OU College Student Who Got Failing Grade Alleges Discrimination | EUROtoday

After Samantha Fulnecky, a University of Oklahoma junior, acquired a failing grade on an essay, she filed a report along with her college alleging that she’s being discriminated in opposition to due to her non secular beliefs. In response, the college put the trainer who gave her the grade on go away.

It’s simply the newest battle within the ongoing tradition wars which may be waning, however nonetheless has sufficient adherents to show small particular person points into the conservative trigger célèbre.

In a Thanksgiving Day submit, the University of Oklahoma chapter of Turning Point USA, the right-wing scholar group based by the late Charlie Kirk, highlighted Fulnecky’s essay and her professor’s response to it. The task was to put in writing a response to a psychology article on gender stereotypes in center college college students and the way it impacts their psychological well being.

In the paper, Fulnecky bases her argument almost totally round Christianity and the Bible, arguing that “Women naturally want to do womanly things because God created us with those womanly desires in our hearts.” The faculty junior went on to put in writing that“Society pushing the lie that there are multiple genders and everyone should be whatever they want to be is demonic.”

Instructor Mel Curth gave the task a zero for not addressing the studying. Curth, who TPUSA and different information retailers recognized as trans, opened their suggestions notice to Fulnecky by saying that they weren’t deducting factors due to the coed’s beliefs however fairly as a result of she didn’t observe the task, contradicted herself, made offensive feedback, and didn’t present empirical proof.

The submit from TPUSA additionally included suggestions from one other teacher, who mentioned she agreed with Curth’s grading and that “[t]his paper should not be considered as a completion of the assignment.”

But what ought to have been a disappointing however not unusual final result in a tutorial setting become a referendum on trans folks, assaults on the trainer’s gender id, and better training.

“We should not be letting mentally ill professors around students,” TPUSA mentioned in a prolonged submit. “Clearly this professor lacks the intellectual maturity to set her own bias aside and take grading seriously. Professors like this are the very reason conservatives can’t voice their beliefs in the classroom.”

Turning Point USA didn’t reply to HuffPost’s request for remark.

The college mentioned in an announcement it had acquired a grade grievance, and that the coed had additionally reported submitting a declare of unlawful discrimination primarily based on non secular beliefs. The college mentioned it was conducting a full evaluation of the state of affairs after Fulnecky went by the grade attraction course of. “The University of Oklahoma takes seriously concerns involving First Amendment rights, certainly including religious freedoms.” It added that the trainer had been positioned on administrative go away till after the college completes its formal evaluation course of.

Neither the University of Oklahoma nor Curth’s adviser responded to HuffPost’s request for remark.

Fulnecky advised The Oklahoman she believed her grade was primarily based on “my beliefs and using freedom of speech, and especially for my religious beliefs.”

Even Oklahoma Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt weighed in on the controversy. “The 1st Amendment is foundational to our freedom & inseparable from a well rounded education,” he wrote on X. “The situation at OU is deeply concerning. I’m calling on the OU regents to review the results of the investigation & ensure other students aren’t unfairly penalized for their beliefs.”

Colleges have been targets of the right-wing tradition struggle for many years. It is a typical perception amongst Republicans and conservative activists that they’re handled unfairly on campuses and their viewpoints are being stifled.

When President Donald Trump was reelected, his administration instantly upped the ante on the struggle on greater training. It demanded that universities throughout the nation abandon their variety initiativesgive skilled and enrollment issues to conservatives, and threatened to withhold federal funding from colleges for colleges that refused to acquiesce.

Not solely has the federal authorities set its sight on faculties, it has additionally broadened its assaults on the trans group from Trump signing an govt order that declares there are solely two unchangeable sexes and his push to take away trans folks from the navy. Then there’s the anti-Christian bias activity powera Department of Justice initiative that claims to be an effort to root out public establishments which can be discriminating in opposition to Christians.