Student Sues UMass Over Philosophy Grade

[meegbear]

A UMass student has filed a lawsuit against the university over what he claims is an unjust grade. Brian Marquis, 50, is suing the university and some staff members in an attempt to raise questions about the school's grading policies. Marquis received a C in a philosophy class last semester but feels he deserved an A-.

"I didn't earn a C, I earned an A- and I should be entitled to what I earned," Marquis told the Daily Collegian, the UMass campus newspaper. "All I want is what I earned. I earned it and I don't want to lose it."

Marquis is charging the university with 15 counts, including Violation of First Amendment, Breach of Contract and Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress. In addition to the grade change, Marquis is seeking monetary compensation.

Marquis, a registered paralegal who had a firm before enrolling at UMass, will represent himself in the case.

http://wbztv.com/topstories/local_story_038110821.html

[Atman]

1. Marquis is an ambulance chaser, and he's driving the ambulance, too.

What a fucking asshole.

.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. Violation of the first amendment?

:rofl:

[philosophie_en_rose]

5. Maybe his professor retaliated for something he said in class?

:shrug:

[philosophie_en_rose]

3. Interesting. I wonder why his grade was low.

If he's just whining that a professor didn't appreciate his work, then I don't have much sympathy for him. Professors are entitled to use some professional judgment.

However, if he has assignments and other proof that he really did earn an A-, yet the professor docked him for some arbitrary or discriminatory reason, I think it's more than fair to seek relief.

[not_a_robot]

9. It makes sense

But there is a noticable lack of such claims int he article. I think he wants to use manipulation to get what he does not deserve, but I'm running on just as little information.

[LeftishBrit]

4. Does he have any reason for arguing that the grade was unjust...

or is he just every university teacher's nightmare: the student who thinks he's entitled to a top grade and will use fair means or foul to try and get it?

[Breeze54]

23. I was given a C+

in my college Alegebra class until two more students and I compared our answers
on the test and proved that our answers were correct to the instructor!
I got an A after that and an apology. It happens.
Professors make mistakes too! So do their assistants that correct the tests!

[LeftishBrit]

53. Very true - I know someone who was given another student's mark by mistake

Also a case where someone was dropped a grade because he allegedly hadn't handed in any practical work, and then the practical work was discovered in the corner of an examiner's office!

So such things do happen. I just think the student needs to have a more convincing argument than "I earned it!" Maybe he does, and it's just not in the article. But if he just thinks he earned it, and has no further explanation, then I doubt that he'll win his case.

On edit: I see further down in the thread that there is more info, and that the allegation is that the teacher changed the marking system at the last minute. If this is confirmed, then the complaint may indeed be valid.

I've seen both ends of the scale: examiners doing crazy and incompetent things, and students regarding anything they don't like as grounds for a formal complaint. I hope that, either way, the full facts come out here, and that justice is served.

[Breeze54]

57. Some 'guys' are all

bravado, to hide their insecurities and maybe at 50 yrs. old, this student 'may' be doing
the same predictable behavior. He sounds more frightened and desperate to me, than
egotistical. Hopefully this will pan out and everybody will go home happy and degree'd! ;)
I'd be freaking out to, at the age of 55, and feel threatened that I may fail and not graduate!
It's not like he's an 18 year old freshman, not anymore, anyways! :rofl: Good for him!
Takes a lot of courage to go back to college at the age of 55!

[Horse with no Name]

6. I pity any poor teacher that has this asshats kids in their classroom

My complete sympathies.

[sniffa]

7. take that LiberaL university!!

[bicentennial_baby]

12. heh, they let *you* graduate...

still trying to figure that one out... :wtf:

:P

:*

[sniffa]

22. shhhhh

:loveya:

[Buzz Clik]

8. Not much to go on here...

[shain from kane]

10. Q:What am I here for? A: That's easy enough. To create misery for others.

[Xipe Totec]

11. A man who represents himself has a fool for a client

- Abe Lincoln

Judging by this guy's lack of judgment, the grade is justified.

[joeunderdog]

13. If a grade falls in a classroom, and no one hears it

can you sue the motherfuckers you are blaming for it?

[TlalocW]

14. If this goes to court, will he first have to prove that he exists?

Or that the grade actually exists in a philosophical sense?

TlalocW

[meegbear]

20. Yes ...

one can counterargue that the C is in fact an A-; the professor is in fact using a different method of grading based on his measured standards of grading.

How would Plato grade him?

[TlalocW]

25. It would be funny if the judge had been a philosophy major in college

And during the trial, the judge can tell that he really did deserve the C (or lower) and dismisses the case.

"You're using a faulty syllogism. I find the defendant not guilty and you non-existent. Besides, in a cold, emotionless universe, don't we all have better things to be doing than listening to this stuff? Case dismissed!"

TlalocW

[Katherine Brengle]

15. Not enough information to make a call here...

that's very frustrating.

[LoZoccolo]

18. I'm with you there.

On the one hand, there could have been a clear grading policy where he got an A on paper 1, A on paper 2, B+ on paper 3, B+ on the exam but the professor still gave him a C. Or he could just think he deserves an A- by the inclinations of his own mind.

[Buzz Clik]

19. Agreed.

The bullshit part of this is that we know for certain that UMass has a grade appeals protocol in place. He has either chosen to ignore it and go straight for the lawsuit, or he went through grade appeals and lost. Neither scenario reflects well on him.

However, the upside is that Hannity and O'Reilly are always looking for some shitbag with a grudge against any university to get face time on their programs.

[skypilot]

16. Well...

...it is a philosophy course so maybe he and the teacher can sit down and have a philosophical discussion about the grade.

[sandnsea]

17. TA Drew Up A New Grade Scale

To which I call bullshit. The standards are set, you meet them, you get the grade.


http://media.www.dailycollegian.com/media/storage/paper874/news/2007/02/07/News/Student.Files.Lawsuit.Against.Umass.Claims.He.Received.Unjust.Grade-2702566.shtml?sourcedomain=www.dailycollegian.com&MIIHost=media.collegepublisher.com

[Puregonzo1188]

26. Agreed

From the link posted by Sandnsea"

The dispute is over the final grade Marquis received in Philosophy 161: Problems in Social Thought, a course he took during the Fall 2006 semester. Marquis' final numerical grade for the class was an 84, which translated into a C for the semester.

Marquis alleges his exams, papers and participation grades for the semester equal 92.1, not 84. He said he deserves an A- in the course. Before filing a complaint with the district attorney's office on Jan. 31, Marquis exchanged e-mails with Jeremy Cushing, the T.A. who taught the course and gave Marquis the C.

"To make the grades more representative of student performance, I set a curve (or, more accurately, I drew up a new grade scale)," reads an e-mail from Cushing to Marquis dated Jan. 10, 2007. At the end of the e-mail, Cushing stated, "I thought your grade was a good reflection of your work."

[Buzz Clik]

27. The Collegian article makes it clear that he's gone through an appeals process...

... and lost.

I suppose anything is possible when it comes to a civil suit (my guess is that Mr. Unhappy simply wants to get paid), but I can't imagine a court deciding university policy.*

His only chance is if the course outline clearly stated that an 84 in the course was an A- and that this grading scale was not subject to change under any circumstances.

==================================

*Stranger things have happened. These days at my humble institution, if you catch a student cheating -- even if you have them dead to rights -- the prof must state clearly in writing what constitutes cheating and what the consequences might be. Otherwise, the accused student can appeal and win in court.

[sandnsea]

30. One's not equivalent to the other

And, I never took a course in college where the grades weren't clearly defined. This is serious business, the guy is 50 years old. You don't fuck with people's lives this way. This is real money, real time, real people's futures.

[Buzz Clik]

40. You don't have all the facts. Reserving judgment might be wise.

You've never heard of grading on the curve? The curve goes up, the curve goes down.

And you have no idea what was defined or not defined in this case.

[sandnsea]

41. The facts are posted

The TA admitted he changed the grading system at the end of the course. Go read the links. An entire class, humming along not worried about that A for their transcript, bam, this asshole fucks the whole thing up because he doesn't want to look like an idiot giving the whole class A's. It's obvious what happened. You don't fuck with people like that, it's bullshit.

[Buzz Clik]

45. You don't have all the facts, you have some of them.

You have the "facts" to which the Collegian either had access or chose to print. You have absolutely no concept what really happened, and neither do I.

Yeah, maybe the TA is a total prick and changed the grades for some unknown reason. Or maybe the TA followed exactly the protocols that were established.

The student went through a grade appeal process and lost. You think it's a college-wide conspiracy to "fuck" this student? If so, why? Do you pretend you know that, also?

You have no idea. You're slinging shit based on incomplete knowledge while pretending you know everything.

[sandnsea]

51. "I Drew Up A New Grade Scale"

"To make the grades more representative of student performance, I set a curve (or, more accurately, I drew up a new grade scale)," reads an e-mail from Cushing to Marquis dated Jan. 10, 2007. At the end of the e-mail, Cushing stated, "I thought your grade was a good reflection of your work."

I already said why I thought the TA did it, because he was lousy at his job and had given out too many A's. That's the only way to draw up a curve that would turn a 92 into a C.

[philosophie_en_rose]

28. I agree. Complete bullshit.

Although an 84 does not appear to be an "A-" (more like a low B), a TA should not be able to lower grades just for the hell of it.

Each assignment was already graded and the average was computed. The TA lowered the grades across the board, because the TA either 1) is an asshat or 2) failed to grade properly in the first case. In either scenario, the students should not be penalized for the TA's failure.

[sandnsea]

29. He says he scored a 92

The 84 is after the TA applied his/her curve. As I understand it anyway. My kids didn't have standard 70-80-90 grading systems, 84's can be Cs these days. I don't know for sure that's the case.

[philosophie_en_rose]

35. I see. 92 is an A-.

But 84 seems high for a C-.

If the TA did not believe in the quality of the work, he shouldn't have graded the assignments so high in the first place.

[Monk06]

39. Grading policy is announced at the beginning of term. The TA..

does not have the authority to change it, especially
at the llth hour of the semester.

No professor in his right mind would approve changing
marks once the are awarded so the TA obviously overstepped.

The TA was arrogant and probably had an ax to grind with
Mr. Marquis due to Mr. M putting him on the spot in class.

I've seen it happen. As a philosophy TA my fellow marker
had a habit of suppressing the grades of students he didn't
like. I caught him grading down one of his students and
turned him into the Prof.

He was put on probation and the Prof checked all is marking
for the rest of the semester.

[RoyGBiv]

33. It's a curve ...

I took many classes, especially in the education department, where grades were curved, resulting in the student having only a vague idea of what his or her actual letter grade would be. My ex-wife, who has a PhD in education, has fought many battles over this because of her refusal to use it. I hated it as a student because I tended to be either setting the curve or just below the top end, which meant I could do perfectly on a test, save maybe 2 points, and someone else would get one more point and another a perfect score. Depending on where the rest of the class rested on the scale, I could actually end up with a C after scoring 98%. Some professors and educational theories swear by it, unfortunately, imo.

The recourse the student in this case will have is if the syllabus clearly indicated a grading scale that did not allow for a curve.

[sandnsea]

37. Implemented at the END of the course

With no warning. It would also appear the TA implemented it because he had too many high grades, when the curve is generally implemented because the entire class bombs a test and the teacher sees it as their failure and not the students. Regardless, as I said above, this someone's life and you don't just flippantly change the rules after the game has been played. These grades affect scholarships, grants, loans, etc., and I don't blame the guy for trying to do something about it.

[Buzz Clik]

46. Curves are ALWAYS implemented at the end of a course.

You cannot possibly invoke the curve until all the grades are in. It's the nature of the beast.

[sandnsea]

49. No, bullshit, you're told in advance

You never get a surprise curve that turns As into Cs.

[Buzz Clik]

59. Never?

Then why did he lose his appeal?

Your outrage is understandable, or would be if you knew all the facts. Your insistence on crashing forward with partial information is curious. If you so chose, your next word on this subject is the last. I'm done here.

[RoyGBiv]

47. Uh, yes ...

As already mentioned, that's when a curve becomes relevant.

I'm not saying I like it -- which I thought I made clear -- but that is what it is. This student's recourse is the course syllabus. If it left open, in any manner, the possibility of a curve, he has a very thin case unless he wants to challenge the propriety of a curve at all. He *could* do that, but he'll be tackling a not-insignificant segment of the educational establishment in the process.

I may admire and agree with his fight, but I know from experience that believing yourself to be right in a moral sense often has little relationship to how rules or, in this case, law will be implemented. Frankly, the "freedom of speech" complaint is, based on what I know only from reading these articles, so over-the-top that I can't help but question the complaint as a whole.

[sandnsea]

50. See #49

I don't know why you're pretending surprise curves is routine in education, let alone universities that people are paying HUGE money to attend.

[RoyGBiv]

52. I'm not pretending ...

Believe what you want to believe. It happens regularly, is standard practice in some contexts.

OnEdit: I'm reserving judgment until I see more actual facts. So far what I've seen are vague notions about what is and is not proper, most of it coming from the student, with a side-salad of excised commentary from a TA. But if the case rests entirely on the matter of a curved grade being given at the end of a course, this student has little legal basis for a complaint.

And, again, I have no clue what the "freedom of speech" complaint has to do with this. If, as it suggests, the student was penalized for an opinion in and of itself, that's one thing, but that's not clear from the evidence given.

[Buzz Clik]

62. Again, you have it: we don't have the complete story, and we never will.

[sandnsea]

67. We have the TA's own words

I don't know why you're bent on ignoring them.

[Buzz Clik]

68. I didn't ignore them. I refuse th accept that brief text as the entire story.

This is not a difficult concept: we don't have the entire story.

I'm not repeating this incredibly obvious fact again. If you wish to continue your tirade, please do.

[Buzz Clik]

60. You are EXACTLY correct.

I have no idea why our friend is so insistent on pretending otherwise.

[izzybeans]

58. My grad. school roommate graded this way. If he made this claim on the

syllabus then it is typically binding. If not, then the appeals process would have bore that out. Is it unfair? I suppose that depends on your philosophical standpoint on merit within a system of examinations. Grades on a universal standard vs. grades in competition with your fellow students. I don't know what to say about his 84% counting as a C. This sounds like someone whose universal standards are very high. I had several classes like this. Under 75% was failing, but this was graduate school. I don't think its appropriate for undergraduates in a 100 level course, maybe honors classes or 400 level classes but not 100 (but I do not do this in my own classes).

[Buzz Clik]

61. Bingo.

It's clear that the people posting on this thread who actually have experience with grading on the curve understand why the UMass student's claim appears to be groundless.

[sandnsea]

66. "on the syllabus"

He didn't say he graded per the syllabus - he said he drew up a new grade scale, a curve. Not the same thing at all. A 92% to an 84% on a curve - the TA originally had too many A's.

I don't know why people are so invested in an obvious mistake by this TA.

[izzybeans]

69. I did say "if". I'm waiting to here "whether or not". If he omitted his "curve process" from

the syllabus then the appeals process will catch that and the student is justified.

[habitual]

21. more info here

http://media.www.dailycollegian.com/media/storage/paper874/news/2007/02/07/News/Student.Files.Lawsuit.Against.Umass.Claims.He.Received.Unjust.Grade-2702566.shtml?sourcedomain=www.dailycollegian.com&MIIHost=media.collegepublisher.com

the teacher curved the grades at the end, and he isn't happy about it.

[meegbear]

24. Thanks for the additional info!

:hi:

[slackmaster]

34. Thanks for that - My opinion has shifted toward "they all need to get a life"

:argh:

[Katherine Brengle]

43. In this case, I have to side with the student --

unless it was stated at the beginning of the class that x points = x grade, there is no excuse for this kind of crap.

In the normal, rational world an 85 is a B and a 92 is an A- -- not a C.

That's f*ed up.

[LeftishBrit]

54. Thanks for extra info...

If the 'goalposts' were changed without warning, I can see more of a reason for complaint. (Aren't other students also involved, though?)

What puzzles me is that there would be such a difference between a 92 and an 84, and that 84, which sounds to me like a good mark, would be a C. I admit that I'm not that familiar with American marking systems.

[underpants]

31. I was thrown out of N.Y.U. my freshman year for cheating on my metaphysics final, you know.

I looked within the soul of the boy sitting next to me.

[slackmaster]

32. Article sets a new high in shortness on detail

:eyes:

[Odin2005]

36. What an arrogant crybaby.

[Nikki Stone1]

56. No, he actually has a good reason to fight this

The prof changed the grading system late in the semester to lower student grades overall. This guy actually earned an A-, but the very young prof (with limited experience) curved the grades DOWN and the guy ended up with a C. You just don't do this. You establish the grading system in the first week with the syllabus, and don't make serious changes to it, especially changes that reduce a student's earned grade down two letter grades.

[edbermac]

38. Reminds me of a scene in Woody Allen's Stardust Memories.

He's taking questions from the audience at a weekend film retreat:

"I understand you studied philosophy at school."

"That's not true. I took one course in existential philosophy at New York University, and on the final they gave me ten questions and I couldn't answer a single one of them. I left them all blank and I got a hundred."

[Nikki Stone1]

42. After reviewing the facts, I support this student's lawsuit (links)

i have been a college instructor and can tell you that grading policy is set at the beginning of the semester and is delineated in the syllabus. Students are told what work will count toward the grade, the percentage of each item, and the grading scale itself (90-100 =A or whatever). Students are told what might negatively impact their grade (non-attendance, non-participation, cheating or plagiarism, etc.) and some of these items are included in the student handbook. This grading information is like a contract and in most universities, the only changes a prof makes in grading are to the students' benefit, ie, creating a curve to raise the grades as a whole or providing extra credit work.

In this UMass case, It was Jeremy Cushing, a 5th year Grad Student ( http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/%7Ejeremyc/bio.htm ), who actually taught the philosophy course. My guess is that Jeremy is ABD but I can't find anything supporting that on the UMass website. He is then a young, fairly inexperienced teacher with only a few courses to his credit. (They are listed on the site) He's probably working on his dissertation and hasn't had the basic educational training that any 1st grade teacher gets. (Most profs don't, which is why they are idiosyncratic and often pretty lousy teachers. There are exceptions.)

The facts are:

"Marquis alleges his exams, papers and participation grades for the semester equal 92.1, not 84. He said he deserves an A- in the course. Before filing a complaint with the district attorney's office on Jan. 31, Marquis exchanged e-mails with Jeremy Cushing, the T.A. who taught the course and gave Marquis the C.

"To make the grades more representative of student performance, I set a curve (or, more accurately, I drew up a new grade scale)," reads an e-mail from Cushing to Marquis dated Jan. 10, 2007. At the end of the e-mail, Cushing stated, "I thought your grade was a good reflection of your work." "



Cushing made a very elementary error: he arbitrarily changed the grading system to penalize students, not to help them. I don't know why he did it: perhaps he was under pressure from the department for giving too many A's (and the department is most likely his source of educational funding) or he may simply have come to this decision himself. Either way, he broke the grading contract, and Marquis certainly had the right to file a grievance. What surprises me is that the school went along with it. Schools, though, often back the profs, even at their most ideosyncratic.

Here is his rating at ratemyprofessors.com

http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=738293

Some samples:

"jeremy is a cool dude, explains tricky subjects until he can tell everyone is on the same page, lectures are interesting and the class debates were a great addition, class isnt too demanding either, take this class"

"Powerpoint Philosophy....little to zero explanation of philosophical jargin"

"The course title was Philosophy of Art, and it was way more philosophy than it was art, which sucks. Jeremy was (perhaps unintentionally) rude abrasive and negative towards many of the students. On more than one occassion he interrupted students who were trying to comment in class. He was interested only in forcing his own view onto others. No."

[Katherine Brengle]

44. I agree, after also reviewing the facts --

this prof made a huuuuuuge error in judgment.

If I were that student, I wouldn't have accepted it either.

[Buzz Clik]

65. Doesn't it strike you as odd...

... that the only student to utter a peep of protest is one who is 15 years from retirement age? If Marquis got screwed, so did many other students. Why did they not join him in his protest?

No, we don't have all the facts, and the missing pieces would be very informative.

[Nikki Stone1]

70. Actually no. It seems quite typical. Younger students and older students approach professors

a little differently. Having taught both the 18-23 set and the older, adult set, I can tell you that the younger students will complain but not act on much. Their goal is not to rock to boat and to get out with a credential. If they are not paying for their own schooling, they are more inclined to let a bad grade (as long as it's not failing) go.

Older students approach the professor more like a peer, especially when they're in their late 30s, 40s and above. These older students have worked for a living, are usually paying their own way or a good part of it, and are less inclined to put up with academic intimidation. Having worked in the real world, these students have learned to negotiate authority differently, and they are less inclined to put up with arbitrary or unfair usages of power without some kind of a fight. Professors, accustomed to dealing with kids (yeah, they're legally adults, but most 18-23 year olds are still under some of mom and dad's rules), don't understand when adults challenge them. The Prof's word, at least on grading, is as close to absolute as one can get in a work situation. To an adult, this kind of absolute power is unheard of in the real world of work, and they simply don't understand why the professor can get away with things that he or she would NEVER get away with in real work situations.

So, no, not only does this not surprise me, but I have seen it before precisely when an older student finds him or herself subject to a level of arbitrariness that would never fly in a work situation. A friend of mine, in his late 30s, went back to school and a prof gave him an unfair grade that the prof could not explain. This wasn't the first unfair grade the prof had given, but this was the first late-30-something he had taught. The student grieved the grade with complete documentation and won, but not after a long hard fight. The student finally got the grade he deserved and the prof, who was being considered for a tenure track position, took a big hit to his reputation and lost the plum assignment he wanted. I thought that was fair.

[Buzz Clik]

64. Nice bit of search engine usage. However...

... you still don't have the most relevant facts:

1. Yes, the grading system is established from day one. However, if that system is grading on the curve, then nothing is certain until the last grade is recorded. Then and only then will grades be determined.

2. Marquis went through appeals and lost. Is it your assumption that the entirety of UMass is out to get him? The appeals process has two and only two functions: a) ensure that the student received the grade that was deserved and b) make sure that no irregularities in the grading exist. Point b is designed to cover the University's backside in case of lawsuit. Again, if Marquis exhausted the appeals process, it is premature to assume that the TA is wrong.

[Nikki Stone1]

71. Buzz Click, when you teach a class, you establish a grading system on Day 1

1. Re: Curves

Any curve that you might add to it is to be in the students' favor. Anything else gives a lie to your original grading system. In other words, if you tell students that a certain number of points (say 850-1,000) is an A, and they get 900 points, they should have an A. Period. To change the system in mid semester and say that 850-949 points is a B+, not really an A, means that you have deceived the student and broken the grading contract. Most colleges I have worked for ask for a copy of your syllabus, WITH GRADING SYSTEM, in the first 2 weeks of the semester. They then keep these on file. When a student wants to challenge a grade, the first thing a department does is check your syllabus to assess whether or not you followed your own grading system. If the student received a grade in line with that system (or a higher grade than that system would predict) then the student has less of a reason to protest. However, if the student received a grade lower than your system would predict, the student has grounds for a grievance.

2. Re: Emotional hysteria, ie. "Is UMass all out to get him???!!"

No, I am certain that no one is "out to get" him. In fact, the student, personally, probably has little to do with it. UMass is preserving professorial privilege, the professor's right to be the "last word" on grades. It's very strong at the university, where professors still have a certain mystique and grades are seen as deserved accolades, not items to be negotiated. The bias is to let the professor's grade stand. This sometimes leads to improperly handled grievances. My conclusion, based on the TA's arbitrary manipulation of grades to the detriment of the students, is that the university mishandled this grievance. And yes, an arbitrary manipulation of grades AFTER intially setting up a grading system (whether written on a syllabus or orally in class) does mean that TA was wrong. It's not illegal, but it is wrong.

[sweetheart]

48. It is adjudicated, therefore it exists

Bush has proven that overthowing the legal system overthrows the arbiters of truth,
no matter that universities and professors are entitled to their opinion...
but everyone has one of those, and freedom of speech is truth. :-)

[Swamp Rat]

55. boo hoo

:eyes:

[treestar]

63. Is this one of those freepers claiming his liberal prof is

punishing him for his views?

Sounds like the syndrome of "I work at a law firm and now know how to sue anybody so I will use this new skill to get anything I want." He is going to find that the court will come down very hard on him.