NORMAN, Okla. (KFOR) – Another instructor at the University of Oklahoma has been removed amidst the controversy over one student’s failing grade.
The most recent educator to be removed from the classroom allegedly told students that they would be excused for attending Friday’s protest of the removal of the teaching assistant at the heart of the controversy.
The move was first reported by OU Nightly, which explained that the instructor told students she would excuse any absence for attending the protest. When asked by a student if attending a counter-protest would qualify, the instructor reportedly said it had to be an organized protest.
There were no such protests on Friday, according to OU Nightly, and the student told the student-run outlet that he filed a complaint with the university.
Director of First-Year Composition Dr. Roxanne Mountford called the lecturer’s attendance policy “inappropriate.”
A statement from the university said the instructor “allegedly demonstrated viewpoint discrimination by excusing students who intended to miss class to attend a protest on campus, but not extending the same benefit to students who intended to miss class to express a counter-viewpoint.”
You can read the full statement from the University of Oklahoma below:
Students had gathered on Friday to protest the decision to put a graduate student on leave after giving undergraduate student Samantha Fulnecky a failing grade on her essay, which cited the Bible to assert that the “belief in multiple genders” was “demonic.”
The assignment was for a psychology class about lifespan development. Students were asked to write a 650-word response to an academic study that examined whether conformity with gender norms was associated with popularity or bullying among middle school students.
Fulnecky wrote that she was frustrated by the premise of the article because she doesn’t believe that there are more than two genders based on her understanding of the Bible, according to a copy of her essay provided to The Oklahoman.
The essays were graded out of 25 points, broken down by whether the student demonstrated an understanding of the article and addressed a specific aspect of the argument put forth. Fulnecky received zero points for her work.
“Please note that I am not deducting points because you have certain beliefs,” wrote the teaching assistant who graded her paper. The paper “contradicts itself, heavily uses personal ideology over empirical evidence in a scientific class, and is at times offensive,” the criticism went on.
Fulnecky, 20, filed a complaint with the administration, the latest flashpoint in the ongoing debate over academic freedom on college campuses amid President Donald Trump’s push to end diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and restrict how campuses discuss issues of race, gender and sexuality.
Fulnecky’s complaint to the administration soon went viral after the school’s chapter of Turning Point USA, a conservative group founded by Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated in September, posted about Fulnecky’s experience on the social media site X.
The teaching assistant was quickly put on administrative leave by OU as they investigate the grading process.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt appeared to affirm that perspective, posting on X that the situation was “deeply concerning.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.