All Posts Tagged With: "appeals"
U of M deans can’t grant degrees
After tense debate, controversial Senate motion to grant Dean of Graduate Studies sweeping powers tabled–for now
Faculty members at the University of Manitoba refused to pass a motion at a Senate meeting Wednesday that would have given the dean of Graduate Studies the authority to waive certain academic requirements when resolving student appeals.
The Senate Committee on Rules and Procedures recommended that granting the dean authority to waive academic requirements was consistent with the university’s policy to resolve student appeals at the lowest level possible.
For all of our coverage of this story, please click here.
The motion read: “Senate, based upon the University bylaw granting Deans a broad and general oversight of the ‘general supervision and direction over the Faculty’ and the approved Academic Guide of the Faculty of Graduate Studies which tasks the Dean with seeking informal solutions to student appeals before a hearing, rule that the Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies has jurisdiction to waive academic requirements.”
The motion was brought before Senate after math professor Gabor Lukacs took legal action against the university over what he believed was an unfair decision on the part of Dean of Graduate Studies, John Doering, to award a student their PhD without passing a comprehensive PhD exam required to graduate.
Although several faculty members indirectly referred to Lukacs’ ongoing battle with the university when discussing the motion, U of M president David Barnard steered the conversation away from the case. Barnard explained that, considering it is an ongoing personnel matter, it was inappropriate to discuss details of the case during open session.
Over half a dozen faculty members expressed their concern with passing the motion. Some members felt that it would essentially give the dean the power to grant degrees, which was particularly concerning in regards to granting degrees at the Masters or PhD level.
U of M Graduate Students Association president Meaghan Labine pointed out that there needed to be a more consistency in the appeals process and “a greater definition of what deans can do.”
Senate members voted to table the motion for further review by the Senate Executive Committee.
How do you challenge an unfair mark?
When a professor holds your marks hostage
During my first semester of university, I met with one of my professors to discuss a mark. It wasn’t anything official. The midterm had been handed back to the class, and I was surprised and disappointed by my mark.
The last page of the test had been an open-ended, essay kind of question. I’d expected my answer to earn a higher mark, and I wanted to understand where I went wrong.
After re-reading my answer, the professor explained where I should have elaborated more. The meeting was very short, and my mark didn’t change in the end, but I thanked the professor for taking the time to meet with me. I now knew how I could do better on the final exam.
What I didn’t know at the time: I was lucky to leave that meeting with my marks unscathed.
It was only after the fact that I suddenly remembered that section in the course syllabus. The part that explains how, if a student asks for a mark to be reconsidered, the professor reserves the right to assign an even lower grade than the one you started with.
I’m not just talking about a university’s formal appeal procedure, where a student requests (through a department chair or a dean) a review of their grade. Many of the classes I’ve taken include an individual course policy, something along the lines of, “If you request for a paper or test to be re-graded, you can end up with an even lower grade than you started with.” Right. So in other words, “Buzz off.”
It just seems wrong. If someone believes they’ve been assigned an unfair mark, and they ask for their paper to get a second look, why should the professor be sneakily taking hostages?
I’m sure that most of the time, the professor can give a perfectly fair, logical defense for the mark they assigned. But what if they made a mistake? What if they’re wrong? What if you deserve a higher mark? If someone thinks their paper deserves a better mark, why should their marks be held at gunpoint?
If I tell a cashier in a store that I think they accidentally charged me too much, and then I turn out to be wrong, should they have a license to then punish me for being wrong? You know, grab my wallet and take a couple bucks?
After all, if the cashier turns out to be wrong, I don’t get to penalize them for their mistake. I don’t get an extra five dollars back in change.
Maybe some students aren’t reasonable when they challenge a mark. Or maybe the fear is that without the threat of a negative consequence for burdening the professor and/or TA with having to take a second look, there would be a flood of second-guessers.
But why create a policy that treats every student as a potential time-wasting cry ass?
When an F isn’t fair
Most grades are reasonable and well-explained. What do you do when one isn’t?
One of my many duties as chair of an academic department is dealing with student appeals. I’ve been dealing with such an appeal over the last couple of weeks, and it brought to mind a question that most students face at one time or another. What do I do when I think the grade I received is unfair?
The first thing to do is nothing. Do not go racing into your instructor’s office waving your paper with tears of rage in your eyes. Take at least 24 hours to consider the grade you received and to reflect on whether or not it was reasonable. If the instructor has included comments, read them carefully and, as honestly as you can, ask yourself whether the problems pointed out are genuine.
Even professional scholars face this kind of criticism. When I sent a draft of my book to my publisher, I received comments to the effect that the book was good but something must be done about chapter five. I had thought chapter five was quite good, and at first I was angry that these numskulls had pissed on my work. But that was just a bruised ego on my part. After I cooled down, and looked at chapter five again, I had to admit that it wasn’t as good as I thought it was. When it comes to intellectual work, intelligence is less important than humility.
If after some time, you still feel that your grade is unfair, you should see your instructor. At my university students are actually obliged to contact their instructors directly before they take further steps. And, in fact, most student concerns are handled at this preliminary stage. An instructor may have made an error in calculating or submitting a grade; the student, on hearing a fuller explanation of a mark may realize it was fair after all; or, the instructor, on further thought, might think a higher grade is justified after all.
Approach this conversation as a conversation, not a presentation of demands. If you take the position, even by implication, that you know you’re brilliant and if your prof can’t see it, he must be a moron, then your instructor will only dig in his heels further. Do not say that you did much better than this in high school, or that you are getting higher marks in other classes — no professor in the history of the university has ever been convinced by those arguments. Instead, ask your instructor to explain comments and problems in more detail; ask what you might have done differently; ask whether your instructor allows students to rewrite papers. If these answers seem unsatisfactory, ask if the instructor would mind looking over it once more, just to be sure that’s the correct grade.
Your friends are probably wrong
For serious academic issues or advice, go somewhere reliable
I’ve seen students in a wide variety of bad situations. In a very large proportion of them, some way or other, their friends seem to factor into the equation. A student buys an essay online or otherwise blatantly plagiarizes and the first words out of his mouth are about how his friend did it once and was never caught. Or a student misses the deadline to drop a course or defer an exam and again she seems to think her friends’ ideas on the subject are relevant. Or it’s something as simple as a really bad or failing grade in a course – for a student who is often in academic trouble to begin with – and he’s all upset because his friend said it would be easy. I’ve heard almost every variation on the theme and one thing remains constant. The friend is always wrong.
There are so many misconceptions out there, and academic urban legends to debunk, that it’s pretty much pointless to even try. My favorite is the claim that if your housemate dies while you are in school you get an automatic A in every course. I’ve heard that one from multiple people at multiple institutions. Do I even need to clarify it isn’t true? But usually it’s something more insidious than that. Academic rules and policies are pretty complex and they vary from place to place. Most students really don’t know much about them, other than the rumors traded in the hallways and among friends. I don’t mean to fault anyone for this. In a complex institution it’s natural to be fuzzy on a lot of the details and to fill in what you don’t know based on rumor and guesswork. Everyone does it.
Sooner or later, however, those rules do matter. I don’t wish serious problems on anyone but four years is a long time and the odds are strong that you’ll need some real advice at some stage. So please, if that day should come, don’t rely on what your friends tell you or on the rumors and “common knowledge” facts circulated among your classmates. Read the academic calendar for yourself. Read your school’s website. Go to your Academic Advising center and ask someone. Go to your Registrar’s office. E-mail your program supervisor. If something important is going on, it’s worth a little time and effort to be sure of your situation.
Sometimes even the people who are supposed to know how things work can be wrong. Believe me, I know that, which is one of the reasons students sometimes think it makes just as much sense to listen to their friends. But if a university figure steers you wrong (and you’re actually listening to the person you’re supposed to be listening to) then you may have some recourse. I’ve won several academic appeals on that basis. So if the advice seems shaky or questionable get it in writing. And you can always get a second opinion too. There’s nothing to stop you from seeking advice from multiple sources.
