UC student says she failed assignment for using term 'biological women'

Victoria Moorwood, Cincinnati Enquirer
Updated ·2 min read
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University of Cincinnati student Olivia Krolczyk says she received a zero on an assignment because she used the term "biological women."
University of Cincinnati student Olivia Krolczyk says she received a zero on an assignment because she used the term "biological women."

A University of Cincinnati student says she received a failing grade on an assignment because she used the term "biological women."

Olivia Krolczyk, a student studying chemistry at UC, posted a video on TikTok detailing the incident last month. In the clip, which has received over 400,000 likes and 2.8 million views, Krolczyk said she received a zero on a project proposal in her Women’s Gender Studies in Pop Culture class for using the term.

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Students were tasked with submitting a proposal for a final project about feminism, Krolczyk said. Her proposal was about the history of women in professional sports, which would include the topic of transgender women competing in women's sports.

In her proposal, Krolczyk said her project would show how transgender women competing on teams that align with their gender "is actively taking away the opportunities of biological females and violating the opportunities they have fought so hard to gain in the first place."

Krolczyk said she received a zero on the proposal. According to the student, her professor left notes on the assignment saying it was a "solid proposal," but that the "terms 'biological women' are exclusionary" and "not allowed in this course as they further reinforce heteronormativity." She also said her professor later emailed her saying the terminology was "transphobic."

Krolczyk's TikTok includes comments she says were left by her UC professor about why she received a zero on the assignment.
Krolczyk's TikTok includes comments she says were left by her UC professor about why she received a zero on the assignment.

"I 100% know that this is like the most biased grade ever because my project is about (transgender women) competing in biological women's sports," Krolczyk said in the TikTok.

The student said she reached out to UC's Office of Gender Equity & Inclusion about the grade and was given an extension on the project and allowed to continue with her initial proposal. A different professor will grade her final project, she said.

Krolczyk did not name the professor who gave her the grade on TikTok. The Enquirer has reached out to UC's Office of Gender Equity & Inclusion for more information.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: UC student says she got failing grade for saying 'biological women'