A college student allegedly received a zero on an assignment in one of her classes for using the term “biological women.” While the professor apparently said that the proposal for the project was good, the term “biological women” was not allowed in the class because it reinforces heteronormativity.
The female student said that using the term “biological women” was apparently not allowed to be used anymore. She went on to say that she knows that this was “the most biased grade ever” because her project had to do with biological males competing in women’s sports. The student went on to rhetorically ask how she was supposed to complete her project if she was not allowed to write the words that her project was about.
After the video was posted, the female student, named Olivia, posted another video, with someone suggesting that she report the clear act of discrimination to the dean of the department and the ethics committee. While she noted that she had planned to wait until the end of the semester to do so, the low number of assignments meant that this particular assignment had significantly lowered her overall grade.
She said: “So I decided I’m going to screenshot all the emails, send my assignment, the comments she [the professor] made, all to the Office of Equal Opportunity, and we’ll see where it goes.”
Another commenter noted that the female student should double-check the syllabus to ensure that there was nothing in there that might justify what the professor did. The female student read a part of the syllabus, which said that the professor would not be grading the material based on the student’s individual opinions about a topic, so long as the opinions do not “create emotional or mental harm for your diverse classmates or espouse, bigoted or anti-scientific views.”
The student noted that it was ironic that she was having her grade docked for her opinions, especially given that biology has proven that there are only two sexes, male and female. The student concluded that the professor had not responded to her request on how she should proceed, despite the professor saying that she would respond to emails within 48 hours.
Olivia was reached for comment.
