JD Vance and Erica Kirk speak at Turning Point USA event at Ole Miss.
Vice Presidents J.D. Vance and Erica Kirk spoke at the Turning Point USA event at Ole Miss, praising Charlie Kirk’s lasting impact.
- A University of Oklahoma student received a zero on a psychology essay after using religious beliefs to discuss gender norms.
- The graduate student’s instructor stated that the points were deducted for not following the assignment properly and for using personal ideology rather than empirical evidence.
- The university placed the lecturer on leave and a full-time professor took over the class.
- The incident sparked debate over the First Amendment, with conservative groups accusing the lecturer of religious discrimination.
Oklahoma is embroiled in a First Amendment controversy over an instructor who was placed on administrative leave after a college essay led to allegations of religious discrimination.
This issue pertains to an essay in a psychology course at the University of Oklahoma in which a student drew on personal religious beliefs in a discussion of society’s gender norms.
The university’s Turning Point USA chapter posted about the incident on X on Nov. 27, garnering more than 35 million views in less than a week.
The chapter accused the lecturer of religious bias and said such people were “the reason conservatives cannot express their beliefs in the classroom.” A larger organization, Turning Point USA, maintains a “Professor Watchlist” tool that encourages people to report teachers and school leaders who appear to have “radical left” positions.
All of this is happening in a state that is already at the center of the religious freedom debate. In August, a federal judge blocked a state law requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms, calling it “clearly unconstitutional” while the lawsuit continues.
A few weeks later, concerns also arose over comments by then-state Superintendent Ryan Walters that “every high school in Oklahoma would have a Turning Point USA chapter.” Walters later told USA TODAY that his argument was based on the growing interest in starting a new chapter after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, but that schools were not required to do so.
Here’s what you need to know about the latest controversy in the state and its First Amendment implications.
What was the challenge? What did the students write?
Students in a psychology class were asked to write a 650-word essay in response to an article discussing the role that society’s gender norms play in how we view people.
Samantha Hrunecki, a third-year psychology major at the university, argued that moving away from such norms “takes us away from God’s original plan for humans,” adding that God intentionally created differences between men and women.
“Women naturally want to do feminine things because God created us with feminine desires in our hearts,” Furnecki wrote. “The same is true of men. God created man in the likeness of his courage and strength, and woman in the likeness of her beauty.”
Ms. Hrunecki accused her colleagues of aligning with more progressive ideas about gender just to avoid criticism, calling gender a “cowardly and dishonest way of living.”
How did the instructor respond?
According to the school’s Turning Point U.S. branch, Furnecki received a score of 0 out of 25 on the assignment.
According to the university, the assignment was taught by a graduate student instructor. According to a screenshot posted by the school’s Turning Point U.S. branch, the instructor’s comments were “not deducting points for holding a particular belief,” but rather because the paper “does not answer the question of this assignment, is contradictory, relies more on personal ideology than empirical evidence in a science class, and is at times offensive.”
The instructor went on to say that while it was “perfectly fine to believe” in adhering to traditional gender roles, students’ personal beliefs do not change the broad medical, psychological, and scientific consensus on sex and gender.
“I hope you bring a little more perspective and empathy to your work,” the instructor wrote. “If you personally disagree with the findings, please feel free to share your criticisms, but please do so in an appropriate manner that aligns with the learning objectives of this class and uses experiential psychology methodologies.”
Instructor Mel Kearse declined to comment to The Oklahoman, which is part of the USA TODAY Network.
Did the school fire the teacher?
Not as of December 1st.
Turning Point USA called for the instructor to be fired, but the school said in a Nov. 30 statement that the instructor is on administrative leave as the investigation continues. A full-time professor will take over teaching for the remainder of the semester.
The school said it “takes seriously concerns about First Amendment rights, including freedom of religion,” and took “immediate” action to address the academic and legal concerns raised by students.
“OU remains steadfastly committed to fairness, respect, and protecting the rights of all students to express their sincerely held religious beliefs,” the school said in a statement.
The school told USA TODAY on Dec. 1 that the instructor remains on leave “pending an investigation into the allegations.” The organization stated, “As a result of the grade appeal review, no academic harm was caused to the students,” and reiterated that the assignments will not be counted in the final grade.
How did others react?
The Oklahoma Caucus for Freedom, a right-wing coalition in the state Legislature, called the issue “ostensibly a First Amendment concern” and said there are larger issues beyond Furnecki’s case.
“The reality is that a review may solve one case, but it will not fix a system that is divorced from the values of Oklahomans,” the group of lawmakers wrote about X. “Integrity requires recognizing the underlying issues, not just managing the optics.”
Oklahoma Sen. Lisa Standridge, a member of the caucus, called for the instructor to be fired.
Hrunecki told The Oklahoman that she felt there was a need to raise awareness about “free speech violations and religious discrimination” and expressed her displeasure with the school’s response to the issue in a social media post.
According to The Oklahoman, Mr. Hrunecki will make his first public appearance amid the controversy on December 3 at an event for the conservative think tank OCPAC (Constitutional Principles Affecting Culture) Foundation.
Contributor: Alex Gladden and Alexia Aston of The Oklahoman.
Breanna Frank is USA TODAY’s First Amendment reporter. Please contact bjfrank@usatoday.com..
USA TODAY’s coverage of First Amendment issues is funded by the Freedom Forum in collaboration with our journalism funding partners. Funders do not provide editorial input.
