Following the passing of a bill calling for transparency from the university regarding its termination of graduate teaching instructor Mel Curth, the OU Graduate Student Senate is set to meet with university administration next week.
The bill, which was passed at Thursday’s meeting, states the university has damaged the reputation of Curth and the institution as a whole, has created an opportunity for lawsuits against the university and did not make it clear whether any official policies were followed during the investigation.
Sam Jensen, GSS Ways and Means committee chair, wrote in an email to OU Daily on Tuesday that the university’s response has negatively impacted the academic integrity, reputation and student body of the university.
“Since this situation started getting attention and generating national headlines, the University has become the butt of jokes about how our degrees are now worthless,” Jensen wrote. “It also affects every student on campus as it also calls into question the quality and significance of the degrees for which they have worked hard and incurred enormous expenses.”
Senate Vice Chair Dana Mahmoud expressed similar concerns for students.
“Graduate students are concerned with how to approach their teaching assistantships, which is a vital part of their training,” Mahmoud wrote in an email to the Daily Tuesday.
The bill says the university should reinstate Curth, allow an independent audit into the University’s decision and respond to both the senate’s first resolution and the American Association of University Professors petition.
“It’s quite upsetting that the University has yet to address the first Senate resolution or the AAUP petition. These were not written in vain or looking for opportunities to oppose the University’s administration. We put together the first resolution in an effort to build bridges with the people making important University decisions. It feels like the University community has been left in the dust of the aftermath of this situation with no clear reason why,” Mahmoud wrote.
In a Tuesday email to the Daily, Michael Givel, president of OU AAUP, said the university must meet with the senate as soon as possible, and that operating in secrecy has caused considerable anger and concern among many faculty members.
“Contrary to claims of being ‘One University’ and supporting shared governance, OU has not yet deigned to respond to GSS and OU AAUP statements addressing the significant campus issues of transparency in the grade appeals process, including with Mel Curth, support of academic freedom, and support to counter political attacks. This sends a disturbing, far-reaching message that OU is governed by official silence and carefully crafted press releases. It is time to reverse course,” Givel wrote.
According to the bill, the negative effects of OU’s actions are the direct result of university administration’s failure to take a stand to defend its instructors and its academic integrity.
“Such a failure and its associated, disastrous results indicate that the current University administration is potentially unfit to lead the university,” the bill reads.
The bill calls for the administration to meet with the leaders of the Graduate Student Senate and the Faculty Senate to address the community’s concerns.
“We have serious concerns that University policy may not have been properly followed in the course of the University's investigation. We are also concerned about the negative impacts that legal action may have on the university,” Jensen wrote. “We firmly believe that if the University takes this resolution seriously and makes good-faith efforts to implement our calls, the University can begin to repair some of the damage it has done to the academic integrity and reputation of the institution.”
Jensen wrote in an email to OU Daily Tuesday night that GSS leadership is currently working to schedule a meeting with university administrators.
“A meeting will happen next week. I don’t know how much more I am at liberty to say right now,” Jensen wrote.
OU Marketing and Communications wrote in an email to the Daily Tuesday night that graduate students play an important role in the university and that a meeting has been arranged with GSS leadership to discuss ongoing concerns.
“I hope to hear from the University soon with ways to move forward and initiatives to build transparency,” Mahmoud wrote.
Background
In November, junior psychology student Samantha Fulnecky publicly contested a failed grade on an essay assignment in an OU psychology course, stating she believed she received the grade because of her religious beliefs. Fulnecky reportedly received zero out of 25 points for the Bible-based essay and filed an illegal discrimination claim. Curth, the course’s instructor, was placed on leave later that month.
Curth stated the grade was based on the essay’s lack of empirical evidence and said parts of the essay were offensive, according to reporting by The Oklahoman. Fulnecky reportedly asked Curth to reconsider the grade, stating she met the requirements of the essay, but Curth denied the request.
The other instructor for the course, according to Canvas comments published by The Oklahoman, wrote that they concurred with Curth’s grading and the paper should not be considered as a completion of the assignment.
On Dec. 5, around 250 protesters gathered on campus in support of Curth. Protesters also called on OU to protect its professors under political attacks.
On Dec. 22, OU announced that following an investigation, it was determined Curth engaged in arbitrary grading and would no longer have instructional duties at OU. Curth submitted an appeal to the Institutional Equity Office on Dec. 30, according to her attorney.
Fulnecky’s appeal has drawn state and national attention. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt posted on the social platform X on Nov. 30 that the situation was “deeply concerning” and called on the OU Board of Regents to review the results of the investigation. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis referred to the situation as an example of “intellectual rot in higher education” in a post on X.
This story was edited by Anusha Fathepure, Macey Thaxton and Audrey McClour. Tori Pham copy edited this story.
