# Oklahoma student invokes Christian beliefs in college essay, gets failing grade **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 6, 2025, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443 "2025-12-06T01:37:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/21 "2025-12-06T05:03:18Z")
Or she could become a pharmacist who refuses to dispense medications which offend her religious sensibilities. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/22 "2025-12-06T05:21:42Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > But I would also explain to a pre-med student that she’s signing up to help people, not pass judgment on them. She’s not in the right career if this is going to be her attitude to scientific articles about things that hurt her fee fees. Her career is a right-wing grifter and she’s excelling at it. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/23 "2025-12-06T05:51:34Z")
I vehemently disagree with this take. The teacher mentioned ideology because obviously the student was going to bring it up as the reason for their post. There clearly was a rubric, and the student didn’t pass it. And no teacher should feel obligated to give token points because they are afraid of a public storm. This was an attack on a trans person. It does not matter one bit how she would have responded. She literally had another teacher agree with her. She was damned no matter what. I know conservatives who read the teacher’s response and changed their mind. That wouldn’t happen with some dry thing that ignored the actual underlying problems with the fake essay. Every student who goes there said they don’t think anything at all would have happened if the teacher wasn’t trans. The idea that her explaining the underlying problems is what created or worsened the problem is ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/24 "2025-12-06T12:53:27Z")
Your point is well-taken, and at the same time it’s true that the teacher handed her a piece of ammo when they brought up the inappropriateness of writing a screed instead of an essay. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/25 "2025-12-06T13:29:11Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > The essay was garbage. > > The fundamental problem is that she is addressing science with the Bible. I think the fundamental problem is that the essay doesn’t address the science at all. Based on her work, I have no idea if she read beyond the first few sentences of the abstract. That should be enough to give her a very low score, and the professor would have been better off focusing on that. You would think college students would know how to do this kind of work, but maybe it’s typical. I don’t know. But it reads like a high school freshmen’s persuasive writing assignment. It completely missing the mark of what’s expected for this kind of assignment. I do think the professor could have addressed the bigotry, but outside of the grading response. Grade the essay, then sit her down and have a real talk about motivation and when it’s appropriate or not appropriate to offer one’s personal beliefs. But this is all armchair quarterbacking. The school should have the professor’s back on this. The essay is garbage and the student is a bigot. Unfortunately, everyone’s terrified of Trump pulling funding. Hurray for fascism. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/26 "2025-12-06T13:46:45Z")
The student was very clearly trying to draw a foul by provoking the instructor. The instructor obliged by not following a grading rubric, which provided an opening for accusations of bias. In a normal world, that opening would be comically inadequate. It would be acknowledged that although perhaps the professor has bias, _as everyone does_, that the their grading statement clearly and objectively explained why the essay was trash. But in a world where conservative media has done decades of groundwork in pushing the idea that all personal perspectives are bias and all bias is a sin, it’s a slam-dunk case for ass-protecting bureaucratic university admins to punish this professor for doing an inadequate job of ass-covering (both for themselves and the university at large). One could see my characterization as blaming the victim (the professor) here. But it’s about providing a minimal attack surface in order to deny the other side a victory. It’s not the war most of us would have chosen, but it’s the war we’re in. Nobody should make themselves an easy target. You will take fire, you will be harmed, and you will increase the likelihood of others getting attacked. Be a soldier not a hero. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/27 "2025-12-06T13:58:55Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > The instructor obliged by not following a grading rubric, Here are the instructions for the assignment > [@](#): > > You must write a 650 words (body of text), double-spaced reaction paper demonstrating that you read the assigned article, and includes a thoughtful reaction to the material presented in the article. Points will be ceducted when papers are deficient in any of these areas. I will deduct 10 points if your paper is between 620 and 649 words, and I will not give > credit for papers under 620 words. Papers not turned in by the deadline will not receive credit. Please remember that your reaction paper should not be a summary, but rather a thoughtful discussion of some aspect of > the article. Possible approaches to reaction papers include > > 1. A discussion of why you feel the topic is important and worthy of study (or nct) > > 2. An application of the study or results to your own experiences > > 3. An application of the study or results to observations about other behaviors > > 4. . Linking the objectives or findings from the assigned article to other domains of development or other findings that we read about or discuss in class > > 5. A suggestion for further studies or experiments that might help researchers better understand the topic being studied > > 6. Alternate interpretations of the researchers’ findings > > 7. A discussion of how development in this domain might proceed differently at other developmental stages > > 8. Your own thoughts about how development proceeds in the domain being researched in the article > > 9. Does the paper show a clear tie-in to the assigned article? (10 points) > > 10. Does the paper present a thoughtful reaction or response to the article, rather than a summary? (10 points) > > 11. Is the paper clearly written? (5 points) > **[University of Oklahoma student claims religious discrimination over failed...](https://www.koco.com/article/samantha-fulnecky-oklahoma-ou-student-essay-bible-grade-professor-religious-discrimination/69634277)** > > Here's everything to know about the situation. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/28 "2025-12-06T14:33:58Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > Here are the instructions for the assignment Which the professor did _not_ reference in their grading evaluation. This was my point, thank you for your assistance in making it. If you read the professor’s grading response, it was mainly about how offensive and unempathetic they found the essay. It gave a little treatment of the essay’s logical flaws, and essentially none to the grading rubric. If one were explicitly trying to make themselves a bright red bullseye for accusations of ideological bias, it’s hard to imagine what they’d have done differently. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/29 "2025-12-06T14:45:31Z")
We can consider an analogy, an article about the effects of racial discrimination against black students on their academic performance, say. And a response essay that basically amounted to, “I don’t think blacks are real people and so the racial discrimination is a positive thing”. And then we can posit a black professor trying to grade this racist diatribe against their own rubric. Addressing the failure to meet the rubric is of course the best option, but I don’t think we need to give this snowflake’s bigotry any special treatment just because they pretend it’s a religious belief. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/30 "2025-12-06T15:03:06Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > On the one hand, I wonder if, had the instructor stuck to “you didn’t follow the assignment at all,” in the first three paragraphs, without bringing that in, if reactions would have been different. On the other hand, I think that it probably wouldn’t have made a difference anyway. The whole cause celebre nonsense might have been avoided or at least heavily mitigated if the student had been given a ‘D’ instead of a zero. Yes, there was zero academic rigor on the part of the student in what was a psychology department class (not a theology class), and the dodo didn’t even bother to cite specific Bible references in support of their “thesis”, but more discretion in grading might’ve helped. This affair reminded me of a freshman year college tutorial that I took, in which we were assigned to write a paper with the title "Is A Scientist Religious?, to draw out our opinions on whether religious faith was compatible with rigorous scientific work. I basically argued that no it wasn’t, not realizing at the time that our instructor, an assistant prof in the chemistry department, was a heavy-duty Christian. He gave me an A- on my paper, which was as much as my decent but not terribly original work deserved. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/31 "2025-12-06T15:13:13Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > The whole cause celebre nonsense might have been avoided or at least heavily mitigated if the student had been given a ‘D’ instead of a zero. Agreed. The student did apply the essay to their own experiences, and they did write clearly enough that you don’t need to re-read it to understand their meaning. So, I think it warranted _some_ points. The worst feature of the student’s essay, in my opinion, was how myopic it was. If she had presented it as “here is how Christian theology views this subject, with acknowledgement that it was but one perspective among many, than I don’t think it would have received the reaction that it did. In academia, it seems intellectually dishonest to not acknowledge the whole breadth of thinking on a subject, and if one is to take a minority view then it behooves them to acknowledge the scope of that viewpoint (I’m looking at you, vaccine skeptics). Granted, her religion demands that one viewpoint be defended as _the truth_, but she comes across as hopelessly naive in her proselytizing. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/32 "2025-12-06T15:26:25Z")
For all the talk of sheltered snowflakes, it’s the Right who have been raising a generation under the premise that “this is my Faith” should shut everyone up. No surprise that for visibility the family went to Turning Point, whose late leader was a prime practitioner of “I Make A Statement. Now YOU prove me wrong (by MY standard).” ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/33 "2025-12-06T15:39:32Z")
OP here, just now realizing that I did not paste the last page of the student’s essay in my first post. sorry! In the interest of completeness, here is how she concludes her essay > [@](#): > > Overall, reading articles such as this one encourage me to one day raise my children knowing that they have a Heavenly Father who loves them and cherishes them deeply and that having their identity firmly rooted in who He is will give them the satisfaction and acceptance that the world can never provide for them. My prayer for the world and specifically for American society and youth is that they would not believe the lies being spread from Satan that make them believe they are better off as another gender than what God made them. I pray that they feel God’s love and acceptance as who He originally created them to be. > **[Student's zero grade for citing Bible in essay sparks national debate](https://okcfox.com/news/local/students-zero-grade-for-citing-bible-in-essay-sparks-national-debate)** > > Samantha Fulnecky, a psychology junior at the University of Oklahoma, has gained national attention after receiving a zero grade for citing the Bible in an opin ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/34 "2025-12-06T15:46:16Z")
This may be my own bias talking, since I _detest_ points-based rubrics and numerical grades for essays, but to my mind the rubric makes this much more of a problem. I think the instructor should have abided by their stated criteria and given the student a few points for being clearly written (the student certainly makes her views clear, and the writing is fairly good on a purely mechanical level); for providing a response rather than a summary (they most certainly did that, and how!); and for having a tie-in to the assigned article. They shouldn’t get anything close to full credit in either of the last two categories, since I wouldn’t call this a _thoughtful_ response or a _clear_ tie-in, but in both cases, they are at least attempting to connect their ideas to the reading and they should get a point or two for it. Given the stated criteria, I think something in the 7 to 10 out of 25 range is probably the appropriate grade here. And given that the assignment _asks_ for a personal response rather than a research-based essay, dinging the student for not relying on empirical evidence evidence or arguing against “the findings of countless articles” is problematic. HOWEVER, the response paper also includes material that is definitely not common knowledge (the possible translations of the phrase “ezer kenegdo” and where and how it is used in the Bible) and does not appear to be cited anywhere. If the syllabus includes a clause saying that uncited material from sources is plagiarism and plagiarism is an automatic 0, that would be much easier to justify. I really, really wish the instructor had taken that approach and just not taken the bait. If I were the department chair or director of graduate studies in this situation, I would back up the instructor in public, because this is clearly a politically motivated “gotcha,” and apparently also a personal attack since the instructor is trans, and the instructor made the kind of normal rookie mistakes that grad student instructors shouldn’t be fired over. But hoo boy would the whole department get a reminder about their obligations to stick to the stated grading criteria, and some training on how to defuse situations like this _without_ giving the student a platform from which to play martyr. If I were the instructor, the student would just get a D for going off on a tangent rather than really engaging with the article or demonstrating that they’ve read it _closely_, and for failing to recognize that the Bible translation stuff needs to be sourced (I don’t think this is purposeful plagiarism, rather sloppy citation practices), and I don’t think I would say anything about the content of the essay beyond that. But I am not trans, and have twenty-five years of teaching experience in mostly-conservative parts of the country, and like someone else said upthread, it’s easy to armchair-quarterback. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/35 "2025-12-06T16:11:02Z")
This is on topic: > **[https://preview.redd.it/m311up1oyg5g1.jpeg?auto=webp&s=f125b1f4ced4c4f6210d9...](https://preview.redd.it/m311up1oyg5g1.jpeg?auto=webp&s=f125b1f4ced4c4f6210d9ff8784b2072c010bb26)** ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/36 "2025-12-06T16:13:47Z")
I agree with all you wrote. Great post. I’ll quibble with this bit: > [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > But in a world where conservative media has done decades of groundwork in pushing the idea that all personal perspectives are bias and all bias is a sin … How about > But in a world where conservative media has done decades of groundwork in pushing the idea that all non-RW personal perspectives are bias and all non-RW bias is a sin … They lurve them some bias and personal opinion. As long as it’s Right. Which is not the same as correct. Hell, most RW propaganda is nothing but opinion and bias disguised as reporting of objective facts. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/37 "2025-12-06T16:21:42Z")
I also don’t enjoy numerical rubric-based grades. They do work well for this sort of situation. Another practice that works well is a standard that if a teaching assistant is planning to assign a failing grade on an assignment, the TA needs to discuss this with the instructor of record or supervisor. And another is that in a situation like this, a re-grade by a faculty member occurs (which it did). Yet another is that if the TA’s grading is problematic, the re-grading occurs and the TA receives additional training or remediation, or possibly has different duties assigned. The response in the current scenario probably violates the TA’s own protections as a student/employee at the university. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/38 "2025-12-06T16:21:57Z")
Good lord that’s terrible. ---
**Author:** ![We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/We_re_wolves_not_werewolves)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/39 "2025-12-06T16:32:37Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > not a reasonable point of view to espose in an opinion essay I don’t agree with the student’s essay in the slightest, but what the hell is this statement? It’s an opinion essay, which means the writer is expressing their own opinion. You think only opinion essays can only have (what is in your opinion) “reasonable” opinions? ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/40 "2025-12-06T16:41:05Z")
Let’s not lose the plot here. If a student’s genuine opinion is that trans people should be lined up against the wall and executed by firing squad, do you think 1) that’s a reasonable opinion, and 2) that’s appropriate to submit as part of a sociology class assignment? Students need to be respectful and professional, just like everyone. They need to be able to work in collaborative, diverse environments. They need to be able to communicate with others in their fields without being assholes. We can quibble about whether or not “I think trans kids SHOULD be bullied” is a reasonable opinion or not, I guess, but come on. That’s toxic BS that wouldn’t fly outside of RW circles, and she has to learn that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443.md?page=3)