OU student says Bible reference in assignment led to zero; See full essay - News9.com
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
OU placed a graduate instructor on administrative leave after a student alleged religious discrimination over a failed assignment. The university says a review is underway.
Destini Pittman, Matt McCabe December 3, 2025 09:16 PM 3 min read 1 of 2: OU student says Bible reference in assignment led to zero; See full essay 2 of 2 Samantha Fulnecky CREDIT: Griffin Media OU student says Bible reference in assignment led to zero; See full essay Samantha Fulnecky CREDIT: Griffin Media NORMAN, Okla. -
A graduate student instructor at the University of Oklahoma was placed on administrative leave after a student filed a discrimination complaint.
The student, Samantha Fulnecky, claims she received a poor grade on her assignment due to referencing the Bible in an assignment in her psychology class.
NewsOU reviews student's grade dispute, religious discrimination complaint A graduate instructor is on leave while the University of Oklahoma evaluates the student's claim and the grading process. Graham Dowers November 30, 2025 02:33 PM1 min read
Fulnecky received a zero on the assignment. In an interview with News 9, she said she believes that she deserved a 100.
"We have been getting these papers all semester, and I've written them all the same," she said. "And I've gotten a 100 on all of them up until this point."
Fulnecky said, in her previous reaction paper assignments for the class, she had never before incorporated an outside source.
While she has faced sharp viral criticism for her writing abilities, Fulnecky believes merely turning something in merits more than a zero.
Other critics have attacked her for not actually citing the Bible, but instead making a general reference.
"I didn't specifically cite one verse of the Bible or one portion of the Bible," she explained. "But the instructions asked us to pull from our personal experiences and give thoughtful reaction based off of prior experiences and knowledge."
An Instagram post from the OU chapter of Turning Point USA shares the rubric for the assignment, which required the essay to be in 12-point Times New Roman or Calibri font with one-inch margins on all sides. The assignment was graded on a 25-point scale with the following questions in mind:
- Does the paper show a clear tie-in to the assigned article? (10 points)
- Does the paper present a thoughtful reaction or response to the article, rather than a summary? (10 points)
- Is the paper clearly written? (5 points)
The assignment was also required to meet a minimum word count of 650 words.
The rubric for the assignment and Fulnecky's essay can be found below:
Samantha Fulnecky Essay and assignment Rubric 1 of 7 Samantha Fulnecky Essay Part 1 CREDIT: Turning Point USA at University of Oklahoma 2 of 7 Samantha Fulnecky Essay Part 2 CREDIT: Turning Point USA at University of Oklahoma 3 of 7 Samantha Fulnecky Essay Part 3 CREDIT: Turning Point USA at University of Oklahoma 4 of 7 Samantha Fulnecky Essay Part 4 CREDIT: Turning Point USA at University of Oklahoma 5 of 7 Samantha Fulnecky Essay Part 5 CREDIT: Turning Point USA at University of Oklahoma 6 of 7 Assignment Rubric Part 1 CREDIT: Turning Point USA at University of Oklahoma 7 of 7 Assignment Rubric Part 2 CREDIT: Turning Point USA at University of Oklahoma Samantha Fulnecky Essay and assignment Rubric Samantha Fulnecky Essay Part 1 CREDIT: Turning Point USA at University of Oklahoma Samantha Fulnecky Essay Part 2 CREDIT: Turning Point USA at University of Oklahoma Samantha Fulnecky Essay Part 3 CREDIT: Turning Point USA at University of Oklahoma Samantha Fulnecky Essay Part 4 CREDIT: Turning Point USA at University of Oklahoma Samantha Fulnecky Essay Part 5 CREDIT: Turning Point USA at University of Oklahoma Assignment Rubric Part 1 CREDIT: Turning Point USA at University of Oklahoma Assignment Rubric Part 2 CREDIT: Turning Point USA at University of Oklahoma
In a response to the essay, the instructor said Fulnecky's assignment
"Does not answer the questions for the assignment, contradicts itself, heavily uses personal ideology over empirical evidence in a scientific class, and is at times offensive."
A second instructor in the class also told Fulnecky that she agreed with the other instructor's grade for the assignment.
Instructor Response to Samantha Fulnecky's Assignment 1 of 4 Instructor Response Part 1 CREDIT: Turning Point USA at University of Oklahoma 2 of 4 Instructor Response Part 2 CREDIT: Turning Point USA at University of Oklahoma 3 of 4 Instructor Response Part 3 CREDIT: Turning Point USA at University of Oklahoma 4 of 4 Additional Instructor Response CREDIT: Turning Point USA at University of Oklahoma Instructor Response to Samantha Fulnecky's Assignment Instructor Response Part 1 CREDIT: Turning Point USA at University of Oklahoma Instructor Response Part 2 CREDIT: Turning Point USA at University of Oklahoma Instructor Response Part 3 CREDIT: Turning Point USA at University of Oklahoma Additional Instructor Response CREDIT: Turning Point USA at University of Oklahoma Course syllabus 1 of 12 Syllabus for Samantha Fulnecky's psychology course 2 of 12 Syllabus for Samantha Fulnecky's psychology course 3 of 12 Syllabus for Samantha Fulnecky's psychology course Syllabus for Samantha Fulnecky's psychology course 4 of 12 Syllabus for Samantha Fulnecky's psychology course Syllabus for Samantha Fulnecky's psychology course 5 of 12 Syllabus for Samantha Fulnecky's psychology course 6 of 12 Syllabus for Samantha Fulnecky's psychology course 7 of 12 Syllabus for Samantha Fulnecky's psychology course 8 of 12 Syllabus for Samantha Fulnecky's psychology course 9 of 12 Syllabus for Samantha Fulnecky's psychology course 10 of 12 Syllabus for Samantha Fulnecky's psychology course 11 of 12 Syllabus for Samantha Fulnecky's psychology course 12 of 12 Syllabus for Samantha Fulnecky's psychology course Course syllabus Syllabus for Samantha Fulnecky's psychology course Syllabus for Samantha Fulnecky's psychology course Syllabus for Samantha Fulnecky's psychology course Syllabus for Samantha Fulnecky's psychology course Syllabus for Samantha Fulnecky's psychology course Syllabus for Samantha Fulnecky's psychology course Syllabus for Samantha Fulnecky's psychology course Syllabus for Samantha Fulnecky's psychology course Syllabus for Samantha Fulnecky's psychology course Syllabus for Samantha Fulnecky's psychology course Syllabus for Samantha Fulnecky's psychology course Syllabus for Samantha Fulnecky's psychology course Syllabus for Samantha Fulnecky's psychology course Syllabus for Samantha Fulnecky's psychology course
In a statement Wednesday afternoon, OU said,
"The University of Oklahoma takes seriously concerns involving First Amendment rights, certainly including religious freedoms. Upon receiving notice from the student on the grading of an assignment in the online class, the University immediately reached out to the student, began a full review of the situation, and acted swiftly to address the matter.
First, the college acted immediately to address the academic issue raised by the student. College leaders contacted her on the day her letter was received and have maintained regular communication throughout the process. 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. 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. 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.
OU remains firmly committed to fairness, respect and protecting every student's right to express sincerely held religious beliefs."
Destini Pittman Destini Pittman is a digital content producer at News 9. She joined the team in June 2024 after graduating from the University of Central Oklahoma with a degree in Professional Media. Matt McCabe Matt McCabe joined the News 9 team in May 2023 as a multimedia journalist. He's an award-winning journalist and previously worked in Rockford, IL and Kansas City, MO. Matt is very passionate about visual journalism and served on the board of the National Press Photographers Association.
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Yet Oklahoma ranks 50th out of 50 in education?
goober ground zero for maga breeding and development ...
probably closer to # won in the state of denial
Makes sense if hysterical bigots who are so close minded that they can’t hand a mention of the Bible are allowed to teach.
the bible has nothing to do with science, except for being a common denominator of those lacking a firm grip on reality ...
And you're an atheist?
I only ever see you defending Christians. Sometimes Jews. But you never defend any of the other world religions. I really don't think you're an atheist.
Also, butt hurt feelings were not mentioned in the directions. Being "offended" does not equate truth being told.
most current or former catholic clergy are atheists ...
Have you read the essay? She's getting college credit for writing about her feelings. Badly.
And she's crying persecution because she can't write about her Jesus feelings.
They're 50th only because we don't count Guam, Puerto Rico and American Samoa.
I think she was discriminated against. Go ahead...take my liberal card. But you can't have my atheist card
The reason I give is because she used the Bible as a reference. Was it applicable? Without knowing the assignment or the reference I can't say. But it does need to be investigated and if the student was in the right, the instructor should be sanctioned, but not fired
it was implied that she tried to use a religious reference on a scientific paper, so she deserved an F.
maybe she should rewrite the paper, then fully submit to the instructor after class and scream out all the religious references she can think of ...
I don't consider psychology to be a hard science but ok
that and math ...
be quiet you
While it is not a 'hard science', it does rely on actual studies and recorded experiences to make general psychological assumptions. That's what you study in a psychology class. It's not a class where students are supposed to come in and rewrite the psychology textbooks simply based on what they learned at Church.
The article in this case was a study of how peer groups have used teasing and bullying as a method of enforcing societal norms such as gender roles. In Miss Fulnecky's essay she briefly mentions the subject then goes on a long rant about how He made women and HE did this and HE did that and concludes:
In short, the majority of the words used in her essay had nothing to do with the article in question and even with all the religious filler she didn't meet the 650-word requirement.
Oh hell I would have given her an F, too
That wasn't the reason she got an "F" though. It was because she didn't complete the assignment. She didn't have enough words in her essay; it didn't answer the question asked and goes off on a religious tangent and ignores the scientific research study material that was supposed to be used in class.
If someone shows up in a biology class (not that this was but using it as an example) and they're studying the facts that have been empirically proven as to animal adaptation but on every test or quiz in class they just write in "God did it" and quote scriptures from Genesis, then they're going to fail the class. Why? Because they're not learning anything, they're shutting out facts and truth because they've already filled their head with faith and doctrine that have zero evidence, so why do they even bother taking a biology class? No one should be allowed to pass a class and get credited with having learned the material without actually learning the material, even if they might disagree with it. If they think they're right and the study material wrong, then they can fucking prove it! Until then such an abused child (abused by parents who didn't teach them facts and reality) should study the material in class and then they can go prove their God exists after class so they don't waste everyone else's time.
In the above case it was a psychology class but she wasn't being asked her opinion about gender roles, she was asked to write a 650-word paper (which she didn't do) on an article that had to do with gender studies. Instead of doing the assignment she chose to preach to the teacher apparently. What a fucking moron.
Also, this is clearly NOT a violation of her free speech, that claim is even more hilariously stupid than her claim she got an "F" for her beliefs.
1st Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Where is this teacher in violation of the 1st amendment for simply giving this halfwit who didn't do her assignment an "F"?
Thanks for giving me the whole story. I didn't get that from the seed
If she failed to complete the assignment then she deserves an F
Basically, she wants a participation trophy because she's claiming a religious disability.
She has an entitlement mentality
I don't think she was.
No, this was a psychology paper, not one on religion or history.
A second instructor looked at the paper and agreed with the grade given.
Got it.
The last sentence bothers me. She didn't do the assignment so 2 assignments have been excluded. Is that fair to the other students who did the assignment properly?
Just curious. There are three factors listed in the article that are mandated in the paper. None of them was that empirical evidence was required, yet the instructor said he gave a zero because empirical evidence was not used.
Sounds like the professor just did not like someone countering his/her/their views.
Sounds more like this is just another ultra conservative snowflake that wants special treatment. The professor provided feedback for the grade -
It was also upheld after another professor reviewed AND the school said it didn't affect her standing.
After a huge amount of blowback from the sane public, the school decided to not work that grade into her final grade. If they really believed that she did not have a case, they would have insisted it stay in.
They knew the professor was FOS
It's just another entitled white girl. This one happens to be conservative, but the leftists are just the same.