Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To Office of the Associate Dean (Studies),

I am appealing a grade I received on an infographic assignment in my summer term FILM 260 class being taught by professor Sidneyeve Matrix; I was given a 0 for submitting a completed assignment 30-60 minutes late. Due to family issues and circumstances beyond my control I was not able to submit the assignment on time and feel that I was excessively and unfairly punished.

The assignment was to be submitted online by May 15th, 2016 by 5PM. However, from May 11th to May 17th I was accompanying my brother to North Carolina in response to a family issue; My parents were unable to go, so I had too. We would be driving to North Carolina instead of flying. On the drive down I was aware of the assignment¿¿s deadline and worked in the car to complete it or at night in the hotels I was staying at. Unfortunately, on May 13th when I had completed my assignment I had no internet reception or phone reception in the area we were driving in so I could not submit it. I was able to get a weak reception on and off May 14th, but I was not able to submit it until around 5:30 PM on May 15th. A second written portion of the assignment, also due at 5PM on May 15th was submitted around 6PM since I still had very spotty internet reception. I emailed the professor as soon as I was able to in order to inform her of my late assignment (with the assumption that I would likely be losing 5 or 10 for being late), however she simply informed me that all assignments submitted late are by default given a failing grade of 0. I tried to follow up on what exactly entailed a failing grade and clarify the course syllabus, but she never replied back to that email.

Had I originally known of the professors extreme no late policy, I would have simply handed in an unfinished assignment sooner and performed significantly better in terms of a grade or not at all to save myself the stress and time. Furthermore, the assignment required me to have an internet connection so to actually continue working in the car when I didn¿¿t have Wi-Fi I had to connect my laptop to my phone for internet; I spent over 50 in data charges just to be able to complete the assignment. I have had professors who take 20-25 away everyday for being late (which is harsh, yet understandable), but a default failing grade for being 30-60 minutes late is very extreme especially when I had no control over the situation I was in. Technically a 49 on the assignment is also a failing grade, and one I could have lived with as it wouldn¿¿t jeopardize me passing the course, but a default 0 is unnecessarily punitive.

I have 11 courses left to take before April of 2017 in order to graduate, and this is the 11th course. I do not want to fail this course and then have to take 6 courses in one term next year due to my (APEC) major already being so time demanding already. Repeating this course in the year is guaranteed to seriously impact my grades very negatively across numerous other courses and take away from my already limited time to be involved in the Queen¿¿s Community. While I know I can¿¿t ask for her to change her grading policy completely and mark my assignment, I am asking that I at least be given a 49 on the assignment if the professor is adamant that I fail the assignment for being late. That simple jump from 0 to 49 is the difference between what will already be a nightmarish 4th year from becoming even worse. Any comments or assistance would be extremely helpful.

Thanks,

Chanpreet Khangura