An Oklahoma University student is filing a discrimination report because her professor gave her a “0” for allegedly “quoting the Bible” in her essay. Samantha Fulnecky, a junior at Oklahoma University majoring in psychology, characterized her essay grade as a form of religious discrimination.
In Nov. 2025, Fulnecky was given an assignment in her Lifespan Development (PSY 2603) class to write a 650-word essay responding to a research paper entitled “Relations Among Gender Typicality, Peer Relations, and Mental Health During Early Adolescence,” a paper describing the effects of gender norms on the mental health of middle schoolers. The professor and course instructor of the class was a transgender graduate teaching assistant, Mel Curth. Fulnecky received a failing grade, accumulating 0 points for her essay. Curth claimed this was because Fulnecky failed to respond appropriately to the prompt, provide empirical evidence, cite appropriate sources, provided off-topic references and tended to give “wordy” responses. Fulnecky also cited the Bible in her essay to support her point that the social acceptance of transgender people was “demonic.”
Subsequently, Fulnecky filed a religious discrimination report against Curth based on her Christian faith. This decision was backed up by Turning Point USA, a nonprofit organization that promotes conservative politics on high school, college and university campuses founded by Charlie Kirk. The supervising professor was asked to re-grade the essay, in which it again received a failing grade of zero. On Nov. 30, Curth was placed on administrative leave.
Many people have mixed reactions about this controversy. Republican Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt believed the incident was “concerning,” and that Oklahoma University regents should take precautions and “ensure other students aren’t unfairly penalized for their beliefs.” Ryan Walters, a retired Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction, referred to Fulnecky as an “American hero” for not backing down from her beliefs and standing firm in her beliefs as a Christian despite scrutiny from peers and the public.
Others believe Fulnecky deserved the failing grade. Critics of Fulnecky claim that it was not only the quoting of the Bible that led to the failing grade, but also factors like lacking a thesis and citations, grammar and punctuation mistakes and using phrases like “I think” and “I believe” in an academic essay. Many believe Fulnecky is weaponizing the course instructor’s identity as a transgender woman to further antagonize her, especially as her view on transgender people is not supportive. Reporters from “Baptist News Global” said Fulnecky reacted to an “imagined version” of the assigned research study rather than its actual content and, without any rationale, contradicted its premise and conclusion.”
There is not much detail of additional academic consequences beyond the failed assignment for Fulnecky; however, Curth was removed from her teaching position at Oklahoma University. This controversy has simulated conversations about the role of religion in secular academic institutions and how people choose to use their faith in situations like these. Whether people use their faith for good or bad, is a choice that they choose to make following their academic career.
