TPUSA Helps University of Oklahoma Student Fight Back After Trans Professor Attacks Gender Essay

University of Oklahoma (UO) student Samantha Fulnecky was given an assignment for her psychology course. In that assignment, she was asked to write a 650-word essay response to an article "about how people are perceived based on societal expectations of gender."

Fulnecky argued in favor of traditional gender roles and cited the Bible as her source. For that, her professor, Mel Curtis, failed Fulnecky and said she failed to "use empirical evidence" while calling parts of her essay "offensive."

Mel Curtis is also transgender.

Now TPUSA-OU is taking up Fulnecky's case.

For a psychology course at the University Oklahoma, Samantha Fulnecky was asked to write a 650-word essay reacting to an article about how people are perceived based on societal expectations of gender.

In her essay, Fulnecky argued that traditional gender roles should not be… pic.twitter.com/R3J4FaGEtw
— TPUSA_OU (@TurningPointOU) November 27, 2025

"In her essay, Fulnecky argued that traditional gender roles should not be considered stereotypes. She cited the Bible to support her stance that eliminating gender in society would be 'detrimental' because that would put people 'farther from God's original plan for humans,'" the group wrote.

"We at Turning Point OU stand with Samantha. We should not be letting mentally ill professors around students. Clearly this professor lacks the intellectual maturity to set her own bias aside and take grading seriously. Professors like this are the very reason conservatives can't voice their beliefs in the classroom," they added.

TPUSA also shared screenshots of the professor's response, as well as a response from Professor Megan Waldron (who also has her pronouns on her profile).

Please note that I am not deducting points because you have certain beliefs, but instead I am deducting point 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.
While you are entitled to your own personal beliefs, there is an appropriate time or place to implement them in your reflections. I encourage all students to question or challenge the course material with other empirical findings or testable hypotheses, but using your own personal beliefs to argue against the findings of not only this article, but the findings of countless articles across psychology, biology, sociology, etc. is not best practice.
You argue that abiding by normative gender roles is beneficial (it is perfectly fine to believe this), but to then say that everyone should act the same, while also saying that people aren’t pressured into gendered expectations is contradictory, especially since your arguments reflect a religious pressure to act in gender-stereotypical ways. You can say that strict gender norms don’t create gender stereotypes, but that isn’t true by definition of what a stereotype is. Please note that acknowledging gender stereotypes does not immediately denote a negative connotation, a nuance this article discusses.
...
Additionally, to call an entire group of people “demonic” is highly offensive, especially a minoritized population. You are entitled to your own beliefs, but 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.
I implore you apply some more perspective and empathy in your work. If you personally disagree with the findings, then by all means share your criticisms, but make sure to do so in a way that is appropriate and using the methodology of empirical psychology, as aligned with the learning goals in this class. If you have any additional questions or concerns about this or would like some additional educational resources, I would be happy to discuss this further and provide you with them.

And here's Waldron's critique:

Samantha, I am the other instructor for this course, and I have also taken the time to read your paper. I concur with Mel on the grade you received. This paper should not be considered as a completion of the assignment.

Everyone has different ways in which they see the world, but in an academic course such as this you are being asked to support your ideas with empirical evidence and higher-level reasoning.
I find it concerning that you state at the beginning of your paper that you do not think bullying (“teasing”) is a bad thing. In addition, your paper 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.

Please employ more thoughtfulness in your future assignments.

TPUSA also shared the assignment directions. "The best reaction papers illustrate that students have read the assigned materials and engaged in critical thinking about some aspect of the article," the directions read. "You must write a 650 words...double-spaced reaction paper demonstrating that you read the assigned article, and include a thoughtful reaction to the material presented in the article."

The directions say points will be deducted for papers that don't meet the 650-word threshold, and no points will be given for papers under 620 words. In the screenshot shared by TPSUA, using "empirical evidence" is not one of the requirements.

The New York Post reports that Fulnecky is filing a discrimination report with the school.

University of Oklahoma student files discrimination report after flunking gender essay for psych class with trans instructor https://t.co/unyfR9Ess3 pic.twitter.com/qxSOS0NHtt
— New York Post (@nypost) November 30, 2025

Here's more:

A graduate assistant was removed from her position amid investigations into a contested discrimination report filed by a disgruntled student who repeatedly referenced the Bible in an essay response to an article about gender stereotypes — for a course taught by a transgender instructor.
In her essay, which was supposed to cover “how people are perceived based on societal expectations of gender,” University of Oklahoma student Samantha Fulnecky presented a biblically fueled tirade against the notion that there are multiple genders.
The psychology course’s professor, graduate student Mel Curth, who uses “she/they” pronouns, failed Fulnecky on the grounds that she neglected to address the prompt and relied more on “personal ideology” than “empirical evidence,” according to a bombshell thread shared by the university’s Turning Point USA chapter.

The University of Oklahoma also responded, issuing a statement on the incident.

Statement from the University of Oklahoma: pic.twitter.com/5YWBfyW9u0
— University of Oklahoma (@UofOklahoma) November 30, 2025

"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, the University immediately began a full review of the situation and has acted swiftly to address the matter," the statement read.

"OU has a clear process for reviewing such claims and it has been activated. The graudate student instructor has been placed on administrative leave pending the finalization of this process. To ensure fairness in the process, 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," the statement concluded.

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