The University of Oklahoma (OU) recently dismissed a professor for telling students that they wouldnt be counted absent from her class if they attended an on-campus protest in support of a transgender teaching assistant (TA) who was placed on administrative leave after she failed a students essay that referred to trans people as demonic. The newly dismissed professor reportedly didnt give the same option to students who wanted to protest against the trans TAs reinstatement, OU said.OU composition professor Kelli Alvarez was accused of viewpoint discrimination for her alleged actions, OU said in an official statement cited by KFOR. OUs director of first-year composition emailed Alvarezs students, calling Alvarezs actions inappropriate and wrong, adding, The university classroom exists to teach students how to think, not what to think. Related University cancels Shakespeare play citing DEI. Students rallied the community & put it on anyway. The director informed students that they could miss the Friday class to attend either the protest or the counterprotest. The director also noted that Alvarez has been replaced for the remainder of the term, which ends on December 19. OU said it agrees with the directors actions.Classroom instructors have a special obligation to ensure that the classroom is never used to grant preferential treatment based on personal political beliefs, nor to pressure students to adopt particular political or ideological views, OU wrote in its statement. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today At the Friday protest, hundreds of students rallied in support of Mel Curth, a trans TA who OU placed on administrative leave after she gave a student a grade of zero on an essay about a study on gender roles in which the student called trans people demonic. The student, Samantha Fulnecky, filed a religious discrimination complaint with OU in November, and the university put Curth on administrative leave.Students at the protest chanted, OU shame on you, Protect our professors, and Justice for Mel, KOKH-TV reported. Even students who didnt agree with Curths failing grade for the student agreed that Fulneckys essay was poorly written and that Curth didnt need to be put on leave.WATCH: protest underway at the University of Oklahoma rallying in support of the instructor who was put on leave after giving a student a zero on a psychology paper. @OKCFOX pic.twitter.com/AOoVtwmbXb Grant Palmer FOX 25 (@grantpalmertv) December 5, 2025 At one point in the protest, a Turning Point USA (TPUSA) supporter got in front of the crowd and began counterprotesting.The OU Chapter of the right-wing young conservatives group published a transphobic tweetsaying, 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 cant voice their beliefs in the classroom.Inher paper, Fulnecky wrote that people arent pressured to be more masculine or feminine, that she doesnt see it as a problem when peers use teasing to enforce gender norms, and that eliminating gender in our society pulls us farther from Gods original plan. She also said trans identities are demonic and severely [harm] American youth. Inher response, Curth to whom the OU Department of Psychology recently gave its Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award wrote that her grade wasnt because Fulnecky had certain beliefs, but rather because the paper does not answer the questions for this assigment, contradicts itself, heavily uses personal ideology over empirical evidence in a scientific class, and is at times offensive.Ina statement, OU wrote that it takes First Amendment rights and religious freedoms seriously and began a full review of the situation to swiftly address the matter, including a formal grade appeals process and a review of the students claim of illegal discrimination based on religious beliefs.The university also said that Curth had been placed on administrative leave during the finalization of the discrimination review, leaving a full-time professor to serve as the courses instructor for the rest of the semester.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.