Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Roslyn Brennen I am a forth year philosophy student. I am seeking to appeal my final grade in ENIN 340 (Summer 2019/05/06 - 2019/06/17) in hopes of a ¿¿late drop.¿ I would like to appeal my grade because I feel as though my professor (Professor Matrix) did not help me to resolve problems I was having in the course nor was she willing to help me succeed.

In particular, on May 24th Professor Matrix sent out an email noting there was an error in some course deadlines that I found to be confusing and unfortunately misinterpreted. She noted in this email that an assignment had two different due dates and she would be accepting both deadlines and the later due date out of fairness.

On the 24th the course was also scheduled to have a midterm, in reading this email I interpreted the midterm as the assignment so I assumed that the midterm quiz would be open later than its original time. After studying for the midterm I went to go take the midterm quiz and noticed the quiz had closed a half hour ago.

I promptly emailed Professor Matrix explaining how I colossally misinterpreted the email noting that I was confused however I acknowledge and take full responsibility for this mix up. I politely asked if there was anyway she would reopen the midterm as I missed it by half an hour. She answered saying ¿¿sorry no the quiz will no be reopened¿ I understood and respected her decision.

I then promptly emailed back asking if there was anything I could do to make up the grades as I really did not wish to start the course off on a bad note like this. Professor Matrix did not respond.

I¿¿m going into my fourth year at Queen¿¿s and I do understand that it was my mistake for not fully comprehending the email and I take full responsibility for that. As a fourth year student it¿¿s unacceptable. In my years at Queen¿¿s I have never made a mistake so colossal.

However, when I email a professor explaining my error and get a response back with ¿¿sorry no the quiz will no be reopened¿, not addressing me by my name or acknowledging a follow up email sent out asking what I can do to keep my grades up does not give me the best feeling.

With all of this being said I worked extremely hard on the remainder of the course knowing that I created a big challenge for myself.

In weeks prior we had a second and final quiz. During the quiz there seemed to be a technology problem where the quiz was not allowing me to answer the final question. I had followed instructions taking the quiz through Google Chrome and had a strong Wi-Fi signal. After the quiz lagging and panicking for a few minutes my quiz finally submitted. I sent Professor Matrix an email explaining the situation, not asking to retake the quiz, just inquiring about why this may have happened asking if any other students may have experience this issue. She responded with ¿¿Contact IT if you are having technical issues.¿ To which I contacted IT services help line but could not get through to them.

Additionally I have not received a grade for that second quiz; it shows up as zero on OnQ (which makes me wonder if my quiz did in fact submit due to the technical issues) nor have a received a grade for the final project in the course, which was due June 14th that I submitted on time. I have contacted Professor Matrix inquiring about my grades but have not heard back.

I¿¿m not looking for my professors to be warm and fuzzy but I truly feel as though Professor Matrix did not make an effort to help me resolve these issues nor make me feel confident in the course. I may sound over sensitive but in all my years at Queen¿¿s I have never seen a professor be so unwilling to help their student succeed.

I am also taking another one of her classes (Design Thinking ¿¿ ENIN 140 from July through August) and already have hesitations about staying in the course due to this past experience.

I would have dropped the course sooner however I was expecting to have my grades back sooner and I truly expected more support from my professor.

I want to make it very clear that I acknowledge it was completely and entirely my mistake for misinterpreting the email regarding deadlines. It is completely unacceptable especially for a student going into forth year. With all of this being side I would like to appeal for a ¿¿late drop.¿

Finally, going forward as a plan of action, if I were put in a situation similar to this I would contact my professor ahead of time if I have an inquires or any confusion about course deadlines. Additionally, I would reach out to my TA¿¿s and going forward I will read emails more carefully

Thank you for you consideration,

Roslyn Brennen