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Students get support for grade appeals

You were expecting an 80 on an assignment and ended up with a 70. It’s an all too familiar situation for many university students, with reactions ranging from mild disappointment to utter devastation. A failed test or assignment can deliver a blow to your final grade, but what happens when your final grade is the problem?

This is where many students turn to the appeal process. Grade appeals often occur in two steps. First, students are expected to informally consult the instructor about their mark. Then, students must write a formal letter appealing the grade to the department chair by a set deadline.

According to the ombudsperson, grounds for appeal or relief are typically associated with medical or compassionate circumstances, inaccuracy, bias or unfairness.

The whole process can be overwhelming for a student, which is why the University Students’ Council created the Student Appeals Support Centre.

“The Student Appeals Support Centre provides students with assistance when appealing a grade or an academic offence,” Drew Cornies, internal affairs coordinator for the USC, explained. “We have a team of student volunteers that are trained on [Western] Senate policy. They meet with students to determine if they have a case, and then help them through the appeal process.”

Such assistance often takes the form of helping students with their appeal letters and outlining the process and relevant policies they need to be aware of to successfully appeal their grade.

The service was created three years ago and currently sees a few students every month, Cornies said. However, after sending out an accting1 email last week to students alerting them of the service, Cornies noted he had received over 80 requests.

Jennifer Meister, ombudsperson at Western, believed students should take advantage of such services in order to help them make wise academic decisions.

“That might mean asking your academic counsellor for advice, or speaking with the SASC or the Office of the Ombudsperson,” she said. “Students need to know their options and the rules around those options.”

Meister explained when speaking with students as to whether or not they should appeal a grade, she often asks them how they will feel “six months down the road if they don’t go forward with it. If they say, ‘I would always regret not appealing this grade because I really believe the instructor marked my paper unfairly,’ then we suggest they appeal.”

Cornies added visiting the SASC often does offer students a better chance of being re-evaluated because “we use a lot of cases to train volunteers, so they are well equipped to handle many different academic issues [...] students might be facing.”

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