Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Request for Review of Instructor¿¿s Decisions on Grading of a Final Examination and Term Work

Dear Associate Dean (Studies),

a. The Request:
Please consider this letter as my formal appeal of the following as it relates to my standing in SOCY 275:

i. I am appealing the grade of my ¿¿Term Paper¿ in SOCY 275, in that the course instructor did not mark my paper as submitted in person on the due date. As detailed in my explanation below, Dr. Baron informed me on Dec. 6th that he did not have my paper which I submitted in class on Oct. 27th. As such, the paper was not graded and was entered as zero in my course evaluations.

ii. I am also appealing the deadline for making such an appeal (21 calendar days from the date the grade was received). As further detailed below, I submitted the paper on the Oct. 27th due date. However, because SOCY 275 has no online course information or grades, I was not aware that he did not mark the paper until I met with Dr. Baron on December 6th. I subsequently met with the Academic Grievance Counsellor on Dec. 9th to begin an appeal process. With the need to focus on exams until Dec. 17th, followed by the holiday break, this process has become somewhat drawn out.

iii. Lastly, I am appealing for an opportunity to complete an alternate evaluation in lieu of the ¿¿Final Quiz¿ in this course. Unfortunately, I missed the final class meeting (Dec. 1) in which the ¿¿Final Quiz¿ was proctored. I emailed Dr. Baron four days after that class (Dec. 5), when I realized I had missed the ¿¿Final Quiz¿ to arrange a meeting to request an opportunity to recover some of those grades.

b. Explanation of Extenuating Circumstances:
I emailed Dr. Baron on Dec. 5th to request a meeting in order to discuss possible options/solutions with regards to my unintentionally missing the final quiz on the last class of the year (Dec. 1st). All of my other courses in both sociology and political studies have a full online presence with online submission of assignments and online grades. SOCY 275 has no online presence whatsoever. In lieu of online information, we were given a hard copy course outline on the first day of class. I mistakenly assumed that, like my other courses, there would be an exam scheduled during the exam time period. However, the ¿¿final quiz¿ in SOCY 275 (20 of final grade in lieu of an exam) took place on Dec. 1st in class, which I unintentionally missed. I was seeking to meet with Dr. Baron in hopes of completing some form of alternate assignment or test to recover part of this 20 grade.

Dr. Baron replied to my email on Dec. 6th and I went to see him in his office that afternoon. In this meeting, Dr. Baron informed me that had my Term Paper been handed in earlier in the year, he would have been open to discussing alternative options regarding my final quiz grade being zero. But, because he hadn¿¿t received my Term Paper he was not willing to discuss an opportunity to make up for the missed final quiz. This statement took me by complete surprise as I handed my essay into Dr. Baron on October 27th, placing it on the pile of papers on the desk before the start of class. I had no idea that Dr. Baron did not have my assignment until he informed me of this in person during our meeting. After reiterating that I had submitted the paper in class on the due date, I offered to go home immediately and send him my essay via email. Dr. Baron responded with a comment that this would not be acceptable because at that point it could have been plagiarized. While I didn¿¿t think to suggest this at the time, I would be more than happy to submit my paper through turnitin.com to prove that it is my own work.

Immediately following the meeting, I spoke with my parents via phone. Both are graduates of Queen¿¿s ¿¿ my mother is an elementary teacher and my father is a school administrator. With their advice, I contacted and met with an Academic Grievance Counsellor. Before the meeting I took a screenshot of ¿properties¿¿ view of my Term Paper to show when I initially created the document, as well as to show that the last time it was edited/saved was on October 26th, the day before it was due. I then printed a new hard copy and took it along with the screen shots to the AGC meeting. While unfortunately there is no way for me to prove that I submitted the essay on Oct. 27th, the screenshot does prove that I have not tampered with nor changed anything about my Term Paper at any point after October 26th. And, therefore, that it was completed in its original form prior to the due date.

I fully accept the fact that I am responsible for missing the ¿¿Final Quiz¿ and was seeking an opportunity to make up for that with Dr. Baron. He suggested there could be an opportunity to do so were it not for failing to submit my term paper. However, I insist that I did submit my term paper on the due date in class, and that it has somehow been misplaced after being submitted. Therefore, I¿¿m requesting that the original paper be marked and included in my final grade, as well as renewing my request to make up the marks allocated for the final quiz through some alternate evaluation. As for this submission being so late, I was trying to get in contact with Dr. Baron for months through emails of my own, as well as emails from the AGC. I patiently awaited response but heard nothing from him and (unfortunatley) the AGC told me they would tell me when he would respond even though I should've been cc'd anyway. They never updated me on the situation until recently so here I am.

c. In Future:
Should I be enrolled in a course that does not have an online presence (course website, daybook/calendar, online marks), I will ensure that I record all applicable dates and course information into my personal calendar so that I can stay on top of dates for quizzes/tests/midterms. If I take a course in the future which requires hard copy submission of assignments, I will ensure that I request the Professor¿¿s signature confirming receipt of my submitted assignments. In addition, I will take a picture when submitting the assignment in person so that if my work is misplaced and/or not marked, there is some proof/documentation to support my position.

Respectfully Submitted,

Bowen Gregory Reid
ID 10179476
14br12@queensu.ca
416-844-5289