# 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:** 15\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2025, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/121 "2025-12-13T16:57:43Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > The chairman of the OK College Republicans says the essay deserved the grade it got There’s one college Republican who _won’t_ be having a long career Republican politics ---
**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 13, 2025, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/122 "2025-12-13T17:24:58Z")
True. Good catch. The real danger is they don’t know the difference. They think (_believe_ more like) they’re following the real thing. Which fantasy makes the situation all the more dangerous. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2025, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/123 "2025-12-14T01:38:08Z")
OU’s policy is now to automatically suspend any teacher who gets a complaint. > **[OU Faculty Senate raises concerns with policy suspending faculty members who...](https://www.oudaily.com/news/ou-policy-suspend-professor-complaint-bible-essay-samantha-fulnecky/article_fadf58c7-3632-492e-ac47-386ada314227.html)** > > Emails reveal OU Faculty Senate is working to challenge the formalization of a policy by university leadership to suspend any faculty member who receives a student complaint. And they wonder why they’re having a teacher shortage. ---
**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 14, 2025, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/124 "2025-12-14T02:07:20Z")
That’s basically an announcement that they’re shutting down the school. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2025, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/125 "2025-12-14T02:14:00Z")
If I were a student at OU I’d go about organizing my classmates to file complaints against every single member of the faculty. Starting with the football coach. ---
**Author:** ![Patx2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/73ab20/32.png) [@Patx2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patx2)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2025, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/126 "2025-12-15T05:14:46Z")
As a teacher, I’d like to know what the prompt was. I would then like to know if it was as I thought I saw in the OP a read and respond. If that’s the case and she read and responded then I think she can have her opinions. If she completely missed the prompt, or it was not an opinion piece then the teacher is right. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2025, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/127 "2025-12-23T14:23:53Z")
> **[OU removes graduate teaching assistant after discrimination investigation](https://www.news9.com/ou-essay-removes-instructor-religious-discrimination-claim)** > > The University of Oklahoma has concluded an investigation into claims that a student was discriminated against by receiving a zero on an assignment for referencing the Bible. The University said the graduate teaching assistant has been removed. The TA who graded the paper was removed from the role. This feels frustrating for the same reason that a troll who finally draws out a personal insult from a other poster who then catches a warning. I get it, the way the paper was graded didn’t really reflect the rubric, but this reaction is clearly exactly what the student was going for. ---
**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 23, 2025, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/128 "2025-12-23T15:48:02Z")
A tremendous overreaction even if the grader didn’t follow the protocol. A mean and stupid response. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2025, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/129 "2025-12-23T15:51:25Z")
What, were you expecting Christian forgiveness? ---
**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 23, 2025, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/130 "2025-12-23T18:18:22Z")
This is one of those times where the Reactionary Wacko Traitors really show their colors. The hardest part is deciding which of their three stripes is brightest in this case: The Reactionary, the Wacko, or the Traitor? ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/131 "2025-12-31T05:45:11Z")
There was no supporting evidence in her paper. It was a rambling religious sermon. The reason she got a zero is probably because there is a University policy against negative numbers. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/132 "2025-12-31T05:51:55Z")
And the state of Okhaloma wonders why they’re having a teacher shortage. ---
**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:** [January 2, 2026, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/133 "2026-01-02T00:02:51Z")
Not quite. The OU policy is that thou shalt not diss radical Xianism. The instructor violated that (secret) policy and has been fired. Move along folks, nothing to see here but a developing theocracy of idiots. Or is that an idiocracy of capital-B Believers? ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2026, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/134 "2026-01-02T01:17:56Z")
[Channel 9 news](https://www.news9.com/ou-essay-removes-instructor-religious-discrimination-claim) In a statement, OU said the Provost and academic Dean reviewed the graduate teaching assistant’s prior grading standards and patterns, as well as the graduate teaching assistant’s own statements related to this matter, and found that the graduate assistant was inconsistent in the grading of the assignment question. ---
**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:** [January 2, 2026, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443/135 "2026-01-02T02:36:55Z")
A gradute assistant is not a professor. Their supervising faculty member is typically the instructor of record and responsible for all grades. This has been discussed above, I believe. In addition, though many universities don’t do what they should, a teaching assistantship is not supposed to be a poorly paid scut worker for the department, but receiving an opportunity to learn how to teach. This means receiving formative feedback. OU has failed everyone involved here. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-student-invokes-christian-beliefs-in-college-essay-gets-failing-grade/1025443.md?page=6)