Small: Time for leadership at OU

Time for leadership at OU

By Jonathan Small

Oklahoma faces workforce challenges. Our college system should play a crucial role in addressing that challenge and fueling economic growth.

Instead, the University of Oklahoma is receiving national attention for devolving into academic self-parody.

Rather than gain renown for producing engineers and scientists, OU is under scrutiny for having a man who identifies as a woman teach students about psychology. And that instructor is under fire for alleged religious discrimination against a Christian student who believes, accurately, that there are only two sexes.

Students in a psychology class taught by graduate assistant Mel Curth, who is reportedly transgender-identifying, were assigned to read an article claiming gender-atypical kids experience more teasing, leading to negative mental health outcomes. Then students were asked to write a “reaction paper.” 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.

OU junior Samantha Fulnecky wrote, among other things, “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. Society pushing the lie that there are multiple genders and everyone should be whatever they want to be is demonic and severely harms American youth.” 

Fulnecky was given a zero. Curth responded that “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. ... 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.”

In short, Fulnecky was punished for expressing widely held views based in part on her religious beliefs.

Fulnecky has filed an appeal. OU has placed Curth on leave during the investigation.

OU’s board of regents should follow the lead of OU Coach Brent Venables, who takes a hands-on approach to defense and has generated one of the best football defenses nationwide. The regents clearly need to get more involved in all hiring and personnel-accountability decisions. This is not a time to sit on the sidelines. The school’s national reputation–and its ability to remain an asset to taxpayers–is on the line.

 

Decades ago, then-OU President George L. Cross defended a budget request with the quip, “We want to build a university our football team can be proud of.” That remains a goal OU officials must strive to reach.

Jonathan Small serves as president of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs.