For centuries, namely white supremacy, bigotry, and in terms of college admissions, "legacy" admissions for the descendants of prior grads, regardless of their qualifications.

I suggest a little investigation into her relations who attended the school in the past and whether she even completed the SAT.

.......lots of babies. All, hopefully, of perfectly defined gender.

This student handed this essay to the college gift wrapped. This was staged In my I can't prove it opinion.

Because she will learn nothing in school

That is the point of attacks on higher education - universal ignorace

I think the student did respond to one or more of the (very broad) prompts. She talked about why she thought the topic of gender isn't worth studying. If the instructor wanted more rigorous responses they should have given stricter instructions.

I agree that the essay was poorly written and reasoned, but it didn't deserve a zero. The teaching assistant/instructor seems to have taken offense and overreacted.

If it's true the instructor is trans, then I suspect that the student deliberately targeted them with a provocative essay designed to cause a reaction. She hit pay dirt with the grade of 0. If she'd gotten a 70 we wouldn't know any of this had happened.

I do think it was planned in advance. Right wing students have been planting themselves in classes they deem to be overly "progressive" in the hope of catching an instructor being "unfair" for a couple decades now. It's a common tactic and most university instructors are alert to it.

The governor of OK is on a literal crusade to wipe out woke in "his" state, so this is assured of getting lots of publicity. Extra points for targeting a mean old trans instructor. I imagine the student is blonde. Was she a cheerleader in high school?

The instructor has been canned and I'm sure the failing grade will be erased from the student's record. She could easily have handled this at the departmental level but why miss a chance at a big public lawsuit and maybe a Fox News gig. A girl's got to think about her future.

Why is this student in college - and majoring in psychology of all things - if she doesn't want to learn anything different from what she already thinks she knows? My guess is as good as anyone's. My assumption is she's seeking a husband.

sometimes to fit our already-formed conclusions.

Like most of these fleeting anecdotes, I doubt we'll hear more (or care anymore) about this one. It's a pity and a blessing since life is full of these.

If the instructor is trans, it was brave for him/her to give a zero for this essay (poorly written as it may be), especially in Oklahoma given how conservative the state is. Personally I don’t believe a zero was necessarily warranted, since the essay did argue a viewpoint, just really badly. Hell, this essay is so bad it can’t be mistaken for something written by ChatGPT, so at least there’s that. If she had received a bad grade (barely passing grade), I don’t think this would ours have received the press it has.

This whole thing feels like manufactured outrage. It’s like the student was on a fishing expedition, looking for a way to play victim, which is fairly typical among conservatives nowadays. I mean this was an easy target: big state school in a very red state, instructor may be trans, and it hits on a perfect culture war topic.

The only part I disagree with is your first paragraph:

She did not fulfil the specific instructions. She just went on rant after rant that simply substituted her own personal, religious-based beliefs and her personal opinions for sound empirical evidence.

Other than that, I agree with everything else you posted.

I think a zero is deserved only when the student doesn't turn in a paper.

I suspect that this student and instructor have been at odds all semester, and the instructor finally lost it. As planned by the student.

Again, thanks for the reply.

Giving the student a 0 was stupid and unprofessional. Trans educators are clearly being baited because students want fame and attention from it, and, this one fell for it.

Furthermore, there was an essay written. At least something was there. Also, the prompts seemed open-ended enough that this could fit, so, the TA just comes off as vindictive and unbalanced from this.

In reality, the student and TA probably had bad blood before, and, there was probably a back and forth before this. The essay was likely completely intentional, and, the student got what they wanted out of it.

It’s better to just rise above people like this. Like you said, a 70 or around there would be less stark. A 0 seems petty. The TA did not help matters but throwing a lit match on the gasoline puddle the student intentionally created. The TA fell for it.

Riley Gaines proved that there a career to be made out of being a professional bigot.

This targeting of certain instructors has been going on for years. I know a lesbian instructor who almost lost her job over nothing - a manufactured nothing planned by a sneaky right winger who signed up for her class for that purpose alone. This was over a decade ago. It's much worse now.

That, or a gig similar to Dr. Phil's. Who's also from Oklahoma.

And complain she was failed for writing an essay based on Genesis?

This tactic could hurt a lot of faculty teaching many different subjects.

So true!

Biology Class as well. Evolution is part of biology (as well as more evolution focused classes), I imagine they are going to employ this tactic against the natural sciences next. I guess the paper I did back in the day on the Permian Extinction event actually didn't happen because the earth didn't exist yet. LOL.

They knew how to answer exam questions and the hypocrisy didn't bother them at all.

Sometimes their cruel, capricious, and very tiny god asks them to tell lies or vote Republican. Whatever.

That her mediocre swimming career did not.

There are easier ways to get an invite to the Great Gatsby parties.

Donnie Dipshit and Epstein could show her....well...not Epstein anymore....

(Euphemism for many other things.)

can't imagine the future. But honestly, what they have done to the Christian religion is sacrilegious, and it will come back to haunt them. People (especially young people) are looking for authenticity of experience. They aren't willing (for the most part) to accept dogma just because it's what's always been taught. That's why you have more Seekers today... more people who count themselves as spiritual but not religious... more people exploring alternative religions beyond Christianity. Or even in Christianity, exploring the mystical side of the religion, rather than the dogmatic "thou shalt not's"... But keep up with their bastardization of the religion, and especially if the NAR and Dominionists and other fundamentalists push their versions down everyone's throat, and when the pendulum swings back again, they may find out what persecution actually feels like. Tina (Smith?) may one day long for the days when she could get on her high horse and decide who deserves a marriage license and who doesn't.

I hope it doesn't come to that, but I can definitely see a backlash to Xtianity coming. Not just Xtianity, but any of the religions that push the fundamentalist viewpoint. And I can't think of one that doesn't have a fundamentalist sect. I long for the day when each religion is considered just as valid as any other for the general population, and specifics are kept to within the sect and individual. I don't know if we'll ever get there, but it's a nice thought that perhaps tolerance, exploration, and understanding could take hold. I used to be that way, and I'll have to work to get there again. The Xtianists have pretty much turned me around 180 degrees; wanting to give them a taste of what they've subjected everyone else to over these past decades. Like I said, I have to work on that, myself. This past decade has brought out the worst in many of us who never thought we'd cross those lines, and never had a desire to cross them.

I am areligious - not anti-religious. Athiest but accepting of others' viewpoints.

Unfortunately what you and I hope for doesn't jive with some peoples' desires for domination - whether religious, political, national, or familial.

If they could read your words they'd probably say, "exactly!"

Around the college campuses with similar experiences, whether real or made up. These anecdotes will be used to purge colleges of professors that do not advance right wing orthodoxy.

Funny enough, I attended 3 colleges in my time. I found the biggest douches were the conservative profs. I had one single Liberal prof I kinda thought was out of line (I was a righty at the time), but I will say he graded me fairly. Any other prof that seemed Liberal was great. Even when I was righty I had a History of Social Movements class and I am quite sure that guy was Liberal, but he was awesome.

As far as profs spouting off their views, it was almost always righty profs: Ethics and Health Care teacher and student yelling at each other, Comm class prof writes "corporations are not the devil" on my paper advocating enhanced Cafe standards, Chemistry professor ranting about global warming, Microbiology professor spent 3 weeks lecturing against Darwinism (yea really!!! This was Professor Crocker at George Mason, she was a total nut). And there are other examples.

I honestly came away believing the Liberal professors valued healthy debate and exchange while the Con profs wanted to actually brainwash their students. That's the real aim, not to "root out" Left Wing bias, but to turn universities into right wing propaganda ministries.

My wife is a Prof at the University of Pittsburgh and I tell her to be VERY CAREFUL, which she is.

Liberal and progressive faculty in general want to teach students how to think critically and broaden their experiences and knowledge. Far from being afraid to entertain different points of view, that's their goal. A good teacher says, "Tell me what happens next." A conservative says "Don't you dare even think that way."

Since universities were designed to broaden students' knowledge and experience, it's no wonder right wing faculty and students feel uncomfortable there.

I always come back to the "History of Social Movements Class". I walked in, maybe about 15 students and you could just smell the Liberalism there. lol. I did take a critical view on the black power movement. But I was respectful and it was fun engaging the students and I remember two things about the professor. When I had my 1 on 1 meeting with him about my paper, he applauded me in being so engaged, told me, "stay engaged" or something to that impact. I think he liked the fact that his class was constantly filled with Liberal students and finally a center right student had showed up. And it wasn't because he wanted to show me up, I think he wanted his Liberal students as well as himself to be confronted with a different viewpoint and also I get a different viewpoint. I came away from that class no longer thinking Liberals were the devil. Yea I still didn't agree with them on everything, but I loved being exposed to the perspective. I bet any of them now would go, "THAT GUY is now one of us?" LOL.

And on my final paper, I got an 88. His only critique was something like, "I think you could have done more with this paper". And he was right, I wrote the damn thing the night before, lol. So he busted me, but I guess it was still good enough to get a B out of it. He was a fantastic professor. Something I just can't say about nearly all Conservative profs I had (the Chemistry guy was a really good prof overall, his global warming rant aside).

I'll bet your professor was delighted to have you in his class.

My father taught English literature. He always said his favorite students were science majors because they appreciated critical thinking and evidence.

I mean he seemed to really like me and more importantly respect me. I remember when we'd discuss things in class, the Liberal students would have their say and it always seemed like he would often look over to me, almost spurring me to engage the class, which of course since I'm such a big mouth I did. While I can't remember specifics about the class discussions and while I couch myself as (then) center right, I was never against abortion or gay rights, so I suspect when my views aligned with my classmates on such issues they'd probably go, "oh he's not that bad afterall".

Thanks for posting your OP.

She may even get her own show entitled, "I know everything...because God"

I was thinking about this and how it's my belief a Liberal professor is simply not wired to restrict debate or squelch Conservative views. Liberals greatly value higher education and academic inquiry. We revere it, believe it's a foundation of a vibrant society. PART of the model of higher education is diversity. Why do we love it when people from all kinds of different backgrounds show up in class? Because they bring a unique viewpoint. This is the same thing with Conservative views. Liberal professors actually SEE Conservative views (at least ones with something intelligent behind them) as part of higher education's bedrock. This has also been my personal observation as I reflected above.

It's also how scientists are with the scientific method. We are not looking to advance ideology; we are actually trying to DISPROVE our hypothesis. Only after we can't break it can we then submit a conclusion. At which point other's replicate the test. If my hypothesis is mankind is exacerbating global warming, I make that guess, then I try to prove man IS NOT impacting the climate. If my findings show man is NOT at play I have to reject my hypothesis and deal with the results. If my findings are that mankind is impacting the climate I submit it as the result of rigorous testing and empirical evidence, my feelings are completely irrelevant.

The two above scenarios simply do not apply in the mind of a Conservative. They already distrust higher education because higher education HAS TO HAVE diversity to really be effective and of course the very word "diversity" sends them outer limits. When they get scientific results they don't like they simply discount it as "woke" or "Liberal bias". They don't peer review the experiment; they just reject it outright. Their entire mindset is antithetical to higher education.

Why would her omnipotent God need courage?

Sounds kind of metrosexual to me.

...and, likely, her MRS degree.