Conservative professor slams 0 grade after Oklahoma student’s biblical essay

Governor Professor at University of Wisconsin This system influenced the recent controversy surrounding Samantha Volnicki, a University of Oklahoma student who scored a zero out of 25 on an essay assignment after recalling the Bible.

“Giving a zero on an assignment like this, especially the way the assignment is worded, I really think, unless there’s something I’m missing…I feel like it should be punitive,” said Trevor Tomich, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.

Giving a student a zero in his or her class requires outright cheating on the student’s behalf, or simply not turning in the assignment, said Tomich, who made clear he was speaking for himself, not on behalf of his alma mater or the University of Wisconsin System.

““It’s not worth a zero, for sure, and if you follow the title of the evaluation that was given specifically, I can’t really justify deleting that many points, because it was a very lazy title,” Tomic said.

Trevor Tomich is a professor at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. (Walterk/iStock, Trevor Tomisch)

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the The Wisconsin professor later criticized The response to Volnicki’s teaching assistant, William “Mel” Kurth, was that it was “highly inappropriate.”

Volnicki, a first-year student at the University of Oklahoma, was rejected by Kurth, who uses he/they pronouns, on an assignment that required reading a research paper about the results of a study of 84 middle school students, and its impact on how binary gender norms affect them.

““I was asked to read an article and give my opinion on the article, and the article was about the gender binary and mental health and gender stereotypes, specifically in children, because it is a classroom for lifelong development,” Fulnicki told Fox News Digital in an interview Monday. “So I was asked to give my opinion and reaction to the newspaper.”

The assignment title, worth a total of 25 points, provided three criteria for responding to the paper, which was titled “Gender, peer relationships, and mental health during early adolescence.”

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“Does the paper show a clear connection to the assigned article?” It was the first criterion, worth 10 out of a total of 25 points for the task.

“Does the paper provide a thoughtful reaction or response to the article, rather than a summary?” Second place was worth up to 10 points as well.

“Is the paper clearly written?” It is the last criterion, and its value reaches five points.

Volnicki’s article argued on behalf of traditional gender norms, and Cite the Bible As logic.

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“Gender roles and attitudes should not be considered ‘stereotypes,’” her article continued. “Women naturally want to do feminine things because God created us with those feminine desires in our hearts. The same applies to men. God created men in the image of His courage and strength, and He created women in the image of His beauty. He intentionally created women differently from men, and we must live our lives with that in mind.”

“community [is] “Pushing the lie that there are multiple races and that everyone should be who they want to be is diabolical and deeply harmful to American youth,” the article said. “I don’t want kids to be teased or bullied at school. However, pushing the lie that everyone has their own truth and that everyone can do what they want and be whoever they want, is not biblical at all.”

In response, Kurth Volnicki failed. In the zero-score interpretation, Kirth required empirical evidence to support Volnicki’s score, even though empirical evidence is not a writing requirement for the essay. Kerth also called the newspaper “deeply offensive.”

“Please note that I am not deducting points because you have certain beliefs, but instead I am deducting a point [sic] “Because you publish a reaction paper that does not answer the questions of this assignment, contradicts itself, makes heavy use of personal ideology over empirical evidence in the science classroom, and is at times offensive,” Kurth’s response said.

Samantha Volnicki, a student at the University of Oklahoma, scored a zero out of 25 on an essay assignment after recalling the Bible. (Brian Bahr/Getty Images)

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“You may not personally agree with this, but that doesn’t change the fact that every major psychiatric, medical, pediatric, and psychiatry society in the United States recognizes that sex and gender, biologically and psychologically, are not binary or fixed,” Kerth continued.

Tomisch described the assistant teacher’s response as extraordinary.

“The language used, where this teacher described the view that is very standard in all of traditional Christianity as ‘very offensive,’ and that kind of thing in the student comments — that’s completely inappropriate,” he said.

Volnicki told Fox News Digital that she also believed the zero grade was punitive, and when she petitioned Kirth to review the grade, Kirth firmly stuck to the zero. She also said that Kurth gave her a five out of 10 on a previous similar assignment.

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She said the university reinstated her grade after she filed a discrimination complaint, but for now, her grade still reflects a zero in the school’s grading system.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, the university said it is committed to protecting First Amendment rights, including religious freedom, and that it is committed to “fairness, respect, and protecting every student’s right to express their sincerely held religious beliefs.”

She also explained the process of grading Volnicki’s paper, noting that she “acted immediately” to address her concerns.

“As previously mentioned, a formal grade appeal process was conducted and completed. The process resulted in steps to ensure there was no academic harm to the student from graded assignments,” the school said. “As the student stated, the two assignments—which total 35 points out of 1,050 points (3%) for the course—were excluded from calculating her final grade.”

“Second, the student reported that a claim of unlawful discrimination based on religious beliefs had been filed with the appropriate university office,” the statement continued. “The Open University has a clear process for reviewing such claims and has been activated. The graduate student’s mentor has been placed on administrative leave pending the completion of this process. To ensure fairness, the full-time professor will serve as the course instructor for the remainder of the semester.”

Tomich said students frequently object to grades, and described his process for dealing with those situations.

People walk on the oval at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma, Tuesday, March 10, 2015. (AP)

““I usually default to thinking this is something I missed,” he said. “I don’t turn it on the student. What I usually do is I invite the student to… email me and say, ‘Hey, can you tell me exactly where you think I deducted points that shouldn’t have been deducted?’

In some cases, Tomic said he would defend his degree. But if students disagree strongly, he welcomes them into his office to discuss.

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““I’ve had lots and lots and lots of conversations with students where they’re sitting across from me at the desk, and I’ve asked them, ‘Okay, justify why you think this grade wasn’t fair,’” he said. “And a lot of times, I give them points. I say: Well, you’ve discussed it well, so I’ll give you some points on that.

“But maybe I’m being too nice,” he concluded.

Kurth and the University of Oklahoma did not respond to requests for comment.