A University of Oklahoma student filed a discrimination report after she received a "zero" for a psychology essay on gender that cited the Bible as fact. The student alleges the bad grade is proof she's being targeted for her Christian faith.
Now, the graduate assistant teacher – who is transgender – is on leave as the school investigates whether the claims hold water.
The question being debated across the internet: was it faith-based discrimination… or just a really bad essay?
The Essay Read ‘Round the World
Samantha Fulnecky, a junior at the University of Oklahoma, says she received a failing grade on a recent paper simply for citing the Bible.
But some faculty don't see it that way.
Her essay, a response to an article about societal expectations of gender, “heavily uses personal ideology over empirical evidence,” and “contradicts itself,” according to the transgender graduate assistant who graded her paper. The graduate assistant argued that Fulnecky didn’t really engage with the original work they were responding to at all, and instead her 650-word paper looked closer to a sermon than an essay.
The paper argued that gender roles are beneficial and immovable, as they come from God:
“God made male and female and made us differently from each other on purpose and for a purpose. God is very intentional with what He makes, and I believe trying to change that would only do more harm. Women naturally want to do womanly things because God created us with those womanly desires in our hearts... Society pushes the lie that there are multiple genders and everyone should be whatever they want to be is demonic and severely harms American youth.”
Fulnecky was later interviewed in a local news segment:
Paper Gets a Fail
Though the essay prompt left room for students’ personal perspectives, the prompt emphasized “thoughtful reaction” to the original article. The graduate assistant professor, Mel Curth, criticized both the substance and tone of the essay, but explained that she didn’t deduct points due to Fulnecky’s specific beliefs.
“I am deducting points for you posting a reaction paper that does not answer the question for this assignment,” she wrote in justification of the zero grade given to Fulnecky. “While you are entitled to your own personal beliefs, there is an appropriate time or place to implement them in your reflections… I implore you apply some more perspective and empathy in your work.”
“To call an entire group of people ‘demonic’ is highly offensive,” she added, “especially a minoritized population.”
Fulnecky doesn't see it that way.
"To be what I think is clearly discriminated against for my beliefs and using freedom of speech, and especially for my religious beliefs, I think that's just absurd," she said.
The University Responds
The school appears to be taking the allegations seriously. The official university account responded swiftly, writing on X that “the University of Oklahoma takes seriously concerns involving First Amendment rights, certainly including religious freedoms.” They say they’ve placed the instructor on academic leave for the remainder of the semester, and have initiated a formal review of the failing grade.
Where Does Faith End and Academia Begin?
The controversy now raises a thorny question: is Fulnecky being discriminated against… or is this simply a case where a student turned in a sermon instead of a psychology paper? On one hand, universities must protect students’ rights to religious expression. On the other, academic assignments require students to demonstrate engagement with course material, not substitute biblical assertions for empirical evidence.
If the zero was truly given because the professor rejected her beliefs, many would agree that is discrimination. But if the paper failed because it didn’t answer the prompt, didn’t engage with the assigned reading, and labeled a minority group “demonic,” then the issue is less about religion and more about academic standards – and the limits of what constitutes acceptable analysis in a psychology course.
As the school's investigation unfolds, what are your thoughts? Where is the line between respecting religious conviction and maintaining academic rigor?
2 comments
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Michael Hunt
The only source she used for the paper was the Bible. No educational academic texts or studies on psychology were used in this essay, just the Bible. Any student should be able to tell you that you need multiple sources for academic papers. The Bible is not an academic text and if it is the only source you're using for an academic paper, you're gonna get an F. If you want to cite the Bible, cite other academic texts that support your claims as well. You should include criticisms of your own positions too and provide a refutation of those critiques. She didn't do that, so she failed, rightfully so.
This is just another example of the evangelical right playing the victim and trying to force everyone to believe their holy book as truth.
If I cited Gerald Gardener and his books in Wicca would I be able to scream religious discrimination too? No, because I'm looking for a persecution complex.
You were given an academic assignment for a class and proceeded to use a book of fairy tales and parables to try and make a point. You did not complete the assignment, you did not site credible sources, you wrote a sermon and tried to pass off feelings as facts; you fail and deservedly so. Honestly this girl should be expelled from the school for false allegations and that she is now causing this teacher to be placed on administrative leave pending an investigation. A investigation because some god-botherer had her feelings hurt for being flunked her essay.