Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Academic Appeal Committee,

I am aware that my appeal is coming 21 days after I received the grade for the assignment in question, but I must inform you that this is because the person who graded my assignment, TA Lisa Bas, did not respond to my emails to meet with her for feedback for 8 weeks. After following up with the Professor, Dr. Jillian O'Connor, who responded a few days after I emailed her, she answered that I should try emailing Lisa again, but when I did not hear back for 4 days, I emailed Professor O'Connor who told me I could meet with her instead, then followed up with an email saying Lisa was now available again to meet. Because of these circumstances, along with the fact that this 21-day period is not advertised on any of my class documents, and my Professor telling me she did not recommend me doing so, I have been delayed in creating an appeal. For this I apologize.

I received a mark that was not evaluated fully, in Assignment One of the class, PSYC 241. In the assignment's grading category for Situational explanations of own behavior there were no points awarded, but there was a sufficient answer provided of Two situational factors that can explain my behavior are the fact that I was preserving myself, I did not want to regret not sticking up for myself, so I did not want to overextend myself and run the risk of upsetting myself later. Another other situational factor that can explain my behavior is the fact that it was my birthday, if it was a simple get together, I was having where it wasn??t as important, I would not have reacted the way I did. These were all close friends of mine who I invited, so it was disappointing to see someone I care about bail at the last minute. This is only one of the categories in which an insufficient grade was given for a specifically articulated answer, but is the one that sticks out as clearly undeserved. Additionally, after meeting with Lisa, I found her evaluation style to be subjective and without sufficient evidence for why I got the grade I did. In an email from her, she says, and I quote I wanted to follow up on our previous conversation with regard to the 'situational explanation of own behaviour' section. The reason why you got 0 points has already been mentioned in my comment (see document). A valid dispositional explanation of your behaviour could have been that you are sensitive and struggle with confronting difficult situations which leads to you not texting back. This answer is insufficient and does not directly explain why I got the grade I did.

provide relevant documentation to support the appeal (i.e. class notes, etc.).
In a grade received by a peer of mine, Leora Fluxgold, who has allowed me to use her documents in my appeal, there is not much variation between the answers she gives and mine. For the same grading section of the assignment, Situational explanations of own behavior, Leora said, In the second event, there are different situational explanations for my behavior. One of the requirements of Yom Kippur is too fast. Therefore, me and my friend were busy preparing a meal to eat before the holiday began. Thus, I did not have time to pick up my mother??s phone call. Another situational factor is that my mother called me when I was in a common area. I like to take phone calls privately to talk about more personal and private matters with my close family and friends. For this she was awarded 7.5/10 points. Leora had a different grader.

I appreciate your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Kate Hamilton