Higher Education
OU Graduate Student Senate defends discrimination
December 5, 2025
Ray Carter
In a sign of increasing radicalism at the University of Oklahoma, members of the OU Graduate Student Senate (GSS) have called on the university to condemn a student who objected to being given a zero for a reaction essay in which she argued there are only two sexes and that gender roles are based in biological reality, not wish fulfillment.
“GSS maintains that dismissing the accusations against the graduate instructor is essential to preserving the University’s academic integrity,” the OU Graduate Student Senate resolution declared.
This semester, University of Oklahoma junior Samantha Fulnecky, a psychology major, enrolled in Developmental Psychology. For a recent assignment, students were asked to respond to an article that discussed alleged teasing or bullying of gender-atypical kids and associated negative mental health outcomes.
The guidelines asked students to write a 650 word “reaction paper” that provided a “thoughtful discussion of some aspect of the article.” Among the “possible approaches” suggested was to explain why a student thought the subject of the article was, or was not, worthy of study or to explain how the study applied to a student’s own experiences.
The assignment was not a research paper requiring citation of outside sources.
In her essay, Fulnecky wrote, “It is frustrating to me when I read articles like this and discussion posts from my classmates of so many people trying to conform to the same mundane opinion, so they do not step on people’s toes. I think that is a cowardly and insincere way to live. It is important to use the freedom of speech we have been given in this country, and I personally believe that eliminating gender in our society would be detrimental, as it pulls us farther from God’s original plan for humans. It is perfectly normal for kids to follow gender ‘stereotypes’ because that is how God made us.”
Fulnecky also stated, “I strongly disagree with the idea from the article that encouraging acceptance of diverse gender expressions could improve students’ confidence. Society pushing the lie that there are multiple genders and everyone should be whatever they want to be is demonic and severely harms American youth. 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. The Bible says that our lives are not our own but that our lives and bodies belong to the Lord for His glory.”
The course instructor, graduate student Mel Curth, who reportedly identifies as a transgender woman and uses “she/they” pronouns, gave Fulnecky a zero on the assignment. Curth responded to Fulnecky’s essay by claiming it “contradicts itself, heavily uses personal ideology over empirical evidence in a scientific class, and is at times offensive.”
Curth claimed that “this isn’t a vague narrative of ‘society pushes lies,’ but instead the result of countless years developing psychological and scientific evidence for these claims and directly interacting with the communities involved.”
“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 wrote.
Fulnecky noted the assignment was similar to numerous other essays assigned throughout the semester. None of those essays required citation of outside sources and she received perfect grades on all previous assignments.
Fulnecky also said she did not know Curth was transgender at the time of the assignment since the class is conducted online.
An explanation offered by another OU instructor to justify Fulnecky’s failing grade appears untethered from any actual failure to complete the assignment.
Megan Waldron, another graduate student instructor with oversight of the course, wrote Fulnecky, saying, “I concur with Mel on the grade you received.” Waldron said Fulnecky’s essay “directly and harshly criticizes your peers and their opinions, which are just as valuable as yours. Disagreeing with others is fine, but there is a respectful way to go about it. That goes for discussion posts as well as reaction papers.”
Fulnecky said students in the online course do not view other individual’s essays.
Fulnecky has filed for a review of her grade and also filed a complaint alleging she was targeted for her religious views.
OU has placed Curth on leave while that investigation occurs.
Members of the OU Graduate Student Senate, whose “main task” is to allocate Student Government Affairs funds “towards graduate student conference, travel, and research grants as well as graduate student and teaching awards,” passed a resolution at their Dec. 4 meeting that defended Curth and called for OU administrators to punish Fulnecky.
The graduate-student Senate resolution called Fulnecky’s essay “intentionally inflammatory and hateful” and declared that Curth “was fully justified in assigning a failing grade to the assignment.”
Members of the OU Graduate Student Senate complained that “hateful and abusive comments have been posted online in a clear campaign to bully and harass” Curth, and claimed that the alleged “bullying and harassing comments have been actively stoked by the undergraduate student, her mother, and Turning Point USA.”
The resolution did not cite any specific comments or explain how Fulnecky or any other individual was responsible for other individuals’ online postings.
The OU Graduate Student Senate resolution called on OU administrators to provide a “formal, public apology” to Curth for the university’s “failure to protect them from the bullying and harassment the attention on this case has garnered.”
The resolution also called for university officials to provide “a specific condemnation of all harassing behavior exhibited by” Fulnecky, her mother, and Turning Point USA.