Overview
- Assistant teaching professor Kelli Alvarez was placed on administrative leave after officials said she excused absences for students attending a pro–Mel Curth protest but not for those planning to express a counter-viewpoint.
- OU’s Director of First-Year Composition told students the lecturer’s actions were inappropriate, replaced the instructor for the rest of the semester, and said any student would be excused to attend the protest regardless of viewpoint.
- Graduate teaching assistant Mel Curth remains on leave pending a religious-discrimination investigation following a zero given to junior Samantha Fulnecky on a reaction essay that Curth said relied on ideology over empirical evidence and did not meet the assignment’s requirements.
- The university removed the failing grade from Fulnecky’s record during the review and reassigned the course after a second teaching assistant concurred with the original assessment.
- Turning Point USA’s OU chapter amplified the case, its chapter president Kalib Magana filed an Equity Office complaint over Alvarez’s alleged viewpoint discrimination, and hundreds rallied in support of Curth as the Graduate Student Senate urged transparency and protections for instructors.