Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Hi Petition Manager,

Thank for taking the time to review my petition. I really appreciate it.

I am requesting my submission to Blog Post #1: Advance Directive Assignment be reviewed and graded. For this assignment as per the assignment instructions we were to create a blog post and post it to Cheryl Cline.org then submit a document with the URL to our assignment submission folder. Following the assignment instructions I completed my submission prior to the deadline (January 30th @ 11:59).

I received feedback for the assignment with no grade stating I did not follow assignment instructions by submitting the text for my blog post in the document with my URL. Confused about this I went back to the assignment instructions and did not find this specification. Later, I found that on January 29th and 30th professor Butler had posted announcements and in these announcements he requested that we include the text for our blog posts in our document with the URL. I had missed this announcement as I had completed my blog well prior to the due date and went over the assignment instructions and specifications prior to my submission on the 30th.

Immediately I emailed my professor to determine if this is why I receive no grade on the assignment and after following up, over a week later I finally received a response from a TA that my assignment would not be graded due to this. They stated I could submit my assignment with a 5% late penalty per day it was overdue, by the point of their reply it was over 100%. I find this to be completely unfair as I submitted the assignment on time following the assignment instructions posted and received a zero on an assignment worth 15% of my grade.

Additionally, a peer of mine in IDIS 373 recently mentioned that they also missed that announcement and received an email from their TA the day after the assignment was due letting him know including the text was needed for the assignment and he could re-submit his assignment with the text. I find this situation unfair, especially when a peer in the same course received additional support after missing the same announcement.

According to section 3.3.1.6 in Queens Academic Petitions and Appeals Regulations, to facilitate a formal review of instructors’ decisions on grading of term work, I must demonstrate that one of the following grounds apply:
a. That the instructor did not adhere to the syllabus or the assignment instructions
b. That there was bias, error, or a discrepancy in marking
c. That the decision of the instructor in reviewing the work was not reasonable or did not follow procedural or relational fairness

I believe a, the instructor did not adhere to the assignment instructions and b and c, there was a discrepancy in marking and the decision was not relationally fair as my peer received additional support for the same mistake.

In conclusion, I am requested that my assignment be graded with no late penalty as I submitted the assignment on time following all specifications posted on the assignment instruction page. I've worked very hard over the last four years, have always submitted assignments on time, following instructions, and have never come across any discrepancies like this.

I would be happy to provide any additional information, proof, assignment instructions, etc, as needed.

Thanks for taking the time to consider my petition,
Gabrielle Burnett