The student was lazy and didn’t do the assignment. She could have quoted the bible while also providing evidence based research. She deserved to fail. College isn’t about religion. It’s not a religion class and it’s not a religious college. I’d fail her. Maybe not with a zero but with less than 50%. As for the instructor, I have mixed feelings.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Okla college student protesting against getting 0 for her personal religious opinion submitted as a Psychology course essay.

https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/politics/2025/12/02/samantha-fulnecky-ou-oklahoma-bible-essay-online-debate/87553019007/

Should religious faith be allowed as the sole authority for work in science class?

Did you read her essay and the rubric?

It was terribly written and embarrassingly piss poor work for a college junior. There is some reasonable speculation she did this deliberately to go crying to the media.

You can read it here: https://archive.is/LT0r1

It absolutely deserved a zero. Runon sentences, repetitive, lack of any sources, didn't address the question.

NP. Somehow I suspect that an equally badly written essay that made nonsensical progressive points that agreed with the instructor’s positions would not have received a zero.

I suspect that you suspect such a thing because you believe in God.

Through God, all things are possible.

BS

Anonymous wrote:
Okla college student protesting against getting 0 for her personal religious opinion submitted as a Psychology course essay.

https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/politics/2025/12/02/samantha-fulnecky-ou-oklahoma-bible-essay-online-debate/87553019007/

Should religious faith be allowed as the sole authority for work in science class?

She did not use faith as an authority. She quoted the Bible. You should read the story before you ask something stupid.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Okla college student protesting against getting 0 for her personal religious opinion submitted as a Psychology course essay.

https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/politics/2025/12/02/samantha-fulnecky-ou-oklahoma-bible-essay-online-debate/87553019007/

Should religious faith be allowed as the sole authority for work in science class?

Did you read her essay and the rubric?

It was terribly written and embarrassingly piss poor work for a college junior. There is some reasonable speculation she did this deliberately to go crying to the media.

You can read it here: https://archive.is/LT0r1

It absolutely deserved a zero. Runon sentences, repetitive, lack of any sources, didn't address the question.

NP. Somehow I suspect that an equally badly written essay that made nonsensical progressive points that agreed with the instructor’s positions would not have received a zero.

I suspect that you suspect such a thing because you believe in God.

Through God, all things are possible.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Students need to follow the detailed assignment instructions, not riff on their personal beliefs without proper (required) citations. Her essay was lazy, poorly written and unscientific, absolutely deserved failure.

The instructor would have gotten away with it if they hadn't commented that parts of the essay were "offensive." That's a very subjective opinion and exactly opposite of following the rubric

Precisely. I suspect that the academic investigation found equally bad essays from progressive students that were not graded in the same fashion.

The instructor did not follow the rubric. “Offensive” was not part of the rubric and is undefined in any event.

I really wish people on both sides would calm down about this. It’s being misrepresented across the board.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Students need to follow the detailed assignment instructions, not riff on their personal beliefs without proper (required) citations. Her essay was lazy, poorly written and unscientific, absolutely deserved failure.

The instructor would have gotten away with it if they hadn't commented that parts of the essay were "offensive." That's a very subjective opinion and exactly opposite of following the rubric

Or maybe he should have elaborated upon the word "offensive." Offensiive to whom? How was it "Offensive"? to a certain kind of reader? to the sprit of the assignment in general? To anyone reading it who does not share the writer's ideology? etc.

Anonymous wrote:Students need to follow the detailed assignment instructions, not riff on their personal beliefs without proper (required) citations. Her essay was lazy, poorly written and unscientific, absolutely deserved failure.

The instructor would have gotten away with it if they hadn't commented that parts of the essay were "offensive." That's a very subjective opinion and exactly opposite of following the rubric

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Okla college student protesting against getting 0 for her personal religious opinion submitted as a Psychology course essay.

https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/politics/2025/12/02/samantha-fulnecky-ou-oklahoma-bible-essay-online-debate/87553019007/

Should religious faith be allowed as the sole authority for work in science class?

Did you read her essay and the rubric?

It was terribly written and embarrassingly piss poor work for a college junior. There is some reasonable speculation she did this deliberately to go crying to the media.

You can read it here: https://archive.is/LT0r1

It absolutely deserved a zero. Runon sentences, repetitive, lack of any sources, didn't address the question.

NP. Somehow I suspect that an equally badly written essay that made nonsensical progressive points that agreed with the instructor’s positions would not have received a zero.

I suspect that you suspect such a thing because you believe in God.

I’m the PP who wrote that and I’m an atheist. I’m also politically not at all aligned with the student.

But, I think a lot of the reaction to the left on this is excusing what looks like improper behavior from the instructor because the left would rather not be objective on this matter given the identity of the instructor and the subject matter of the essay. Looking at the rubric, and comparing it to what was wrote, it’s clear there was political animus in the grade of zero. It was a terrible essay, but met some elements of the rubric. Furthermore, what the instructor wrote about being offended was not something that was part of the rubric.

To be specific, this is what the instructor wrote: The essay “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.” Part of this comment reflects the rubric. But the part about being offended does not.

The issue here isn’t whether it was a terrible essay or not, it’s whether the instructor graded it fairly or not, compared to other students. We do not have access to what other students wrote, but I suspect a nonsense essay written by a far-left student that was equally incoherent would not have received a zero. And even without that, it seems pretty clear that the instructor behaved inappropriately and graded outside the rubric.