U. Oklahoma Instructor Fired for Failing Christian Student Over Gender Essay Files Appeal
“Ms. Curth fully denies that she engaged in any discriminatory behavior”
This is the person who was fired for failing a student who cited the Bible in an essay about gender.
FOX News reports:
University of Oklahoma teaching assistant fired after flunking Christian student files appeal with school
A University of Oklahoma graduate teaching assistant who was fired after flunking a Christian student who cited the Bible in an essay, causing a national uproar, is appealing the school’s decision.
Brittany Stewart, a self-employed and self-described civil rights lawyer, said she is representing William “Mel” Curth, who assessed student Samantha Fulnecky a zero out of 25 on an assignment about gender norms.
“Today, my client, Mel Curth, submitted her appeal of the University’s Institutional Equity Office finding that she engaged in arbitrary and capricious grading of a student’s assignment in violation of that student’s religious liberty,” Stewart said on Bluesky earlier this week.
“Ms. Curth fully denies that she engaged in any discriminatory behavior,” the statement continues. “It is her position that the investigation was flawed, failed to consider all possible motives and issues, and that new evidence has come to light that undermines the investigation’s conclusion.”
Stewart did not specify what the new evidence is.
For the assignment, Curth, who uses she/they pronouns, asked students to read a short paper called, “Relations Among Gender Typicality, Peer Relations, and Mental Health During Early Adolescence,” which discusses results of a study about gender norms among middle schoolers and the social ramifications children may face if they don’t conform to gender norms.
The students were instructed to provide a “thoughtful discussion of some aspect of the article.”
Fulnecky, a junior at the school, responded by saying she thought gender norms should not be viewed as stereotypes. She cited Genesis, the first book of the Bible, in which God created men and women equally, but with separate purposes.
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
So a man who insists he’s a woman failed a Christian student because she wrote to the effect that men cannot be women according to Scripture and he finds this offensive? Clearly his mental instability and bigotry show he’s not fit for an academic role.
There’s no disputing he “engaged in arbitrary and capricious grading of a student’s assignment” given he explicitly changed the criteria for the student in question, but only revealed this different criteria after failing her. And his defence of his actions e.g. claiming her essay vilified people, is an verifiable lie.
Other than claiming trans v Christian privilege as a defence, there’s no actual legal defence.
If people don’t overlook the facts, the zero grade is pretty damning against the TA.
If you want to enforce your bias to abuse your position of power, you have to be a lot more subtle than that.