Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Philosophy Department,

My name is Allison Gordon and I am a third-year student double majoring in English and Philosophy to attend law school in 2025.

This past semester, I received a grade for an assignment that was significantly lower than anything I had ever received before that course or any other. My concern is that this mark will negatively impact my overall GPA and ability to be accepted to law school.

On December 28th, I reached out to my Phil 330 Professor, Derek Beamer, via email to request an opportunity to go over the assignment in hopes of having him reassess my mark or provide further explanation as to why it was so low. He responded shortly after, declining my request for a meeting. Instead, he asked that I send a “more detailed report” as to why I think the mark was unfair. He gave me a deadline of less than two hours from the time the email was written.

As I am a working student and was busy during the workday, I did not read the email until an hour after the deadline. Before that time, Derek sent me another email stating that the mark would be unchanged as I did not respond in time. A couple hours later I sent a detailed email defending the assignment’s content. Again, I requested a meeting in person or over the phone.

Derek responded five hours later with the following:

“Discussing matters such as this is sufficient over email correspondence.

As noted in my previous email, the grade and feedback still stand.

However, upon further review and considering everything, the grade received on the final paper will remain unchanged.

This is a final decision.”

Beyond the fact that Derek has refused to accept a meeting with me, he has also removed all my assignments from OnQ. He later added the final assignment back, but only after emailing Sheena Wilkinson, and asking her to get in contact with the professor. I find the action of removing my assignments and grades both odd – my past assignments dating back to my first year are still accessible – and problematic as I do not know how this course will impact my GPA.

In my opinion, the behavior and actions of Derek Beamer are unprofessional and not in alignment with the values of Queen’s University or for the well-being of his students.

I would respectfully ask that the Phil330 course grade not impact my GPA.

Thank you,

Allie