullying of those who want to deny that concept is still sin and inappropriate. Further, that looking for personal validation in being transgender is a way of trying to become like God because you don’t like Him telling you the truth about yourself and the world.
That sort of reasoning is what should happen in college papers.
My understanding is she didn’t just get a failing grade, but a score of 0. She didn’t even get the points for structure and grammar.
If you do enough digging you can find the grading rubric as well as the full text of the essay in question. The grading rubric required 1: A clear tie to the article number 2: a response not just a summary And 3: clearly written. The length requirement was 650 words. The essay met all these criteria and objectively should have just been a tick box 25 points. The teaching Assistant Gave zero points. This zero in my opinion is a protest grade. Giving a protest grade because the point of view is contrary to the teacher’s point of view is very unprofessional and so it is very appropriate for the University of Oklahoma to suspend the teaching assistant..
I’ve read the essay. It lacked (to put it kindly) academic merit. It was not supposed to be a paper on apologetics. The very least she should have done if she wanted to base her reaction to the source material on Scripture was to include verses on gender to show how this has anchored society’s perception on there being a clear division of two (not 2 not 20 not 50) genders.
The professor’s answer did show her personal bias however the essay should not have been given a passing grade because it did indeed fail to follow the instructions given. However, there was one very important point made in that reply and that is the unfortunate fact that the social sciences now all agree (wrongly) that gender is not fixed or binary. Which means if the student is majoring in any of those sciences she has chosen the wrong uni to attend because any defense against that idea whether religion based or not will be met with either disdain or outright hostility. It will also mean an uphill battle when she is graduated to put her beliefs into active practice.
I have read The essay. It is absolutely false that essay did not meet the professor stated Rubric. The essay met all three elements of the rubric plus the length requirement. It is completely false that it was lacking in academic merit. That is absolutely BS.
Back in the day when I was a student, it would never have occurred to me to go public with a dispute about an essay grade. I wonder how this student will handle far more serious disputes later in life.
Why is everyone overlooking the reality of the fact this university kicked this professor out?
I’m sure there was a good reason.
The student wasn’t required to frame her paper in a certain light.
She framed her paper in truth and the professor didn’t like it because he doesn’t like knowing he’s responsible for his life choices and has to one day explain his choices to the Judge.
After all, the Bible explains that everybody will always receive the harvest from the seeds he’s sown.
Apparently he got the harvest coming to him and fast too…
I wish the person who downvoted this comment would have explained what they disagreed with.
Otherwise it seems to be nothing more than anti-Christian.
While I did not downgrade the comment, one problem is this statement:
First, the person grading the paper was not a “professor.” They have no tenure. They are a “graduate teaching assistant.”
(Why you have a TA teaching an upper level course is beyond my comprehension, But that is a discussion for another day.)
Secondly, the GTA was not “kicked out.” She was suspended from teaching that course. She can still attend courses at OU in furtherance of her advanced degree.
Third, the author describes the GTA as “he.” The GTA is a woman.
When people comment on something, they should have a basic understanding of the underlying facts. When they don’t or misrepresent things, their comment should be downgraded.
When I was at OU decades ago the sociology class I was required to take was taught by a very biased anti christian grad student. My main take away was that sociology was not observational science but an godless grift. So I did learn something. I guess the Sociology department in Norman hasn’t changed much.