To ask uni workers if I should/can question this?

[TheHouseWithTheBambooDoor]

Hi there! I'm doing a year-long evening class at the local uni, which will result in an official assessed mark at the end of the year.

At the end of last semester I contacted the department ahead of the deadline for a written unit of work as I was ill and felt it would affect my ability to complete the work. The person in the department offered me a one-week extension on the work – I submitted a doctor's note and handed in the work by the revised deadline, as agreed.

Now I've been told that the MC committee met and have decided that I can have that piece of work omitted from the marks for the year. I got a good mark and don't want it omitted – I would like the work to be recognised!

I am considering questioning this, as I was unambiguously offered a deadline extension, however I don't want to piss off the person I have been dealing with. There's no point objecting if there's no chance of this being changed. Does anyone have any insight? Is it worth trying to get them to honour the original extension?

Thanks in advance for any responses!

Yes definitely query it. Your tutor or programme lead may help. Try looking at the university policies for postponement and mitigating circumstances and see how they have been interpreted.

100% question this and don't back down! You were offered an extension, submitted a note and completed the work. Definitely make sure that mark is awarded.

Do you have this offer in writing?

Thanks Rolypolybabies! I initially sent an email in response to the outcome explaining that I was a bit confused as I was previously told that I had been granted an extension. The contact at the university (who also offered the one week extension) replied but basically ignored this bit – the response was along the lines "The MC can decide whether to give an extension (and waive late marks) or omit the work, and we decided to do the latter". Doesn't seem right as I was already told it was ok to submit the work late, in advance of missing the deadline!

Their policy states that it is not possible to appeal against decisions, so I'm just wondering how to approach any further conversations. It's a bit awkward as it's the same person who said it was fine so I don't want to sound like I'm arguing with them/being a dick about it.

FredaFrogspawn yes it was all agreed over email!

Definitely question it.

I work in this area. You're allowed to appeal decisions based on procedural irregularity. Being given contradictory information would count.

This is really weird! Why offer anyone an extension if they're going to decide your work doesn't count anyway? It's bizarre and not usually what happens in my experience!

Question it, it doesn't make sense, if you got a good mark and they want to omit the work, that would affect how their pass rates of the course would look.

I'd understand if out of a series of good marks you had one basic pass due to late penalties, they'd omit that and recalculate but not if it was good one. It's almost like there has been a miscommunication and they're treating the situation as this scenario.

Also you need to state with the evidence that you had permission to extend and a dr note before the deadline. It sounds ds like they're working from the assumption that you just submitted late or backtracked with a dr note after the submission date.

I suppose it might depend on who offered you an extension and what they actually said to you-do you have it in writing?

They might have had no authority to offer the extension, or if they said "If you get a doctor's note, then it's worth submitting it late, but there's no guarantee they will accept it" is very different from "no worries, as long as there's a doctor's note we'll accept it up to a week late."

It may also be in your course terms and conditions that "with a medical note assignments may be accepted late, but the MC has the final decision whether to accept it."

Hi @Witchend, the person who relayed the outcome this week is the same person who offered the extension in writing. They are a senior administrator in the department and wrote in the recent email "In this case we have opted for the latter [course of action]", so it sounds like they were involved in the decision-making process.

There was no ambiguity with the extension – I was explicitly told that I had permission to submit the work a week after the original deadline and asked to provide a note from the doctor (who I had already visited) as evidence. Which I did (I collected and submitted the note once we were back home after the new year). So I submitted it late on their say-so.

I asked at the time to let me know if there was anything else they needed to do or any forms they needed to fill in, etc.

I'm just wondering now how to phrase it – I don't want to sound 'complainy' but would like them to honour the original extension!

There should be a means of complaining about the decision. Do you have a Student Union advisory service? They should be able to help you find the correct appeals procedure.

@thereinmadnesslies yeah that was my thought – just ringing them now but no answer. Looking at their guidelines, they ask you to exhaust informal avenues first, so I will have to speak with this person again as a first port of call by the looks of it.

If you have all the emails, then what I would do would be an email that says roughly:

In your email dated XXX you stated that "it should be okay if you submit late with a doctor's note" (copy and paste directly). This led me to believe that submitting late would still lead to the full marks.
I asked for a late submission as, due to my illness, I felt the work I could produce would not be a true reflection of my ability, however if I had known there was a risk of the assignment not being accepted, then I would have done my best to submit it on time.
May I ask why the decision not to accept my work was taken in the light of the previous email?

That way you are putting it to them that you acted according to the information you had. They may feel that what they said did not state it will be marked-sometimes what they meant and what you read can be different, through neither's fault.
You're also asking for a response, but not aggressively. You may get a response of "we don't discuss decisions", but in which case you wouldn't get anywhere with them anyway. But they might come back with something that you then look back at the email and think, actually I can see that they did mean this, in which case you can kick yourself and move on!
It's not unreasonable to ask for reasoning, I would make sure it doesn't go into the "it's unfair: I complain" territory as you still have to deal with them.

It may be that they weren't involved in the actual decision, forgot that they'd agreed it with you, or were the lone fighter on your behalf and had to give way.

If you google student complaints and your university name you should find info about the complaints process. I work in student complaints and appeals for a RG university - PM me the name of the uni if you want me to try and find the procedure for you.

Also do you have a course handbook and does it set out their policy around extensions and mitigating circumstances?

Thanks @Witchend that's really useful insight. I've used your phrasing and adapted what I'd already written – I've tried to be respectful, polite and factual but the way you've phrased it sounds more dispassionate! Thank you :)

Thanks @thereinmadnesslies, I've sent you a message!