Petition Letter
Dear Associate Dean (Academic),
I am appealing to you regarding my grade for my ANAT 391 Mind The Gap! Essay. The course's TA graded my assignment at 81.5%. I asked the course's instructors to re-grade my assignment. The instructors proceeded to reduce my grade from 81.5% to 77%, which lowered my overall course grade from 89.73% after getting my grades for two other assignments to 88.83%, which will lower my final grade from A+ to A. Academic Petitions and Appeals 3.3.1.6 says that a reconsidered grade may be higher than or remain unchanged from the original grade, which means that it cannot be lowered as the instructors did.
https://www.queensu.ca/academic-calendar/arts-science/appeal-regulations/#text
I had provided the instructors with a detailed explanation for why I deserved a better grade than 81.5%, which the instructors completely ignored and did not respond to. I asked the course instructors for a meeting to explain my extenuating circumstances, which are ongoing, including my father being currently stranded due to the current war in the Middle East. Only one instructor, Dr. Giovannetti, showed up. During the meeting, the instructor tried to shame me for applying my academic accommodations during the term and that thus she was being very generous with me. She also claimed that I had applied for academic considerations for more than a month for some of my assignments, which was factually incorrect as my academic considerations for the first assignment was 5 days and for the second assignment was 10 days. When I told the instructor during the meeting that I was petitioning her to change my grade to the old grade of 81.5% due to my ongoing extenuating circumstances and because I did not want to go through further appeals due to my extenuating circumstances and the upcoming exams period, the instructor became hostile and said that I was threatening her with the appeal. That was not true at all because I was only trying to reach a reasonable resolution with the instructor which the instructor was not open to at all. All of this shows the instructor’s lack of empathy and compassion for my extenuating circumstances and that the instructor was not objective in grading my assignment.
I have attached supporting documentation for my ongoing extenuating circumstances. I am managing my extenuating circumstances to the best of my abilities and have finished and submitted all term assignments. I have also attached my assignment, my responses to the TA’s feedback, my responses to the instructors’ feedback, and the Essay Template including all the instructions for the assignment which I followed within the word limit. Since my assignment has been graded by three different reviewers, including the TA involved with the course grading my assignment at 81.5%, and the two instructors being not objective in re-grading my assignment as I explained above, and due to my ongoing extenuating circumstances, I am asking if you or the Department Head could please arbitrate my grade back to the original grade of 81.5%.
Thank you very much,
Issamedin Dahlan
I am appealing to you regarding my grade for my ANAT 391 Mind The Gap! Essay. The course's TA graded my assignment at 81.5%. I asked the course's instructors to re-grade my assignment. The instructors proceeded to reduce my grade from 81.5% to 77%, which lowered my overall course grade from 89.73% after getting my grades for two other assignments to 88.83%, which will lower my final grade from A+ to A. Academic Petitions and Appeals 3.3.1.6 says that a reconsidered grade may be higher than or remain unchanged from the original grade, which means that it cannot be lowered as the instructors did.
https://www.queensu.ca/academic-calendar/arts-science/appeal-regulations/#text
I had provided the instructors with a detailed explanation for why I deserved a better grade than 81.5%, which the instructors completely ignored and did not respond to. I asked the course instructors for a meeting to explain my extenuating circumstances, which are ongoing, including my father being currently stranded due to the current war in the Middle East. Only one instructor, Dr. Giovannetti, showed up. During the meeting, the instructor tried to shame me for applying my academic accommodations during the term and that thus she was being very generous with me. She also claimed that I had applied for academic considerations for more than a month for some of my assignments, which was factually incorrect as my academic considerations for the first assignment was 5 days and for the second assignment was 10 days. When I told the instructor during the meeting that I was petitioning her to change my grade to the old grade of 81.5% due to my ongoing extenuating circumstances and because I did not want to go through further appeals due to my extenuating circumstances and the upcoming exams period, the instructor became hostile and said that I was threatening her with the appeal. That was not true at all because I was only trying to reach a reasonable resolution with the instructor which the instructor was not open to at all. All of this shows the instructor’s lack of empathy and compassion for my extenuating circumstances and that the instructor was not objective in grading my assignment.
I have attached supporting documentation for my ongoing extenuating circumstances. I am managing my extenuating circumstances to the best of my abilities and have finished and submitted all term assignments. I have also attached my assignment, my responses to the TA’s feedback, my responses to the instructors’ feedback, and the Essay Template including all the instructions for the assignment which I followed within the word limit. Since my assignment has been graded by three different reviewers, including the TA involved with the course grading my assignment at 81.5%, and the two instructors being not objective in re-grading my assignment as I explained above, and due to my ongoing extenuating circumstances, I am asking if you or the Department Head could please arbitrate my grade back to the original grade of 81.5%.
Thank you very much,
Issamedin Dahlan