Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean (Academic):

I hope everything is going well on your end. I am submitting this appeal due to concerns around a final grade awarded in the LLCU 295 course. I received an A- in the course which at face value is not a bad grade. However, for reasons legitimately out of my control and reasons the professor was aware of, I believe a higher mark should have been awarded. I request that a section of the course mark be looked at again, and the grade for that section re-evaluated.

As it stands, this final grade only takes into account my written work and submissions in the course including the final project. For the participation category, which is 10% of the final grade I was awarded a 0%. This is unfair for the primary reason that I had course conflicts which the professor knew about.

At the beginning of the course, the class was scheduled for attendance on Monday morning and Friday evenings. Both of these times were determined by class polling and surveys and I was happy with this result because it worked perfectly into my schedule. This course did not have a timeslot on SOLUS when I originally signed up for the class, leading me to believe the course would be asynchronous but live.

At the next Monday class in week 2 or 1, one student (who shall go unnamed) complained in the class that he was inconvenienced by having to wake up 2-3 hours earlier. Although I don??t know the full situation this student was going through, he said he could attend the Monday and Friday session he just preferred not to. Again, it is not my place to judge the circumstances of this student. Another survey poll was conducted class wide, and at this time despite multiple students denoting Thursday and Wednesday mid-day sessions as riddled with conflict these were the times chosen for the class.

I want to make it clear while learning was still online I did not miss a single class despite having two course conflicts. These sessions were unfortunately not recorded so there is limited evidence of this. After learning transitioned in-person, I was required to attend one class in-person and for another I had to write quizzes during the stipulated course times. The professor for LLCU 295 was aware about this, and other folks?? course conflicts. Despite this, I would skip some in-person live classes to attend LLCU 295 for some time. In the sessions where I did attend, I also contributed and spoke in the class discussions.

The final concern I have is that the professor on record said once that I contributed well considering I had course conflicts and that he understood the position myself and one other student were in. The grade I was awarded does not reflect this reality. On the final project for the course??a presentation worth 30% of my final grade??I achieved a 100%. This would not have been possible if I did not try or at least attend some classes as there was no course reading outside anything assigned during class times.

No single grade for any assignment was entered into OnQ until the week after classes ended for exams. At this point, I emailed the professor on at least two occasions to informally resolve my grading concerns and I was met with no response. I reached out to LLCU Dept. Head Professor Donato Santeramo, and he graciously offered to assist and reach out to the professor to promote an informal resolution. The LLCU 295 professor took a long time getting back to Prof. Santeramo, and then he Prof. Santeramo let me know that I should expect to hear from the LLCU professor shortly. I in fact did not hear from the professor, and I even emailed him. Around the middle of May, Prof. Santeramo agreed that a formal appeal would be worthwhile.

I did not want to escalate my concerns to this point, and I am not the type of person that argues over grades. But I do believe in my case, I should have received a higher grade. Also, after researching the appeals policy and understanding it, I believe I have a 21 day window to submit appeals. I am not sure if this has elapsed in my case, but I do want to highlight that since coming back home to Calgary, I have learned that my mother will undergo double bypass surgery on June 9th. This has taken a little bit of a toll on me as I am adjusting.

I am not adding in this detail to garner sympathy. I am enrolled in a Summer Course, and I am doing my best to ensure academic success in this course. I do believe I should be granted some leniency in terms of the 21 day limit on submitting appeals. Additionally, I have email records of me reaching out and attempting to establish communications with the professor in question.

If you or anyone in the department have any questions, feel free to reach out to me via email (19aa129@queensu.ca). I am always willing to set up a virtual call to discuss this situation.

Thank you so much for your time.

Sincerely,

Asbah Ahmad
20215193