Write an informal memo report to the Chair of the Student Complaint Committee, summarizing both positions and explaining your own judgment for addressing the complaint.

Final Exam for English 2311

Dr. Geoffrey A. Grimes, Instructor

 (Revised December 6, 2016)

Instructions

You are a member of the Mountain View College’s Student Complaint Committee.  You have received a complaint from a student who claims she missed her final exam because the instructor changed the final exam hour without notifying her.  In response to the student complaint, the instructor has a very different explanation which he has shared with the Student Complaint Committee.

 

Write an informal memo report to the Chair of the Student Complaint Committee, summarizing both positions and explaining your own judgment for addressing the complaint.

Your task is to choose the appropriate pattern for organizing your report to the Student Complaint Committee. Include the appropriate heading formats, body text, and division elements, depending on the organizational pattern you choose.

Submission

Email this exercise just as you have your other exercises as a file saved in Microsoft Word only.

Due Date

You must submit your final exam before the end of the last day of the final exam week. Consult the date found in your syllabus.

 

The Scenario

A female student, Sarah Ponder, has filed a complaint with you about an instructor, Professor Randall Baxter, in the English Department.  Sarah claims that Professor Baxter unfairly failed her in the course after refusing to allow her to make up the final exam.  She says that her instructor changed the time of the final exam without her knowledge and that when she showed up at the announced time two hours later, no one was in the classroom.  She saw another student from the same class who said that the class had approved the change in a vote and that Professor Baxter had printed a statement announcing the change of the exam time and distributed it to the class two weeks earlier.  She claims that she never saw such an announcement.

 

Moments later, Sarah claims that, when she went to see her instructor, Professor Baxter refused to allow her to make up the exam when she could not show him an acceptable written excuse for missing the test.  She claims that a zero on the final exam kept her from passing the course with at least a grade of “C.”

 

Professor Baxter explained that Sarah was chronically absent throughout the course and presented an attendance roster that showed that Sarah had missed more than ten classes.  Additionally, she had failed to complete two major written assignments that were due on days that she missed and had never consulted him about the work until the last week of the class.  One of the days she missed was the day that he had distributed the written announcement of the earlier exam schedule.  He says that she never came by his office after that time to inquire about what she had missed on that day.  Her average with a passing grade on the final exam would not have changed her grade from an “F” since the two zeros for the other missed work pulled her grade down.

 

Professor Baxter presented a copy of the memorandum that he had distributed to the students two weeks prior to the scheduled exam.  He had requested the change in time on the same day to allow him to meet with his doctoral committee at an area university, a meeting scheduled late in the semester over which he had no control.  He says that he polled the class, and that everyone had agreed to meet the two hours earlier since no one had another conflict.

 

College policy states that all instructors will administer the final exams on the announced date and time as posted in the official college calendar found in the printed schedule of classes.

 

Professor Baxter had not consulted with you before changing the schedule with his class.

 

Sarah Ponder feels claims that Professor Baxter is often late to class, doesn’t give meaningful feedback on papers, and is difficult to find in his office at posted office hours.  She also claims that he only returned one of three phone messages that she left on his voice mail.  As a female student, Sarah feels intimidated by him because of his attitude toward women.

 

< End of the Scenario >

 

Revised August 2016