(LifeSiteNews) — State lawmakers are stepping in after the University of Oklahoma came under fire for scoring a Christian student’s essay “zero” for reasons that critics allege were driven by religious discrimination rather than academic judgment.
As previously covered at LifeSiteNews by Jonathon Van Maren, Samantha Fulnecky’s psychology class was assigned to write an essay on “how people are perceived based on societal expectations of gender.” She wrote that “[S]ociety pushing the lie that there are multiple genders and everyone should be whatever they want to be is demonic and severely harms American youth. I live my life based on this truth and firmly believe that there would be less gender issues and insecurities in children if they were raised knowing that they do not belong to themselves, but they belong to the Lord.”
Her “transgender” instructor Mel Curtis gave her a failing grade, writing that she based the essay on “personal ideology” rather than empirical evidence as assigned and that to “call an entire group of people ‘demonic’ is highly offensive, especially a minoritized population” (Fulnecky had called the promotion of gender fluidity “demonic,” not gender-confused people).
The case drew widespread attention, with the grade condemned by Turning Point USA and Oklahoma Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt calling on the school to “review the results of the investigation & ensure other students aren’t unfairly penalized for their beliefs.” Fulnecky has filed a religious discrimination lawsuit.
The College Fix reports that members of the Oklahoma Freedom Caucus are calling on the school to apologize to Fulnecky and for the state to audit publicly funded higher education for ideological bias.
“My district is loud, along with many others, that they are fed up with seeing no real punishments being issued when we see Christians and conservatives be targeted and punished on our campuses,” Republican state Sen. Kendal Sacchieri said.
“If we need to start having conversations about withholding funding to get these universities’ attention, then maybe that’s what we need to consider,” added Republican state Sen. Dusty Deevers.
The university says it is reviewing the complaint, has placed Curth on leave, and is in “regular communication” with Fulnecky.
The indoctrination of children with left-wing ideology on sexuality, race, and other agenda items has long been a major concern in American public schools, from libraries to drag events to classroom materials to even “transitioning” troubled children without parental input. Many schools have also displayed hostility to the rights and employment of individual teachers who refuse to go along with such agendas.
The Trump administration has taken steps to depoliticize public education, including by ordering the elimination of federal funds to schools that continue diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and by reversing the Biden administration’s infusion of gender ideology into Title IX rules.