A 51 year old college student and paralegal, Brian Marquis, sued UMass over a bad grade in his Poltical Philosphy class. At first I thought it was just a stunt to get attention from a law school, but when I read the article, I am convinced he was wronged. I’m not sure if he was legally wronged, but he was definitely screwed.
At the start of the semester last fall, Marquis said, Cushing told the class that students would take three tests, each worth 25 percent of the final grade, for a total of 75 percent. Four papers, each worth 5 percent, would comprise 20 percent of the grade. Class participation would decide the rest.
Based on that formula, Marquis figured he scored a 92.5 percent, or an A-minus. But when the Lanesborough resident checked his grade online in early January, he saw a C and e-mailed Cushing to complain.
Cushing wrote back that he graded the students more stringently on the third exam because they had had a full semester to learn how to write for a philosophy class. As a result, Cushing wrote, Marquis got an 84 for the class. But the students’ numerical scores struck Cushing as too high, so he graded everyone on a curve before assigning letter grades. Marquis ended up with a C.
It is just not right to change the rules after the semester has ended. He was graded by a graduate student teaching assistant, Jeremy Cushing, half his age. A judge dismissed the case.
So what do you think? Is Marquis right or wrong?
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