Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To Whom It May Concern:
My name is Aaron Kennedy and I am currently a third year Kinesiology student at Queen¿¿s. In the fall of 2016, as a requirement for my degree, I took a course entitled Motor Learning and Control (KNPE 261). Dr. Michael Carter who works in the Cognition & Action Lab instructed the course. I am writing to appeal the grade I received (C+) for credit standing, as I feel that extenuating circumstances were met. I realize that credit standing is usually reserved for a grade of C or below, although I feel extremely strongly this grade is absolutely not a fair assessment of my performance because of multiple factors that will be outlined below. As a student who is on the Dean¿¿s Honour List, and who would have otherwise achieved a semester GPA of 4.0, I trust that you will realize that this mark is an outlier, and should be subject to reconsideration and assessment by a third party based on the information provided below and through multiple supporting documents.
I feel that the following background information is necessary to fully understand my frustration and concern: Initially, I asked to set up a meeting with Dr. Carter before the winter break, so I could bring my concerns to his attention. Dr. Carter suggested one date (Dec 12/16) and stated that otherwise it would be better on his end if I were to email him the concerns. Unfortunately, I was scheduled to write an exam for a different course (PSYC 271) on this date so it would be difficult to attend to meet with Dr. Carter at the time that he proposed. I responded to Dr. Carter, and strongly suggested that I would prefer to set up a meeting. I did not get a response to this message and have not to this day. As a result, I prepared a 1,700-word document with the majority of my concerns, and I emailed this to him. Once again, there was no response to my correspondence. This left me with no other option but to take alternative action so in January of 2017, I proceeded to the Arts & Science Undergraduate Office in Dunning Hall, where I spoke to a very helpful academic advisor. I was instructed to set up a meeting with Anna van der Meulen, (Department Manager, and Undergraduate Chair of the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies). Ms. van der Meulen was incredibly helpful. She communicated with Dr. Carter, and my document of concern that I had previously sent to him. Dr. Carter reviewed my document, and sent back a response to the majority of my presented concerns. I am still however unsettled with the situation because I believe that the responses to my concerns were insufficient in explaining the many injustices that occurred in the course.
Although there are several concerns relating to this course, I wish to comment on 7 that for me are the most contentious. I base my appeal on these elements. Each of these concerns is outlined below and in each case, I believe that the marks lost were as a result of the application of unwarranted penalties. I want to be clear that I am not attacking the Professor personally however I do feel strongly that as a result of errors and mismanagement of the course, the grade I received was unfair, unjustifiable and was truly not indicative of my performance.

I have also prepared a supporting document with in-depth explanations, and possible remedies to the presented problems listed below:
¿¿ In Class Assignment 2 ¿¿ This assignment was rejected and assigned a grade of 0 based on unfair, unjust reasons.
¿¿ Directions in Classroom - Conflict with Marking ¿¿ Incorrect guidance was clearly presented in class and was not honored in assignment submissions, and marked as incorrect.
¿¿ Return of Tests and Assignments ¿¿ Timing for return of assignments was not fair for students to correct their mistakes on previous work.
¿¿ Lab 6 Bonus Mark ¿¿ Marks may have been applied incorrectly, as defined by the course syllabus.
¿¿ Testing Format ¿¿ Test formatting deviated from what was defined in the course syllabus.
¿¿ Test Questions from Video Presentations ¿¿ Certain assessments tested knowledge of some students¿¿ presentations, but not others, presenting an unfair advantage to certain students.
¿¿ Test 1 Complications ¿¿ A misleading conversation took place in my test room, leading to the abandonment of one of my test answers. My initial response was the correct answer.

Thank you for taking the time to read through my concerns, and reviewing my concerns. I have notified Dr. Carter and Ms. van der Meulen that I am appealing the grade. I have also attached a supporting document, and a copy of the email trails between my TA, Dr. Carter, and myself. Please read anything that you may find applicable and/or relevant.

Sincerely,
Aaron Kennedy
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