Students at the University of Oklahoma are now weighing in on the controversy surrounding the transgender graduate instructor who was removed after failing a student last month for citing the Bible in a gender essay.
The failed student, Samantha Fulnecky, addressed the situation on Wednesday, December 3, shortly after earning a new win in the dispute, but some of her peers claim the viral narrative left out key details.
Highlights
- Students at the University of Oklahoma say Samantha Fulnecky’s Bible-heavy essay did not meet the assignment’s academic criteria.
- The controversy escalated further because the removed instructor, Mel Curth, is transgender.
- Faculty and students are now organizing protests demanding Mel’s reinstatement, as peers publicly dispute claims of religious discrimination.
While the university sided with Fulnecky, several students have voiced support for instructor Mel Curth as new, unexpected details emerge.
“She didn’t have to do all this extra stuff,” one social media user reacted.
Mel Curth had given Samantha Fulnecky’s psychology essay an F, a 0 out of 25, a score that could have significantly impacted her overall grade
Image credits: University of Oklahoma
The assignment at the center of the dispute asked students to analyze how society perceives people based on gender expectations.
Mel Curth designed the task around a 2014 academic article by Jewell, J. A., and Brown, C. S., titled Relations among Gender Typicality, Peer Relations, and Mental Health During Early Adolescence.
The core discussion in the paper states that “gender stereotypes regarding what it means to be a ‘typical boy’ or a ‘typical girl’ permeate American society.”
However, Samantha Fulnecky’s 650-word submission, instead of engaging with “empirical evidence,” relied heavily on “personal ideology.”
Image credits: University of Oklahoma
The student cited the Bible multiple times, arguing that traditional gender roles should not be considered stereotypes because “that is how God made us.”
“Society pushing the lie that there are multiple genders and everyone should be whatever they want to be is demonic and severely harms American youth… 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.”
The rubric for the assignment stated that students were expected to present “a thoughtful discussion of some aspect of the article,” rather than simply summarizing it
Image credits: ou_wtennis
According to Curth, “To call an entire group of people ‘demonic’ is highly offensive, especially a minoritized population.”
She also encouraged Fulnecky in her grading notes to “apply some more perspective and empathy” in future assignments.
Fulnecky, however, argued that the essay was opinion-based and claimed the failing grade amounted to “illegal discrimination” by the instructor.
Image credits: MaileOnX
She even filed a complaint with the university, which promptly responded by placing Curth on leave on November 30, 2025.
But an anonymous classmate of Samantha, who requested anonymity due to fears of backlash, shared additional context, including the exact rubric Curth had provided for the assignment.
The controversy gained traction because Mel is a transgender instructor, which added further tension given the content of the submission
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The student told local outlet News4 that one of the main criteria was producing a “thoughtful discussion of some aspect of the article… The best reaction papers illustrate that students have read the assigned materials and engaged in critical thinking about some aspect of the article.”
Other rubrics included a “discussion of why you feel the topic is important and worthy of study (or not),” “application of the study or results to your own experiences,” “suggestions for further studies or experiments that might help researchers better understand the topic,” and “your own thoughts about how development proceeds in the domain article,” among other criteria.
Image credits: UofOklahoma
According to the anonymous student, Samantha hardly referenced the article she was supposed to analyze and instead centered her paper almost entirely around biblical citations.
She reportedly mentioned the reference article only once at the beginning and did not cite the author’s name throughout, unlike other students who incorporated it several times in their responses.
The student told the outlet, “There was simply talking about beliefs associated with the Bible, which I feel as though is not academically stable.”
Image credits: samanthafulnecky
“Her name wasn’t on it. The instructor’s course was not on it. There was no relation to the paper cited anywhere in the source, which the paper was about the source that was given in the actual assignment itself. So there shouldn’t be any points towards that, even if it was a well-written paper that had grammatical issues…”
“If God wanted her to have an A, he would have given her one. It’s all in his hands! ” joked one user targeting Samantha online
Image credits: samantha_fulnecky
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However, yesterday, December 3, the university ruled that the controversial essay, despite receiving an F, would not count toward Samantha’s final course grade.
Officials confirmed that the review had been completed and “resulted in steps to ensure no academic harm to the student from the graded assignments.”
Fulnecky addressed the development, saying, “To be what I think is clearly discriminated against for my beliefs and using freedom of speech, and especially for my religious beliefs, I think that's just absurd.”
Image credits: theoudaily
“It has to do with me talking about god and my stance on gender. I think I should have gotten 100. I’ve got 100 on every single essay I’ve written in class.”
But her peers disagree that the grade reflected discrimination.
One student told News4, “This isn’t about religious discrimination. People are sick of these things happening, and that across the board, things like TPUSA and things like other extremist organisations have a chokehold over people like the president of OU.”
Students are now protesting in support of the dismissed instructor, even as the higher administration has shown support for Fulnecky
Image credits: theoudaily
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“I’ve never really been interested in politics, if I’m being honest, until now,” the anonymous student concluded.
According to reports, several students are organizing a protest on Friday, December 5, at noon, marching from the Union to the South Oval on campus.
They are calling for the university to reinstate the dismissed transgender instructor immediately.
Amid the controversy, instructors teaching another section of the same course have also backed Mel’s original grade, calling Samantha’s essay “concerning.”
Image credits: GabeGwoolley
Teaching staff member Megan Waldron wrote in her feedback to Fulnecky, “Your paper directly and harshly criticizes your peers and their opinions, which are just as valuable as yours. Disagreeing with others is fine, but there is a respectful way to go about it.”
So far, Mel has not publicly commented on the headline-making controversy or her dismissal.
“It sounds like the student did not critically discuss the article, just gave her opinions which don’t hold water,” wrote one netizen
