Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dr. Johanne Benard
Associate Dean (Studies)

Dear Dr. Johanne Bénard,
I am appealing my mark in Film 240 in two ways, because there are two unfair decisions that compound one another and I don¿¿t think it would be an appropriate outcome if my appeal fell through cracks created by the way a procedural document is written.

In this petition, I want leave to appeal a mark on an assignment from more than 21 days ago. It was marked in ways that I think were unfair and pedagogically unsound, as I will explain if I am given permission to appeal. I originally did not intend to appeal this grade, in spite of thinking it unfair. I was hopeful that I could bring up my overall mark by thoroughly preparing for the final exam. However, the exam was cancelled half way through the time allotted for students to write it because of technical glitches. Professor Matrix has announced that students final grades will now be based on the work during the term to date. This is problematic for me in two ways: the infographic assignment now constitutes a much higher percentage of my overall grade so it will significantly impact my mark and my GPA; and I didn¿¿t get the opportunity to raise my mark by doing well on the final exam. I think the cancellation of the final exam change constitutes a problematic departure from the way that Professor Matrix had announced the mark for the course would be determined in the syllabus for the course.

The extenuating circumstance is this: for the time since I received the mark for the course, I was not (and could not be) aware of the later decision to arbitrarily cancel the exam. I therefore was not in a position to tell how much harm the unfairness could do to my final mark. I therefore would like some opportunity to redress the unfairness, rather than letting the matter slide, since I have lost the chance to simply work hard and make it not matter so much.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
Monica DeVidi