Higher Education

Second OU instructor accused of discrimination

December 8, 2025

Ray Carter

The University of Oklahoma has been embroiled in national controversy after graduate student instructor Mel Curth gave a student a zero for arguing that there are only two genders in a personal essay.

Now, a second University of Oklahoma instructor is facing allegations of similar discrimination after she reportedly granted excused absences to students who attended a protest in support of Curth, but not to students who wished to counterprotest.

This semester, 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, “I personally believe that eliminating gender in our society would be detrimental, as it pulls us farther from God’s original plan for humans.” She also wrote that she “strongly” disagreed with the idea that “encouraging acceptance of diverse gender expressions could improve students’ confidence,” calling it a “lie that there are multiple genders.”

Curth, who reportedly identifies as a transgender woman and uses “she/they” pronouns, gave Fulnecky a zero. Curth responded, “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.”

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.

Fulnecky filed for a review of her grade and filed a complaint alleging religious discrimination. OU has placed Curth on leave while that investigation occurs.

Activists recently organized a protest calling for the university to reinstate Curth to his teaching position.

However, according to a statement posted by the OU chapter of Turning Point USA, another instructor, Kelli Alvarez, effectively incentivized students to attend the protest in support of Curth while imposing penalties on students who wanted to counterprotest in support of Fulnecky.

The Turning Point statement said that Alvarez “urged students to skip class to support a campus protest—promising excused absences for those attending.” But when Kalib Magana, a student in Alavarez’s class and TPUSA OU president, asked to counter-protest, he “was denied the same option unless a large, documented group could be organized.”

Magana filed a report with the University of Oklahoma’s Equity Office for “discrimination of a viewpoint” and freedom-of-speech violations.

“The professor expected Kalib to organize an entire counter-protest with people confirming they would attend, instead of allowing him to show up on his own like everyone else,” the Turning Point USA statement noted. “His freedom of speech and his ability to receive an excused absence were made dependent on others agreeing to participate in his counter-protest and share his beliefs. This is incredibly anti-free speech and discriminatory toward an opposing viewpoint.”

The Turning Point statement included an image of Alvarez wearing a “Protect Trans Kids” shirt.

According to the OU website, Alvarez is an assistant teaching professor who “primarily focuses on race and ethnicity in literature and film, while also exploring concepts of place and agency in Indigenous and other ethnic literatures.”

The University of Oklahoma subsequently issued a statement noting that OU’s director of First-Year Composition had communicated to students by email that Alvarez’s alleged policy was “inappropriate and wrong” and that the “lecturer has been replaced, effective immediately, for the remainder of the semester.”

The statement said the OU administration “unequivocally supports” those decisions.

“Classroom instructors have a special obligation to ensure that the classroom is never used to grant preferential treatment based on personal political beliefs, nor to pressure students to adopt particular political or ideological views,” the OU statement declared.

The OU chapter of Turning Point USA issued another statement, expressing appreciation for the university’s response.

“Thank you for standing up for Christians and conservatives, who have been facing several acts of discrimination as of late,” Turning Point’s statement declared. “Freedom of speech is a sacred right, and seeing this instructor—who coincidentally uses she/they pronouns, just like Instructor Mel Curth—place obstacles in front of students who want to counter-protest is not right. If one student receives an excused absence to protest, then all students should be given the same opportunity, including those who disagree with the protest.”

At least one state lawmaker has publicly addressed the latest OU controversy. State Sen. Shane Jett, R-Shawnee, declared on X, “More Chaos at OU! Another trans activist faculty at OU misbehaving. English Comp prof Kelli Alvarez (female ‘she/they’) under Title IX probe for offering attendance credit ONLY to students joining today’s noon protest for trans GA William ‘Mel’ Curth (male she/they, on leave over Fulnecky grading row). Non-supporters get zilch—viewpoint discrimination? She’s out for semester pending probe. Complaint filed.”

Jett questioned how “many trans activists” are currently employed at OU and wondered how often students are “coerced/bribed to skip class for protests?”

He also criticized OU President Joseph Harroz for “dodging legislator questions and meetings for months.”

[For more stories about higher education in Oklahoma, visit AimHigherOK.com.]