DATE:
June 5, 2018
PARTIES:
N.C. (the “Student”) v. the Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design
Hearing Date(s):
May 29, 2018
Committee Members:
Professor Andrew Green (Chair)
Professor Mohan Matthen, Faculty Governor
Ms. Mala Kashyap, Student Governor
Hearing Secretary:
Ms. Tracey Gameiro, Associate Director Appeals, Discipline and Faculty Grievances
Appearances:
For the Student:
The Student
For the Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design:
Dean Richard Sommer
Ms. Andrea McGee, Registrar & Assistant Dean, Students
Appeal from a grade of 84% in a course. The uncontested evidence at the hearing was that the Student had been promised a 2% increase in the first test of the course. There was a delay in returning the test to the Student, so she was unable to ensure that she had received the grade increase within two weeks of the time the test had been returned to the rest of the class. Once she did receive her mark, she immediately contacted her professor to confirm that her mark reflected the grade increase that she had been promised. The professor did not return her email. Her appeal was denied at the departmental level because it had not been made within two-weeks from the time the test had been returned to the rest of the class, as such the time limit provided for in section 5.14 of the Academic Handbook had expired. The Committee found that in these exceptional circumstances, where the Student had contacted her professor within two weeks of receiving her work back and had been misled into thinking a particular mark had been given only to find out that it had not, it was unfair to find that the Student could not appeal the grade. The Student’s appeal was allowed, but she did not receive the grade increase requested. Rather, the Committee ordered that the appeal be remitted back to the Department to consider the substance of the Student’s appeal on the test. Appeal allowed.