Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Good day,

I am writing to appeal for authorization to take my accommodated exams within the Faculty of Arts and Science administered by the Exams Office (ASTR101 and ASTR102) in an in-person format, notwithstanding Faculty procedures regarding examination format. I first assert that this appeal is submitted in concordance with Appeal Regulation 3.2.2; a decision having been rendered by the Faculty on November 25th, 2021. I next assert that the appeal is permitted by the Appeal Regulations with regard to what may be appealed. If the requested remedy is granted, it is likely that I will need to write the exams at a time that is earlier than they are scheduled due to general Exams Office policies surrounding exams with time limit accommodations. Therefore, I assert the Associate Dean (Academic)'s jurisdiction to hear this appeal pursuant to Appeal Regulation 3.1.2.5 (8).

Having asserted that the appeal is proper and that the Associate Dean (Academic) is capable of hearing it, I request that the remedy sought be granted for the following reasons:

1. The Exams Office has previously provided me a physical location to take my accommodated ASTR101 and ASTR102 exams (Mitchell Hall, Room 300). While this was done under the assumption that I was classified as an in-person student, I contend that this indicates that no actual barrier exists prohibiting students of online courses from taking their exams in-person. While I empathize with not wanting to have large gatherings on campus where possible due to COVID-19, I am confident that Queens' COVID-19 protocols will be more than sufficient to protect students. I am fully vaccinated, as are the vast majority of students, and the risk of transmission of the virus is accordingly low.
2. My Letter of Accommodation grants me a scrap paper accommodation. In a physical setting, the scrap paper would be provided by the exam location, ensuring that no unauthorized material is present on it. By contrast, in a remote setting, the Examity proctor would be required to verify any piece of scrap paper I choose to bring to ensure that no unauthorized material is present on them. I am diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and accordingly am prone to being disorganized on occasion; as such, I sometimes require multiple pieces of paper to organize my thoughts in a manner that makes sense. I therefore contend that requiring me to do an exam via Examity makes it more difficult for me to access my accommodations, thereby violating my human rights.
3. The nature of Examity constitutes a breach of student privacy that cannot be justified when other options exist for preventing cheating on examinations. While there is at least the upside of not having a decision of academic integrity violations made by an unaccountable algorithm as there is for Proctortrack, Examity requires that a person not known to the student and possibly on the other side of the world observe them in their place of residence. Examity further requires various forms of personal information that exceeds what is required for in-person examinations. As the Faculty is undoubtedly aware, during the Fall 2020 exam period, Proctortrack was hacked and its servers used to send racist emails to students; there is no reason to believe Examity is immune to such acts or worse.
4. The decision of categorizing students as in-person or remote was made after the examination schedule was posted and after the deadline to drop a course without academic penalty. I enrolled in online courses on the assumption that, as I have in-person courses, I would be writing the exams in-person; had this not been the case at the time of enrollment, I would not have enrolled on similar grounds as (2) and (3). I therefore contend that subsequently assigning me as being a remote student and thus obligating me to take Examity-based exams contravenes Academic Regulation 8. As all of my other exams are not administered by the Exams Office, rectification of this error in procedure would be identical to the remedy sought here, so I choose to not pursue this avenue separately.