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A conservative professor in the University of Wisconsin system weighed in on the recent controversy surrounding Samantha Fulnecky, a University of Oklahoma student who received a zero out of 25 on an essay assignment after invoking the Bible.
“To give a zero on an assignment like this, especially the way that the assignment was worded, I think really, unless there’s something I’m missing … I feel like it has to be punitive,” said UW-River Falls professor Trevor Tomesh.
Tomesh, who made it clear that he speaks for himself, and not on behalf of his university or the University of Wisconsin system, said that in his classroom, to give a student a zero requires outright cheating on behalf of the student, or simply not turning in the assignment.
“It’s not zero worthy, for sure, and if you follow the rubric specifically that was given, I can’t really justify taking off that many points, because it was a very lazy rubric,” said Tomesh.
Trevor Tomesh is a professor at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. (WolterK/iStock; Trevor Tomesh)
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The Wisconsin professor later criticized the response to Fulnecky’s teaching assistant, William “Mel” Curth, as “very inappropriate.”
Fulnecky, a junior at the University of Oklahoma, was flunked by Curth, who uses she/they pronouns, on an assignment that required reading a paper about the results of a study of 84 middle schoolers, and the impact on how binary gender norms impact them.
“I was asked to read an article and give my opinion on the article, and the article was about gender binary and mental health and gender stereotypes, specifically in children, because it’s a lifespan development class,” Fulnecky told Fox News Digital in a Monday interview. “So I was asked to give my opinion and my reaction to the paper.”
The rubric for the assignment, worth 25 points in total, provided three criteria for responding to the paper, which was titled, “Relations Among Gender Typicality, Peer Relations, and Mental Health During Early Adolescence.”
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“Does the paper show a clear tie-in to the assigned article?” was the first criterion, worth up to 10 out of the assignment’s 25 total points.
“Does the paper present a thoughtful reaction or response to the article, rather than a summary?” was the second, also worth up to 10 points.
“Is the paper clearly written?” is the last criterion, worth up to five points.
Fulnecky’s essay argued on behalf of traditional gender norms, and cited the Bible as reasoning.
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“Gender roles and tendencies should not be considered ‘stereotypes,'” her essay continued. “Women naturally want to do womanly things because God created us with those womanly desires in our hearts. The same goes for men. God created men in the image of His courage and strength, and He created women in the image of His beauty. He intentionally created women differently than men and we should live our lives with that in mind.”
“Society [is] pushing the lie that there are multiple genders and everyone should be whatever they want to be is demonic and severely harms American youth,” the essay said. “I do not want kids to be teased or bullied in school. However, pushing the lie that everyone has their own truth and everyone can do whatever they want and be whoever they want is not biblical whatsoever.”
In response, Curth failed Fulnecky. In an explanation for the zero grade, Curth demanded empirical evidence to back Fulnecky’s grade, despite empirical evidence not being a written requirement for the essay. Curth also described the paper as “highly offensive.”
“Please note that I am not deducting points because you have certain beliefs, but instead I am deducting point [sic] for you posting a reaction paper that 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,” Curth’s response said.
Samantha Fulnecky, a University of Oklahoma student, received a zero out of 25 on an essay assignment after invoking the Bible. (Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
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“You may personally disagree with this, but that doesn’t change the fact that every major psychological, medical, pediatric, and psychiatric association in the United States acknowledges that, biologically and psychologically, sex and gender is neither binary nor fixed,” Curth continued.
Tomesh described the teaching assistant’s response as unusual.
“The language used, where this instructor called a pretty standard view in all of traditional Christianity ‘highly offensive,’ that sort of thing in student feedback — that is very inappropriate,” he said.
Fulnecky told Fox News Digital that she also thought the zero grade was punitive, and that when she petitioned Curth to review the grade, Curth adamantly stuck by the zero. She also said that Curth had given her a five out of 10 on a similar previous assignment.
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She said that the university restored her grade after she filed a discrimination complaint, but that for now, her grade still reflects the zero in the school’s grading system.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, the university said that it is committed to protecting First Amendment rights, including religious liberty, and that it is committed to “fairness, respect and protecting every student’s right to express sincerely held religious beliefs.”
It also further explained the grading process for Fulnecky’s paper, noting that it “acted immediately” to address her concerns.
“As previously stated, a formal grade appeals process was conducted and completed. The process resulted in steps to ensure no academic harm to the student from the graded assignments,” the school said. “As stated by the student, the two assignments – which together total 35 points out of the entire 1,050 points (3%) for the course – have been excluded from the calculation of her final grade.”
“Second, the student reported filing a claim of illegal discrimination based on religious beliefs to the appropriate university office,” the statement continued. “OU has a clear process for reviewing such claims and it has been activated. The graduate student instructor has been placed on administrative leave pending the finalization of this process. To ensure fairness, a full-time professor is serving as the course instructor for the remainder of the semester.”
Tomesh said that students dispute grades frequently, and described his process for handling those situations.
People walk on the Oval at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Okla., Tuesday, March 10, 2015. (AP)
“I usually default by thinking it’s something I missed,” he said. “I don’t turn it around on the student. What I usually do is, I invite the student to … email me and say, ‘Hey, can you tell me precisely where you think that I deducted points where the points should not be deducted?'”
In some cases, Tomesh said he will defend his grade. But if students vigorously disagree, he welcomes them to his office for a discussion.
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“I’ve had lots and lots and lots of conversations with students where they sit across the desk from me, and I ask them, ‘Well, justify why you think this grade was not fair,'” he said. “And a lot of times, I do give them the points. I say, ‘Well, you argued it well, so I will give you some points for that.'”
“But maybe I’m too nice,” he concluded.
Curth and the University of Oklahoma did not respond to requests for comment.