University of Oklahoma strips teaching duties from instructor who failed conservative student for citing Bible in essay
The University of Oklahoma released a statement announcing that the instructor who gave a conservative student a zero for citing the Bible in an essay ‘will no longer have instructional duties at the University.’
The statement said that the instructor was ‘arbitrary in the grading of this specific paper’ and declared that students have the ‘right to receive an education that is free from a lecturer’s impermissible evaluative standards.’
A transgender university instructor has been fired after failing a student who cited the Bible in an essay.
Mel Curth, a University of Oklahoma graduate student and psychology instructor who formerly identified as Will, was put on leave after failing Samantha Fulnecky for using the Bible as the foundation for her response in an essay about society’s views on gender stereotypes, Campus Reform previously reported.
The university has since issued a statement announcing that Curth has been permanently removed from his position.
The statement notes that Fulnecky filed both a grade appeal, which was successful in removing the failing mark she received from her overall course grade, as well as a “formal claim of illegal religious discrimination.” OU said that the claim “has been investigated and concluded,” but that it “does not release findings from such investigations.”
The school did state, however, that the provost and academic dean independently reviewed the case.
“Based on an examination of the graduate teaching assistant’s prior grading standards and patterns, as well as 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 statement read. “The graduate teaching assistant will no longer have instructional duties at the University.”
The statement also confirmed that the university discussed the decision with the Faculty Senate Executive Committee because of the case’s involvement of “both student and faculty rights.”
“The University of Oklahoma believes strongly in both its faculty’s rights to teach with academic freedom and integrity and its students’ rights to receive an education that is free from a lecturer’s impermissible evaluative standards,” the school concluded. “We are committed to teaching students how to think, not what to think. The University will continue to review best practices to ensure that its instructors have the comprehensive training necessary to objectively assess their students’ work without limiting their ability to teach, inspire, and elevate our next generation.”
This is not the first time that a conservative student has been the subject of national news for receiving a failing grade over his or her viewpoints. Campus Reform previously reported on a professor at the University of Cincinnati giving a zero to then-sophomore Olivia Krolczyk for using the term “biological women,” claiming that it was “transphobic,” “exclusionary,” and reinforced “heteronormativity.”
The University of Oklahoma and Mel Curth have been contacted for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
