Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Hello - I have an issue with a grade from Film 340. I am wondering who I can talk to to plead my case here - I am a hard working student who submitted an assignment only 1 hour late - and in turn am granted a direct 0 for the tardiness. I take pride in my work, and overall have been able to relate with many of my professors over my career here at Queen's as they guide me in their area of expertise to hopefully instil their teachings, while I reflect quality work from their lessons. I have not once had a teacher refuse to look at work (whether it be in high school or university) that I have done, regardless of it being an hour late or (even in special circumstances) a couple days late.

As a student at Queen's, I would hope that teachers remain able to relate to students, understanding that my days start just as early as theirs and at times ends even later. I am at the Bader from 1130-530 most days, usually leaving my house at 8am and not returning back to my house well after 8pm after I eat in the cafeterias and do my work. It is very discouraging and not what I would want out of an academic setting to have such a negative reinforcement on one aspect of my schooling when the rest of my classes have a very positive and encouraging learning component.

I know this single assignment will be crucial in reflecting my overall grade at the end of exams. This assignment is worth a good amount towards my grade - I put a lot of work into this and just cannot accept a system where what I created doesn't matter - regardless of the letter grade I receive on a screen. I know that the course policy states that late assignments get a 0, but this policy is absolutely absurd and discouraging - and NOT what I expect from a space where our cumulative goal is to learn.

I am not a part-time student who is lollygagging with the time I have in a day. I take 6 classes, am a student-athlete, and have launched my company in January that highly supports the extracurricular student-community work that Queen's thrives off of. I have told Ms. Matrix that I would respectively go through the proper channels to challenge this strict ruling, and in-turn hope to help shape this course into what could potentially be not just my favourite course at Queen's, but my classmates as well (students have very passionate views on this course).

Sorry for the lengthy email - and I would not send this if I didn't find this important, but sometimes I feel that students sometimes lose their status as a valid person and dissolve into their 8-digit number on a professor's computer screen. I would much rather discuss in person about a matter so easily able to be resolved.