This is a huge meltdown in conservative circles, and considering how spineless the OU administration is, they’ll probably end up nixing the professor. They are currently working on getting rid of the African American studies department as is.
FTA:
A psychology student at the University of Oklahoma says the failing grade she received on an essay where she cited the Bible was a violation of her right to free speech. Her instructors said she failed to use empirical evidence and called parts of her essay offensive.
In her essay, which was in response to an article about how people are perceived based on societal expectations of gender, junior Samantha Fulnecky wrote that traditional gender roles should not be considered stereotypes, according to an earlier Oklahoman report. She cited the Bible to support her stance that eliminating gender in society would be “detrimental” because that would put people “farther from God’s original plan for humans.”
It’s psychology, not religious studies. She got a failing grade because she said thing and used a shitty source to back it up. Psychology is not religious studies.
the bigger issue is she (and a lot of others) believe the Bible to be a true and valid source of information. Critical thinking is just not a thing this generation.
This is not a generational issue. People are less likely to be dogmatically religious than in the past.
Exactly.
She used a shitty source (and probably nothing else.)
Even if you say psychology is a wishy-washy science, it’s still science. The teacher failed her for not providing empirical evidence based on proper studies. The student is going to have a hard time of it, if her only response is to scream persecution. (And yes, that’s exactly what’s going on here.)
“Freedom of speech” is bullshit. She got to say what she wanted, and now she gets to get the grade she deserves.
wrote that traditional gender roles should not be considered stereotypes
What does that even mean? Her entire thesis just doesn’t make sense. Who is even calling these stereotypes?
be lazy college student
don’t want to bother with the readings
write half baked essay I do no research for (which literally says that bullying is not bad “The article discussed peers using teasing as a way to enforce gender norms. I do not necessarily see this as a problem.”)
throw in religious crap so I can make money on the conservative grifter circuit
It’s possible her essay was just bad, with or without the bible thumping. And the inclusion of the bible could have been strategic. Some students will try anything to avoid a bad grade, except writing a good essay.
the fact that this is even a controversy goes to show how brain rotted such a huge amount of people is, its absolutely baffling
Yeah, the Oklahoman could be covering the multiple deaths that have occurred thanks to Oklahoma child protective services not functioning, or the non functioning mental health system. But nah, this is the fucking hot issue all over Okie Facebook.
As others have noted, both student and teacher are kinda awful. The student for obvious reasons, but the teachers assignment and grading isn’t really best practice, especially if you give a 0 when there’s literally any rubric you grade to (and you want that for anything you’re grading seriously).
I teach psychology courses at University level and for written parts you really have two acceptable options. Important papers (e.g. final essays worth 20% of total grade) should always have a rubric-- these you can very much give a bad grade to a student who clearly doesn’t understand what peer reviewed evidence is because evidence might be a 20pt rubric item and without it, an A drops to a C (and that’s assuming everything else is perfect). Having it in writing protects you legally.
The other, much more common assignment like a reaction piece, is mostly to check for participation in reading an assigned reading. There’s usually no rubric and it’s scored for completion so there isn’t any subjective side to it. Quote the Bible or whatever, it’s like a participation grade to encourage reading and if you have a bad take, whatever. These are usually 1% of the grade and there’s usually one every week to keep up with.
Doing anything in-between opens you up to problems, not to mention it’s just unfair to students. If you follow a rubric, you almost never give a zero unless they just straight up cheated.
One grifter gets shot in the neck and two grow to take its place?
My take, the whole thing is stupid. Everybody’s an asshole.
The instructions for the assignment said students were evaluated on three criteria: Does the paper show a clear tie-in to the assigned article? Does the paper present a thoughtful reaction or response to the article, rather than a summary? Is the paper clearly written?
She received 0 points. This wasn’t a graduate level psychology course. She was a junior. Honestly, the professor should be happy she wrote the paper herself instead of AI at that level. Based on the instructions (described in the link below), seemed like she did the assignment, but the professor just disagreed with her opinion and way overreacted.
Fulnecky emailed Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, OU’s president, the dean of her college, members of the media and Walters’ conservative anti-teachers’ union group fewer than four hours after her instructor justified Fulnecky’s grade. Four days later, Fulnecky went through the university’s internal process to file a formal discrimination complaint and an academic appeal.
But also, her reaction was to email the fucking governor and everybody else on god’s green earth. They have a grade appeal process, but her entitled ass went straight to the governor crying about discrimination. Just because you and your professor disagree a the validity of fairytales doesn’t make you some sad little victim. I’m tired of Christian’s, of all people, whining about discrimination. Freedom of religion doesn’t mean you should be allowed to push your BS fairytale onto other people and get praise for it. Appeal your grade and STFU.
Here’s another article with more details:
Does the paper…
They were clearly expected to use scholarly research. Using the Bible—or Harry Potter, Wikipedia, last nights weather forecast—should be an automatic 0.
It was a reaction paper. Give me your reaction to this article. It was not a research paper where you were expected to cite sources. This person’s reaction was inspired by the bible. They can be wrong, but doesn’t mean they didn’t follow the assignment.
Automatic 0 is insane. I have taken undergrad psychology courses in my day. Literally you get an A for effort. This professor was triggered and took it out on the student.
I wish the student had gone theory the appeal process before blowing it the fuck up. But it was obviously more important to get the attention than the grade.
“ how dare you fail me for handing in a shitty paper full of delusions?! “
Her problem is she cited the wrong bible!
Clearly, she should’ve cited the real bible that has the true word of the gods in it. Not that atheist Christian bible!
Remember: If you don’t believe in my gods, you’re an atheist!
I read the assignment, the paper, and the instructor comments. The instructor is correct to give this a failing grade, however a zero was probably too harsh.
The criteria were:
- Is there a clear link back to the assigned article? Can the reader assess whether the student has read the assigned article? (10 points)
- Does the paper provide a reaction/reflection/discussion of some aspect of the article, rather than a summary? (5 points)
- Are the main ideas and thoughts organized into a coherent discussion? Is the writing clear enough to follow without multiple re-readings? (5 points)
These are not particularly tough criteria. It’s an easy assignment aimed at ensuring students read a particular article and think about its contents. Here’s how I think I’d grade it:
- I skimmed the article myself. In 2020, I would have been pretty confident the student read it. In 2025, I can’t be sure an LLM didn’t summarize it for the student. I would expect more discussion of specific details from the article rather than a general overview of themes, especially now. 5/10.
- The student definitely has plenty of her own reactions to the article in her paper, but all of them are based on religion rather than psychology. If she wrote that there’s substantial reason to believe certain gendered behaviors are based on biology and instinct, and that going against those instincts causes stress, that’s fine. In a more rigorous paper, she’d need to cite sources for that, but not here. She could even use the presence of gender norms in religious texts to argue that multiple cultures have discovered something similar to what she believes. She didn’t though. She talked about her religious beliefs regarding gender. 4/10.
- It’s easy enough to follow her writing. 4/5.
13/25 (52%) is not usually a passing grade.
What concerns me is that there is already a massive problem with mental health care in Oklahoma being very religious, and this person being a psychology major. This is not a person who would be a safe practitioner for an LGBT person to turn too - they are showing that they are someone who cannot remain professional and separate their work from their personal religious beliefs.
As an OU alum myself, I also am disappointed with that quality of writing from a junior.
A psychology student at the University of Oklahoma says the failing grade she received on an essay where she cited the Bible was a violation of her right to free speech.
Bitch, you clearly don’t know what that means. People will literally eat shit just for 2 minutes of fame.
You can’t just quote a Bible verse on a Calculus test and expect an A.
Idk I feel like some Oklahomans disagree
