Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Hi,

This past semester, I received a grade for a major assignment that was significantly lower than anything I had ever received prior in that course or any other. My concern is that this mark will negatively impact my overall GPA and ability to be accepted to law school.

On December 28th, I reached out to my Phil 330 Professor, Derek Beamer, via email to request an opportunity to go over the assignment in hopes of having him reassess my mark or provide further explanation as to why it was so low. He responded shortly after, declining my request for a meeting. Instead, he asked that I send a “more detailed report” as to why I think the mark was unfair. He gave me a deadline of less than two hours from the time the email was written.

As I work part time, I did not read the email until an hour after the deadline. Prior to that time, Derek sent me another email stating that the mark would be unchanged as I did not respond in time. A couple hours later I sent a detailed email defending the assignment’s content. Again, I requested a meeting in person or over the phone.

Derek responded five hours later with the following:

“Discussing matters such as this is sufficient over email correspondence. As noted in my previous email, the grade and feedback still stand. However, upon further review and taking everything into consideration, the grade received on the final paper will remain unchanged. This is a final decision.”

Beyond the fact that Derek has refused to accept a meeting with me, he has also removed all my assignments from OnQ. I find this action both odd – my past assignments dating back to first year are still accessible – and problematic as I do not know how this course will impact my GPA.

I then contacted the philosophy department, who directed me to the petition. Unfortunately, I filled out the wrong petition, so I am at a loss for what to do next. Is it possible to have this assignment either regraded or dropped? Or perhaps drop the entire course and I will get the credit with a different class?

In my opinion, Derek’s handling of this situation has been unprofessional and not in alignment with Queen’s vision and mission. As a result of this experience, I no longer wish to be a philosophy major. My goal at this point is simply to find the best way to minimize the impact this course may have on my GPA.

Sincerely,

Allie Gordon