Gender studies professor BRAGS about failing students who offend her woke gender beliefs

A gender studies professor has proudly boasted of failing students who do not adhere to her hyper-woke beliefs, after a student complained of receiving a zero grade for a paper that used the term ‘biological women’.

Melanie Rose Nipper, a 28 year-old adjunct professor of sexuality studies at the University of Cincinnati, vehemently stood by her grading practices Thursday.

She did so after student Olivia Krolczyk complained about being failed for using the previously uncontroversial term ‘biological women’, now branded offensive over claims it excludes trans women. 

Nipper told the Cincinnati Enquirer that her support of free speech ends when ‘you are, intentionally or unintentionally, participating in a systemic harm of some kind,’ – including statements she deems transphobic or racist.

Outlining the punishment meted out to anyone who dares to offend her, Nipper attempted to paint her antics as reasonable, declaring: ‘Not a zero for the course, a zero for an assignment.’

Bizarrely, the academic went on to slam a proposed Ohio state bill aimed at cracking down on controversial campus speech.

Nipper moaned it had a ‘chilling’ effect on her work, seemingly forgetting the draconian tactics she deploys to try and stop students using language she dislikes. 

On Thursday, the adjunct faculty member of Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies revealed she is now the center of a school-sanctioned investigation, but still stood by her decision to dish out the failing grade

The gender and sexuality professor failed Olivia Krolczyk last month for her use of the term ‘biological women’ in her Women’s Gender Studies in Pop Culture class. Krolczyk – seen here complaining about the grade – has since submitted a complaint, spurring an investigation 

Consequently, Nipper – the previously unnamed teacher referred to in a student’s TikTok complaining about the grade – has found herself at the center of a school-sanctioned free-speech investigation, as well as a burgeoning controversy.

‘This is unacceptable based on the community, the marginalized individuals that are at stake, and also the foundations of the course,’ Nipper – only two years into her tenure at the school – insisted to The Cincinnati Enquirer Thursday.

‘I will happily regrade,’ an emotional Nipper said of the Women’s Gender Studies in Pop Culture proposal in question, penned by then-sophomore Olivia Krolczyk.   

‘You are not going to have any late penalties.’

Appearing at a café in the city’s Oakley neighborhood to make the comments, Nipper looked to at points insinuate it was her speech being impinged upon after the student she failed filed an official Freedom of Speech claim.

 She also said she cried when she saw the attention her video was getting.

‘It’s a lot, right?’ Nipper said Thursday, revealing herself to be the woman at the center of the brewing scandal. ‘It’s a lot to handle.’ 

Posted on May 7, the clip has since been viewed more than 1million times, and has garnered national coverage from media outlets, which Nipper argued was unwarranted.

Still processing the widespread reaction, she continued to defend her decision – stating that while classrooms are sites where discourse should always be welcome, that ends when ‘you are, intentionally or unintentionally, participating in a systemic harm of some kind.’

The term ‘biological female,’ she said, constitutes such an attack – as it exclusionary to people who are transgender.

When a student uses ‘outdated terminology,’ Nipper added, she will always take that opportunity to correct those mistakes.

‘Not a zero for the course – a zero for an assignment.’ Nipper said of her stringent, potentially illegal policy she said takes pleasure in administering. 

Appearing at a café in the city’s Oakley neighborhood to make the comments, Nipper looked to at points insinuate it was her speech being impinged upon after the student she failed filed an official Freedom of Speech claim.

When a student uses ‘outdated terminology,’ Nipper added of the zero mark (seen here with an accompanying explanation), she will always take that opportunity to correct those mistakes 

The teacher – now at the center of a brewing scandal – also said she cried when she saw the attention her video was getting. ‘It’s a lot to handle’, she said Thursday

Meanwhile, Krolczyk told The Post this week the grades related to this specific project were worth half of her total grade for the class, 

Meanwhile, Krolczyk – who recently appeared on Fox News to trash the teachers actions without mentioning her by name – told The Post  this week the grades related to this specific project were worth half of her total grade for the class, and when she emailed Nipper to question the mark, she was told the term was ‘transphobic.’ 

Krolczyk’s proposal sought explore milestones reached by female athletes in sports, such as the first women to compete at the Paris Olympics in 1900, and the current fight by female athletes to keep transgender women from women-only even.

To illustrate this point, she used the scientific phrase ‘biological women’ – solely to differentiate between athletes who are transgender, and the women who she claimed are being displaced by the recent advent of liberal elitism in US universities.

‘I was told I was implementing TERF ideology, which is Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminism,’ Krolczyk recounted in another TikTok that has also gone viral – as officials have confirmed they are probing whether Nipper did any wrong.

On Thursday, Nipper confirmed the sequence of events laid bare by Krolczyk, revealing the assignment was one part of a three-part project, and that her scrutiny over her student’s language – as well the project’s topic – was commonplace, and something she did for every student.

‘Every final project proposal has to be approved by the instructor,’ she asserted, claiming that Krolczyk asked to focus on a different topic before filing an official complaint with the university alleging her free speech was being compromised.

 As Nipper offered to extend the assignment’s deadline, she was told by the school’s Office of Gender Equity & Inclusion that Krolczyk had submitted a Freedom of Speech claim, spurring an internal investigation.

Bleuzette Marshall, vice president of Equity, Inclusion & Community Impact at UC, confirmed to the Enquirer Thursday that the probe was underway, telling the paper: ‘We don’t comment on active investigations, but thank you for your inquiry.’

The soon to be junior – whose project sought analyze achievements in the field of women’s sport – said that when she emailed Nipper to question the mark, she was told the term was ‘transphobic’

She appeared on Fox News last month to trash the teacher’s actions – without mentioning her by name. After reaching out to the university, she was told they would have a different professor grade her work

Nipper on Thursday maintained her policy was meant to keep a clamp on language that could prove harmful, citing transphobia and white supremacy as some of several examples.

She went on to claim that similar incidents have happened at the school since her joining in 2021, while repeatedly mentioning SB 83 – the aforementioned Ohio law that asked taxpay-funded colleges to ‘not endorse or oppose, as an institution, any controversial belief or policy.’

Passed last month, the bill has created a “chilling effect,” according to Nipper – who claimed it  limits the future ‘other academics, friends, peers that I’ve had from a variety of different cohorts, feel they’ll be able to have in this country.’

She then equated the law to censorship seen in fascist and totalitarian regimes throughout the course of history.  

‘We’ve seen historically in other countries what happens when laws like this can take effect,’ Nipper said.

‘The way that they are connected to larger societal, cultural movements towards authoritarianism,” 

Asked whether she would have still pursued teaching in Ohio if such a bill had already been in place, Nipper replied: ‘Yeah. Because it’s important.’

She went on to tout the importance of women’s, gender and sexuality courses – many of which are relatively new implementations in longheld curriculums.  

‘Not all students feel seen in academia,’ she said of her propensity to ban certain words in the classroom.

‘That’s really the effort of WGSS [Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies] classes, to have your students feel seen, the marginalized ones in particular, and feel respected.’

While taking the time to double down on her actions, Nipper did not comment on the ongoing investigation that’s been brought against her.

Krolczyk, meanwhile, revealed in the now-viral TikTok bringing attention to her former teacher’s actions that the professor told her her proposal was ‘solid,’ – but still handed her a zero.

‘Olivia, this is a solid proposal,’ reads the professor’s alleged note, shared on Krolczyk’s TikTok.

‘However, “biological women” are exclusionary and now allowed in this course as they further reinforce heteronormativity. Please reassess your topic and edit it to focus on women’s rights (not just ‘females’) and I’ll re-grade.’

Krolczyk, who competed in cross country and track in high school, chose not to name the professor out of fear of possible online harassment, and said she contacted the university’s DEI department.

She was told they would have a different professor grade her work. 

In the time since, she says hundreds have contacted her with similar experiences – recently telling reporters that she decided to be vocal about the issue because ‘it wasn’t being taken seriously.’

‘I can confidently say within my university and many across the country, dissenting opinions are frowned upon and the views of the professors are affecting their abilities to teach,’ she told the Post.  

DailyMail.com has reached out to Krolczyk and the University of Cincinnati for comment on this story.