Teaching Assistant Removed from Duties
Officials at the University of Oklahoma announced on Monday that a graduate assistant who assigned a failing grade to a student's paper will no longer be teaching at the institution.
The graduate teaching assistant, Mel Curth, who identifies as transgender, was placed on administrative leave several weeks ago after giving student Samantha Fulnecky a zero on her psychology assignment. The paper characterized transgender individuals as 'demonic' and stated that gender roles are 'Biblically ordained.'
Fulnecky argued that the grade was retaliation for her religious beliefs, but Curth maintained that the zero was based on academic standards. Curth explained that the essay 'does not answer the questions for this assignment, contradicts itself, heavily uses personal ideology over empirical evidence in a scientific class, and is at times offensive.' Curth also emphasized that depicting a marginalized group as 'demonic' is 'highly offensive' and advised the student to rely on empirical sources instead of doctrinal statements when analyzing course material.
University's Response
The university issued a statement on social media, indicating that the graduate assistant 'was arbitrary in the grading of this specific paper' and 'will no longer have instructional duties.' While the statement did not mention Curth or Fulnecky by name, their identities have been reported elsewhere.
According to the statement, the university investigated the student's allegation of religious discrimination but will not disclose the results. The university had already addressed the student's grade appeal and excluded the paper from her overall class score, noting that there 'was no academic harm' to her.
'The University of Oklahoma believes strongly in both its faculty's rights to teach with academic freedom and integrity and its students' right to receive an education that is free from a lecturer's impermissible evaluative standards,' the statement continued. 'We are committed to teaching students how to think, not what to think.'
Criticism and Further Developments
The university's chapter of the American Association of University Professors expressed skepticism about the statement. 'Essentially, nothing is new here,' a spokesperson for the chapter said in a statement to TV station KFOR. 'OU claims without providing any supporting or specific reasons why Mel Curth was removed. They have claimed in the past in press releases that this was due to supposed and disturbing claims of 'religious discrimination' that clash with academic freedom. Is it now? Instead, they hide behind vague statements and essentially assertions of 'trust us.' At this point, they need to show us and not tell us. And once again, OU is making an employment decision public, which is inflaming the situation.'
In a related incident, the university placed a second instructor on leave after she reportedly informed students they could be excused from class to attend a protest supporting Curth. The student newspaper OU Nightly identified Kelli Alvarez as the instructor for an English composition course.
Kalib Magana, president of the University of Oklahoma's Turning Point USA chapter, questioned whether counterprotesters would also receive excused absences. Alvarez responded that a counterprotest would need to be organized. Although none was arranged, several conservative students expressed their views at the pro-Curth demonstration. Magana filed a complaint against Alvarez with the university. Turning Point USA is a right-wing student organization founded by the late Charlie Kirk.
Broader Context
Controversies surrounding gender identity have emerged at other universities in conservative states. For instance, Melissa McCoul, a professor at Texas A&M, was terminated in September following a student complaint about her discussion of the topic. In November, the Texas A&M Board of Regents prohibited faculty from discussing 'race or gender ideology' across the 12 universities it oversees.
