# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2025, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/81 "2025-12-07T01:16:29Z")
Even if you’re saying that the Bible is the end-all, be-all of sources, you still need to actually cite it. What chapter and verse? ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2025, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/82 "2025-12-07T01:20:28Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > My inclination upon reading this girl’s essay was to think, “She has no idea how to write an academic paper.” She’s probably much less interested in learning than I was, so maybe it’s a moot point, but I really wish I could teach her. The reports are that she was getting 100% for her previous efforts, indicating that the technique and style was appropriate for this course. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2025, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/83 "2025-12-07T01:33:14Z")
> [@susan](#): > > Something like this makes it clear what the grading criteria are and demonstrate that the instructor is applying these standards even if they don’t like the content: The published rubric for this subject was much simpler, 10: “Does the paper show a clear tie-in to the assigned article?” 10: “Does the paper present a thoughtful reaction or response to the article, rather than a summary?” 5 “Is the paper clearly written?” That’s an entry-level rubric, and on my naive reading, the paper merits full points, 25. It’s clear, it’s not a summary, and there is a clear tie-in to the original article. At Melbourne University when I was there, that rubric would not have been used, even for 1st year services subjects, and certainly not for first year gender-studies major. And the grading would not have been 100% for a pass-level paper: grading started at 51% for a pass-level paper. But even then, American grading numbers were different than American university grades numbers. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2025, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/84 "2025-12-07T02:56:23Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > The university had to decide if it was a science-respecting university, or a Bible school. Apparently they are a Bible school. Science? When I took a Gender Studies elective, it was Torah, not Science. A legitimate area of academic study, but self-referential, not tied to external reality. Since it was an entry level elective, there wasn’t even a comparative level for assessment: most of us had to pass, not all of us had to pass. As an Engineering student, all of those electives were a mental challenge to me. Had it ever occurred to you that, in a law elective, the lecturer is the Judge? Being wrong about the law is her prerogative? That philosophy tutors get drunk and confess to marking on outcome rather than method? A psychology tutorial where “student centred learning”.meant that student concerns were rejected? Generically, I had sympathy for university liberal-arts tutors. Often the university would be 6-8 weeks behind in pay. They had skills which we lacked. But specifically, they were each dumb as a rock compared to Engineering or Medical students, and it showed in their lack of ability to engage with ideas outside of their narrow expectations. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2025, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/85 "2025-12-07T03:26:00Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > 1. A discussion of why you feel the topic is important and worthy of study (or nct) > [@](#): > > [followed by a long list of other possible approaches] > > Hate to say this, but I think that’s what the student did: provided a personal reaction discussing why she felt the topic is not worthy of study. Agreed. I think it is a stretch to doubt she was saying it wasn’t worthy of study. And if she had made this a more explicit thesis, the paper would have been no better. I’m not judging the instructor overall, but they probably now know this part of the assignment was a mistake. While I am in favor of critical thinking and letting students explore multiple POV’s, there are limits. A paper on the difference between Brazilian and American slavery can’t endorse American slavery. And writing a paper on why the instructor’s area of study is a waste of time is generally unacceptable, with no need for a rubric. I guess you could come up with borderline cases, like saying in a philosophy of religion class that religion needs to be approached experientially. But when you say that, you are still doing philosophy, and you aren’t insulting the professor. Another classic example is arguing creationism in a biology class – no, totally outside the scope – although I might allow it in a certain kind of philosophy class. > [@](#): > > You must write a 650 words (body of text), double-spaced reaction paper . . . 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. If such academic legalism is common, I’m glad I went to college 50 years ago rather than now. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2025, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/86 "2025-12-07T03:58:40Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > Science? When I took a Gender Studies elective, it was Torah, not Science. Based on the abstract for the article the student under discussion was assigned to critique, it sounds like science. The sample size sounds on the small side, but I expect there are statistics in it. As for gender studies, there is a big literature on philosophy of gender, and on psychology of gender. There are good books that could be assigned on aspects of the history of homosexuality. It seems to me that there should be a range of acceptable opinion in any college subject. In intro to chemistry, it might be a very narrow range and not take up much class time. But I’m thinking there is at least a range of opinion on how to best explain certain concepts in chemistry. I don’t know quite how to justify this, but I do think there is a wider range of opinions worth discussing in introductory gender than in introductory chemistry. [If an undergraduate was given a zero for a positive citation of this book, I think that would be out of line.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Would_Be_Queen) If the class you took was, as you say, Torah, maybe it just wasn’t a good one. But the student screed against trans people was unacceptable. It wasn’t just wrong – and undergraduates are, within reason, allowed to be wrong – it was hatefully dismissive. > [@Melbourne](#): > > Generically, I had sympathy for university liberal-arts tutors. Often the university would be 6-8 weeks behind in pay. They had skills which we lacked. But specifically, they were each dumb as a rock compared to Engineering or Medical students, and it showed in their lack of ability to engage with ideas outside of their narrow expectations. As a history major, I may resemble this remark. I found my course work hard, but then I never took any lecture classes and did [almost] all the reading. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2025, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/87 "2025-12-07T04:37:06Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > The university had to decide if it was a science-respecting university, or a Bible school I mean I’m not sure a bible school would be more lenient on this essay than a regular school. If someone writes an essay at seminary about how the problem with society is we think children brutally bullying their peers is a _bad thing_, their professors might strongly suggest that maybe they aren’t really cut out for this whole Christianity thing, and maybe they should try business school 😉 ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2025, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/88 "2025-12-07T06:28:58Z")
I just scrolled down and posted without reading all of the OP. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2025, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/89 "2025-12-07T06:39:16Z")
If she’d done this, she just might have received a barely passing grade. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2025, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/90 "2025-12-07T07:02:36Z")
Quoted from the linked article: > The University of Oklahoma has placed a trans graduate instructor on administrative leave after a student received a zero on a psychology assignment that described transgender people as “demonic” and asserted that gender roles are “Biblically ordained.” The dispute has quickly escalated into a statewide political flashpoint. This being Oklahoma, I suspect the teacher was suspended for heresy and blasphemy. > **[Oklahoma orders schools to teach the Bible 'immediately'](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjk35vv2ryjo)** > > The state's top education official says students must learn about "an indispensable historical and cultural touchstone". ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2025, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/91 "2025-12-07T13:01:35Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > If she’d done this, she just might have received a barely passing grade. Or she might have discovered that the Bible doesn’t actually say what she thought it says. ---
**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 7, 2025, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/92 "2025-12-07T13:34:04Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > You must write a 650 words (body of text), double-spaced reaction paper . . . 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. > > If such academic legalism is common, I’m glad I went to college 50 years ago rather than now. Back in the day rigid word counts were kinda infeasible. Now it’s one click to verify your count. I agree it’s pettifogging, but whatever size limits you place on a paper, they’ll be arbitrary. And once given arbitrary limits, it’s reasonable to have some rounding of the edges. People like the idea of padded bumpers, not unyeilding ones. Is it silly coddling? Sure. Is it, or at least the desire for it, common? Of course it is. And always has been. Back in the day how much whining did you hear about “I missed the cutoff for [grade] by _one_ measly point! Can’t you just give it to me/us”? I recall plenty, and may even have done so myself once or twice. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2025, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/93 "2025-12-07T14:38:28Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > I mean I’m not sure a bible school would be more lenient on this essay than a regular school. Me neither. I was thinking of some very conservative Bible school that may be atypical. This web page from Wheaton College (Ilinois) gives an idea of how far there in bigotry the Oklahoma student’s essay really is: [https://www.wheaton.edu/academics/school-of-psychology-counseling-and-family-therapy/sexual-and-gender-identity-institute/about/](https://www.wheaton.edu/academics/school-of-psychology-counseling-and-family-therapy/sexual-and-gender-identity-institute/about/) ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2025, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/94 "2025-12-07T15:22:44Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > This being Oklahoma, I suspect the teacher was suspended for heresy and blasphemy. Unfortunately I’m not sure this has much to do with being Oklahoma. Given the current political environment and the way most institutions are kowtowing to the Trump regime without complaint and I wouldn’t expect a different outcome in some elite college in a very liberal East coast state. ---
**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 7, 2025, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/95 "2025-12-07T15:58:17Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I’m not sure that anything shy of an A+ would have stopped her and her associated grifters from running with the “I’M BEING PERSECUTED FOR MY FAITH!” narrative. This is apparently a real quote. > [@](#): > > It’s that I think I should have gotten 100. I’ve gotten 100 on every single essay in this class, and I write them all the same—exactly the same. The TA has never had a problem with how I write my papers in this class. So, it has nothing to do with the title, or grammar, or how I write, or anything like that > **[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. I can’t tell If it’s performative bullshit or not. Her mom is a vocal conservative attorney - she represented two January 6 defendants and somebody pushing against mask mandates during Covid, and was briefly pushing religion as a member of the local city council. So part of this definitely seems like a ploy for publicity. > **[OU essay debate spotlights Samantha Fulnecky — and her mother](https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/ou-essay-debate-spotlights-samantha-114038386.html)** > > Samantha Fulnecky's mother Kristi served a three-year stint on the Springfield City Council where she was embroiled with controversy. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2025, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/96 "2025-12-07T16:37:01Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Back in the day rigid word counts were kinda infeasible. Yeah - but we definitely had page limits. _(As an aside, I recall in high school refusing to go through the effort of placing footnotes with a typewriter. I just placed them all as endnotes and gladly accepted any resulting markdown.)_ > [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > My inclination upon reading this girl’s essay was to think, “She has no idea how to write an academic paper.” But as she is a college junior and a major state university and claims to have received consistent 100s previously, seems like someone - or several someones, failed to teach her that lesson previously. ---
**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 7, 2025, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/97 "2025-12-07T17:59:53Z")
Or this one was hot-button. Or her mother put her up to it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2025, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/98 "2025-12-07T18:06:42Z")
If she wrote them all exactly the same, then she should have gotten 0 on all but the first one, for turning in the same essay repeatedly. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2025, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/99 "2025-12-08T10:28:58Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > As a history major, I may resemble this remark I know that many lecturers to entry-level service subjects hated us, so I guess it’s just to note that the detestation was mutual. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2025, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/100 "2025-12-09T00:45:10Z")
Forrest Valkai’s take on this situation is well worth the read (=viewing): [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/xTxFSCKNAQU/maxresdefault.jpg "Grading the Viral Gender Essay (it's terrible)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTxFSCKNAQU) Prof. Valkai, who has relevant credentials longer than my arm, agrees with the grade Samantha received (zero). He quotes her “paper” and explains in detail. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443.md?page=6)