Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean,

I am submitting a formal petition for a Credit Standing (CR) in my COMM 112 course from Winter 2024, following the recommendation of my academic advisor, Christeen Paterson. Due to a miscommunication during the final exam, I believe that my grade does not accurately reflect my effort or comprehension of the course material.

Since receiving my grade in the summer, I have been actively working to address this issue. Unfortunately, working with my professor did not lead to a resolution. Given the circumstances, I am requesting an extension of the September 15 deadline, as I have been working on this issue since I received the grade.

The grounds for reconsideration are as follows: during the exam, I was provided with an additional booklet in which I completed my responses. I later learned that only answers submitted in the Crowdmark booklet, which has a QR code, would be graded, and that the extra booklet I used would be discarded. The instructions stated to “answer in a booklet,” leading me to believe the additional booklet was intended for my responses. In other courses, such as COMM 101, a similar extra booklet was provided and was graded.

As a student with accommodations, I do not have any provision for receiving an extra booklet, nor did any other students receive one, which contributed to the confusion. I was the only one given this additional booklet, which led me to follow an unintended course of action and resulted in my responses not being graded. I did not notice that the booklet lacked a QR code, which has resulted in a grade that does not reflect my actual performance.

This outcome is not reflective of the significant effort I invested in this course. I attended all lectures, participated actively, watched all supplementary materials, and studied thoroughly. As a student with a consistent A-range record, this mark is highly uncharacteristic of my performance.

I do not have additional documentation beyond my correspondence with Professor Hou regarding this issue, as the extra booklet was discarded after the exam. If further materials are required, please let me know, and I will do my best to provide them.

Thank you for your time and consideration of my petition. Please let me know if there are any further steps I should take.

Sincerely,
Athan Saleh