(The Lion) — A junior at the University of Oklahoma has filed a religious discrimination complaint against the school after receiving a zero on a psychology response-paper, in which she referenced God’s design for biological sex according to the Bible.

The grader, first-year graduate student instructor Mel Curth, has been placed on administrative leave, and a full-time professor has filled the position until the university properly reviews the claim, according to OU’s statement on X.

The assignment asked students to write a 650-word “reaction essay” in response to an article on “societal expectations of gender,” The Oklahoman reports.

Samantha Fulnecky wrote in her paper, “God made male and female and made us differently from each other on purpose and for a purpose. …

“God is very intentional with what He makes, and I believe trying to change that would only do more harm. Gender roles and tendencies should not be considered ‘stereotypes.’”

Curth, who lists “she/they” pronouns on her profile, gave Fulnecky zero out of 25 points and repeatedly claimed the grade was not due to Fulnecky’s beliefs but because she failed to “answer the question.” Curth said Fulnecky used “personal ideology over empirical evidence in a scientific class,” according to a screenshot of comments posted by OU’s Turning Point USA chapter.

“You argue that abiding by normative gender roles is beneficial (it is perfectly fine to believe this), but then to say that everyone should act the same, while also saying that people aren’t pressured into gendered expectations is contradictory, especially since your arguments reflect a religious pressure to act in gender-stereotypical ways,” she also said.

Curth said Fulnecky’s categorization of “an entire group of people as demonic” is “offensive” and told her to “apply some more perspective and empathy” in her work.

In her paper, Fulnecky’s use of the word “demonic” refers to society’s push for multiple genders: “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,” she wrote.

Fulnecky told KOCO 5 News, an ABC News affiliate in Oklahoma City, she did not intend offense, but “the truth will naturally offend people.”

Curth opposed Fulnecky’s claim, saying her personal beliefs contradict years of “psychological and scientific evidence” regarding the study of gender.

“You are entitled to your own beliefs, but 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 and directly interacting with the communities involved,” she said. “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.”

Second-year graduate student and instructor Megan Waldron agreed with Curth’s comments, saying the paper is not “a completion of the assignment” because it lacks “empirical evidence and higher-level reasoning.”

“Disagreeing with others is fine, but there is a respectful way to go about it,” Waldron said. “That goes for discussion posts as well as reaction papers. Please employ more thoughtfulness in your future assignments.”

In addition to her religious discrimination complaint, Fulnecky filed a formal grade appeal. OU said it has begun a full review of the situation and conducted a “formal grade appeals process” to “ensure no academic harm to the student from the graded assignments,” according to its public statement.

“OU remains firmly committed to fairness, respect and protecting every student’s right to express sincerely held religious beliefs,” the statement reads.

The OU Turning Point chapter said in a post on X it stands with Samantha and applauded her for “leading by example.”

“We at Turning Point OU stand with Samantha. We should not be letting mentally ill professors around students. Clearly, this professor lacks the intellectual maturity to set her own bias aside and take grading seriously. Professors like this are the very reason conservatives can’t voice their beliefs in the classroom.”

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said the incident is “deeply concerning” and compelled OU to review the situation and protect other students from future discrimination.

“The First Amendment is foundational to our freedom and inseparable from the ability to have a well rounded education,” Stitt said. “The situation at OU is deeply concerning, and I’m calling on the OU regents to review the results of the investigation and ensure all appropriate actions are taken to ensure other students aren’t unfairly penalized for their beliefs.”