Student essay controversy outcome spells bad news for educators
The firing of a graduate student raises free speech concerns.
By Ella Walken
On Dec. 12, students at University of Oklahoma walked out of their classes in protest of graduate student Mel Curth being put on leave for giving a failing grade to an undergraduate student on their psychology essay.
Samantha Fulnecky, a junior at the University of Oklahoma, was required to write a 650 word response to a research paper regarding lifespan development with her thoughts on how childhood bullying could be related to gender development. In her 630 word essay, which has now been read millions of times over, Fulnecky forgoes academic discussions of gender for her own personal feelings. She refers to the societal acceptance of transgender people as “demonic” and fails to cite any credible source on any of the topics at hand.
Curth offered feedback and explanation for the failing grade, explaining that it, “does not answer the questions for this assignment, contradicts itself, heavily uses personal ideology over empirical evidence in a scientific class, and is at times offensive.” The student never cites any specific bible verses, just vague notions about her beliefs on gender. It is important to mention that Curth is a transgender woman who had also received an award from her department for outstanding graduate teaching.
Fulnecky and her mother went into action, contacting her university’s chapter of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) who quickly published her essay, the response from Curth and their institution’s belief about this incident. TPUSA framed this as an assault on religious freedom and encouraged the University to punish Curth. The X posts from TPUSA quickly went viral.
The response was swift, and Curth was placed on leave by the University. Just like fifth place swimmer Riley Gaines before her, Fulnecky jumped into the right wing grift circuit of Fox News appearances and public speaking opportunities to situate herself as the victim.
Before the student protest, another instructor informed their students that they would be excused if they were absent from class during the protest. The University got wind and suspended this professor as well for her attendance policy.
After 6 weeks of unwanted public scrutiny, Mel Curth was officially fired from her position at Oklahoma University.
The crowd that screams “facts over feelings” when marginalized people ask to not be discriminated against seems entirely incapable of understanding that the world doesn’t revolve around their own feelings. A college student threw a tantrum over a failing grade and used connections to spin her failure into an opportunity to terrorize transgender people and educators.
An under-reported aspect of the story is just how calculated all of this seems to be. The right-wing universe was seemingly at the ready to use this moment to take educators down a peg and assert their belief in Christian Nationalist domination. Ryan Walters, a conservative Oklahoma politician quickly got on the phone with the student and personally advised Fulnecky to sue and “promised to try to get the Trump administration and state officials to investigate…” Samantha’s mother Kristi, who has been highly involved in the situation, is also an ex-city councilmember and a lawyer who worked to defend two January 6th rioters.
The aforementioned individuals and organizations are only a fraction of the people who Fulnecky has intentionally garnered support from. She had a team of trigger-ready defenders with institutional power at her ready to unleash on the grad student who fairly graded an essay that simply didn’t even meet the requirements of the assignment.
There is a clear agenda here. The conservative right wants to disappear transgender people from society. They also want to shut down any information that doesn’t align with their narrow worldview.
Under the second Trump administration, educators have been under an unprecedented level of scrutiny and pressure in the United States. From executive orders to dismantle the Department of Education to states such as Louisiana requiring classrooms to display the ten commandments, the Trump administration and the religious right have made the jobs of educators at all levels more difficult.
The concept of separation of Church and state has been quietly muddied by the Christian conservative right-wing contingent of the United States for decades, but in recent years it has been escalated.
All of this deeply concerns me. I can’t help but wonder how we’re supposed to move on from something like this. If instructors can’t provide constructive criticism without fear of being the subject of a malicious campaign to lose their jobs, how can they provide meaningful feedback? If our country isn’t even trying to abide by separation of Church and state anymore, how can we ensure that anyone is given a fair shot at education or employment no matter their religious beliefs, or lack thereof?
Fulnecky’s essay not only didn’t meet the requirements, it’s also a poorly written piece of academic work. When I first came across this debacle, I assumed the student was a first semester freshman based on the quality of her writing. The essay features run on sentences galore, distinct lack of structure and a limited vocabulary.
I don’t bring this up to dunk on a fellow student and her intelligence. I’ve certainly written response papers in a pinch that didn’t reflect my writing abilities. We can’t perform at 100% for every assignment. I’m concerned that a student can write such a poor essay in content and writing mechanics, and it isn’t seen as such because she chose to reference her religious beliefs. Practicing a certain religion shouldn’t make us exempt from academic feedback, even in reference to our beliefs. It should be simple logic: if you fail to meet the requirements of an assignment, you receive a failing grade.
Fulnecky and her contingent of Christian nationalists have run campaigns on rolling back moves towards diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Most famously, Trump ran his 2024 campaign for presidency on a plan to “eradicate both public and private diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies.” They purport to believe that DEI gives marginalized groups an unfair leg up on others.
Conservative Christians cry discrimination and use their privilege as the majority religion in the U.S. to get what they want. For a group of people so dead set on eliminating any of what they believe to be institutional unfairness, they sure are quick to utilize their power to secure special treatment for those who share their beliefs.
