Professor Misconduct

[Walrusaaa]

I took a grad class last semester. The syllabus states that there will be hw+exam and they count 40% of our final grade. The other 60% of final grade are just discussion+presentation. We had 3 exams and 1 hw in total. The professor never returned them back to the students nor told us our scores. At the end of the semester I received a B from the professor. I believe there is some academic misconduct based on the facts:
1. The professor's grad student (my friend) told me that he had never graded our exams or hw. The first exam even got stolen before he had a chance to look at it but he never mentioned this to us in class.
2. He gave 4 A and 8 B in total. There were 3 Americans and 9 Asians in the class. All Americans and 1 lucky Asian dog got A. I guess his grading strategy was giving Americans A so they can keep quiet, Asians can simply suck everything. BTW, the professor is Asian.
I want to report him to the department. The problem is nobody will probably stand out to accuse him except myself. Most students who get B are his grad students (I am not) meaning they get paid from him. My only chance to win this case is to proof that he didn't follow his syllabus by failing to grade any work. 60% of the grade is subjective so there is no way to prove I did better than the A students. I want to simply ask him for all my hw and exams back to prove he didn't grade them but I think he would just say he left them at home and would bring them back to me later. Then he will get time to make up things according to the grades he already gave.
What should I do to make sure he get punished?

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[ndafife]

Do you have any evidence other than wild speculations of racism or a story from a friend that may or may not be actually true?

 

[JustAPhD]

I'm just gonna remind you that correlation =/ causation (or in this case: racism).

 

[kb1900]

Do you have any evidence at all (what you posted isn't evidence)? Go to ur dean with this accusation and you'll be laughed out of the office.

 

[Walrusaaa]

Do you have any evidence other than wild speculations of racism or a story from a friend that may or may not be actually true?

Yes, right now I don't have any evidence but that's why I am asking how to collect any before he destroys them. If I ask him for all my hw and exams back and he gives them back to me immediately then I was wrong about this. However, if he couldn't provide me any exact score of my work and use simple excuse like he left them at home, what can I do?
I know it is hard to believe my story. I am a PhD student, I don't care about GPA. I am not a lazy student, I got straight A for all my grad courses except this one. He just gave me a B without ANY feedback, none from hw, presentation, or paper. All I received was a letter grade.

 

[IlDestriero]

At least he gave the As to the Americans.
#MakeAmericaGreatAgain


--
Il Destriero

 

[Mad Jack]

"DO/PhD student" complaining about a B because racism? Yeah I'll pass on that one Alex, give me What is Trolling for 500.

 

[Walrusaaa]

Do you have any evidence at all (what you posted isn't evidence)? Go to ur dean with this accusation and you'll be laughed out of the office.

Thank you for your reply, I understand it is hard to believe my story because I can not say too much about that professor on other issues to convince you. I am looking for advise on how to ask for my hw and exam papers back without being screwed by simple excuse like he left them at home.

 

[JustAPhD]

Honestly, now knowing that you're a PhD student I would just take the B and not burn any bridges with the department. You're right, you don't have any evidence and most likely won't get any meaningful evidence in this pursuit.

 

[spiffysteve]

Thank you for your reply, I understand it is hard to believe my story because I can not say too much about that professor on other issues to convince you. I am looking for advise on how to ask for my hw and exam papers back without being screwed by simple excuse like he left them at home.

What if he legitimately left them at home? Or, what if your friend was wrong and he did grade them? What if he did grade them, and you did poorly on the subjective portion and got a B? It seems to me that you're more interested in punishing the dude than proving that he did something wrong.

I think that, if you really want to take care of this the right way, make an appointment with him and go talk to him during office hours. Based on what you said, there's a pretty small chance that he's actually an immoral professor who's racist against people belonging to his own race.

 

[Mansamusa]

Yes, right now I don't have any evidence but that's why I am asking how to collect any before he destroys them. If I ask him for all my hw and exams back and he gives them back to me immediately then I was wrong about this. However, if he couldn't provide me any exact score of my work and use simple excuse like he left them at home, what can I do?
I know it is hard to believe my story. I am a PhD student, I don't care about GPA. I am not a lazy student, I got straight A for all my grad courses except this one. He just gave me a B without ANY feedback, none from hw, presentation, or paper. All I received was a letter grade.

Well, instead of accusing him of a baseless charge, why don't you go and ask if you could get feedback on how you did in the course and what you can do to improve?

The whole not getting feedback (unless this is a straight-up fact learning course) shouldn't really fly in grad school. The whole point of grad school is to be constantly getting feedback from experts or else you are just wasting time. That is a valid complaint on your part, but not the grade. It is reasonable to go ask for feedback if the class was based on subjective things that you may need to improve for the future

And you sure care a lot about this for someone who doesn't care about their gpa.

 

[Mad Jack]

Thank you for your reply, I understand it is hard to believe my story because I can not say too much about that professor on other issues to convince you. I am looking for advise on how to ask for my hw and exam papers back without being screwed by simple excuse like he left them at home.

You do realize that a B in a PhD program doesn't mean a damn thing right? No one cares. Just let it go. You'll do nothing but hurt your future if you pursue anything.

 

[ortnakas]

Agree with @Mansamusa. I wouldn't bother arguing about the grade, especially since you have zero evidence for the racism aspect. You do have a legitimate point on the lack of feedback, especially in a graduate program.

 

[JustAPhD]

You do realize that a B in a PhD program doesn't mean a damn thing right? No one cares. Just let it go. You'll do nothing but hurt your future if you pursue anything.

This.

I'd argue that the relationships with your professors are more important than your grades in a PhD program (of course assuming you aren't pulling Cs).

 

[Winged Scapula]

If you are a DO/PhD student, why are you posting in the Pre-Med forums?

Are you a medical student doing the PhD portion of his studies, or straight up PhD? If its the latter, please change your user status.

While I cannot comment on the racism aspect, I can make the observation that if the majority of your grade was based on "discussion and presentation", it appears from your post here that you could use some work in that area. I suspect that English is not your first language and perhaps your professor had higher expectations of a graduate level discussion and presentation skills from you that your ESL hindered.

 

[ProspectiveKidd]

Im surprised that a PhD student would choose to extrapolate the grades of 12 whole students in a classroom with unknown variables. On top of that claim racism? Get your **** together OP, it doesn't look like you're gonna make it.

 

[deleted480308]

I took a grad class last semester. The syllabus states that there will be hw+exam and they count 40% of our final grade. The other 60% of final grade are just discussion+presentation. We had 3 exams and 1 hw in total. The professor never returned them back to the students nor told us our scores. At the end of the semester I received a B from the professor. I believe there is some academic misconduct based on the facts:
1. The professor's grad student (my friend) told me that he had never graded our exams or hw. The first exam even got stolen before he had a chance to look at it but he never mentioned this to us in class.
2. He gave 4 A and 8 B in total. There were 3 Americans and 9 Asians in the class. All Americans and 1 lucky Asian dog got A. I guess his grading strategy was giving Americans A so they can keep quiet, Asians can simply suck everything. BTW, the professor is Asian.
I want to report him to the department. The problem is nobody will probably stand out to accuse him except myself. Most students who get B are his grad students (I am not) meaning they get paid from him. My only chance to win this case is to proof that he didn't follow his syllabus by failing to grade any work. 60% of the grade is subjective so there is no way to prove I did better than the A students. I want to simply ask him for all my hw and exams back to prove he didn't grade them but I think he would just say he left them at home and would bring them back to me later. Then he will get time to make up things according to the grades he already gave.
What should I do to make sure he get punished?

are you somehow unaware that americans can be of asian descent?.........or do you happen to know that none of the people who have an asian appearance in that class were citizens?

 

[OchemOficionado]

Just because race is mentioned doesn't mean someone is being accused of racism. I don't see how people took that and ran with it when he also mentions the professor's race being the same as the students that got the Bs.

Other than that, take the B.

 

[ProspectiveKidd]

Just because race is mentioned doesn't mean someone is being accused of racism. I don't see how people took that and ran with it when he also mentions the professor's race being the same as the students that got the Bs.

Other than that, take the B.

He suggested that Americans were given preferential treatment through he professors behavior. This is discrimination by definition and could be considered racism.

I don't agree with what he's saying, but that's where it comes from. Many people are actually prejudice against their own race FWIW.

 

[cardzkp]

Im surprised that a PhD student would choose to extrapolate the grades of 12 whole students in a classroom with unknown variables. On top of that claim racism? Get your **** together OP, it doesn't look like you're gonna make it.

Wut??????????????

I think he will make it lol... assuming this isn't a troll post of course.

 

[ProspectiveKidd]

I think he will make it lol... assuming this isn't a troll post of course.

We're all gonna make it brah

 

[OchemOficionado]

He suggested that Americans were given preferential treatment through he professors behavior. This is discrimination by definition and could be considered racism.

I don't agree with what he's saying, but that's where it comes from. Many people are actually prejudice against their own race FWIW.

Americans. . . so, nationality then. Discrimination and racism are many times NOT one in the same. (Or should I say, they are not always happening at the same time) This case is an example, in my opinion.

I figured maybe it come from the "Asian can suck it" comment. I'm not sure what he meant by that. Anyone can be prejudice towards anything. Either way, prejudice and racism also aren't the same things.

 

[ProspectiveKidd]

Americans. . . so, nationality then. Discrimination and racism are many times NOT one in the same. This case is an example, in my opinion.

I figured maybe it come from the "Asian can suck it" comment. I'm not sure what he meant by that. Anyone can be prejudice towards anything. Either way, prejudice and racism also aren't the same things.

I agree with what you're saying, and I think he was leaning more towards the lack of feedback for his argument anyways. With the way he was describing it, (corroborated by many viewpoints ITT) it can be considered racism. Assuming that Americans are white.

 

[OchemOficionado]

I agree with what you're saying, and I think he was leaning more towards the lack of feedback for his argument anyways. Just saying that (corroborated by many viewpoints ITT) it can be considered racism

And, my comment was saying that although some got that from the post, I didn't.

 

[DrDre2017]

What do the Americans need to keep quiet about? His plot to give all Asians Bs (except one, I guess)? And if a professor was discriminating against Asians purely because of race and not academic performance, and he had the power to give any grade he wanted, why wouldn't he give a lower grade than a B?

Americans. . . so, nationality then. Discrimination and racism are many times NOT one in the same. (Or should I say, they are not always happening at the same time) This case is an example, in my opinion.

I figured maybe it come from the "Asian can suck it" comment. I'm not sure what he meant by that. Anyone can be prejudice towards anything. Either way, prejudice and racism also aren't the same things.

I guess it doesn't help that when people hear "American," they initially think of White people (at least, I do). And that they usually think of Asian as a race, not an ethnicity / nationality.

 

[OchemOficionado]

I guess it doesn't help that when people hear "American," they initially think of White people (at least, I do). And that they usually think of Asian as a race, not an ethnicity / nationality.

Indeed. I think that's the problem. I'm excited about the addition of social sciences to the MCAT, that will help in many many ways.

 

[eteshoe]

Yes, right now I don't have any evidence but that's why I am asking how to collect any before he destroys them. If I ask him for all my hw and exams back and he gives them back to me immediately then I was wrong about this. However, if he couldn't provide me any exact score of my work and use simple excuse like he left them at home, what can I do?
I know it is hard to believe my story. I am a PhD student, I don't care about GPA. I am not a lazy student, I got straight A for all my grad courses except this one. He just gave me a B without ANY feedback, none from hw, presentation, or paper. All I received was a letter grade.

So @Walrusaaa your PhD GPA is now like a 3.97? Dude let it go and focus on your research. Burning bridges is not worth one letter grade. Now if you had lower than a 'B' that would be another discussion since you have to keep over 3.0 each semester.

 

[DrBowtie]

Easy game for Prof. He can say you got 100% on homework and it wouldn't matter if the subjective is 60%. You'll be getting a B.

 

[ramifications]

I think this reflects a very important lesson that should come handy for you later. That is if you value your grades so much, you should get feedback from every assignment you do at the right time. I myself was in your position and while I got all As on everything written, subjectively I found out weeks later that the evaluators were giving me like Ds and Fs...as if grades don't matter pfffft and you should just secretly assume that this one kid won't care. Overall instead of getting an A- or higher, I ended up fencing on B- and B...receiving the same type of grade as a co-student who was lazy as don't know what. The biggest mistake I made at the end of the course was telling the professor about this and arguing over the grade with very good reason. Instead of hearing me out, the evaluater's opinion was more highly valued (and rightly so because without that person, the professor couldn't function their job). I lost out on a valid argument and also possibly burned a bridge because after that the professor refused LOR. I thought to myself that this was more of my own problem to deal with than anything. I should have come prepared with a notebook on hand and really asked the evaluators what they thought of me. I overestimated my own abilities and I let strangers assume the worst of me. In college, no matter how I presented my case, if I wanted to argue over a grade, I only won the argument when it was very early in the game. Once your final grade is decided, there can only be one way to change it...and that is if someone royally screwed up in addition or calculation. Usually this error is apparant if you see a grade that was really out of the ballpark. I highly recommend the OP to let it go. Any questions directed to the professor must be under the pretext that you want feedback and a breakdown of how you did in each section. I would strongly argue that you should back down from taking any harsh actions as burning bridges do more harm for you in the near future than getting a passing grade. In my class, the students who got scholarship and other wonderful accolades were not the brightest nuts in the bunch that graduated with me but they won in terms of looking pretty, maintaining professional atmosphere, and just laying low.

 

[DrDre2017]

Indeed. I think that's the problem. I'm excited about the addition of social sciences to the MCAT, that will help in many many ways.

In what ways, do you think? I think it will help if students who wouldn't have taken a Sociology, Anthropology, or otherwise culture-related class do so for the purposes of the MCAT (though that's not the best of motives). But other than teaching certain terminology or analyzing statistical data about the topics, I don't know much about what it would do.

 

[OchemOficionado]

In what ways, do you think? I think it will help if students who wouldn't have taken a Sociology, Anthropology, or otherwise culture-related class do so for the purposes of the MCAT (though that's not the best of motives). But other than teaching certain terminology or analyzing statistical data about the topics, I don't know much about what it would do.

I was thinking along the same lines as you in regard to the premeds that would now take a few social science courses. I'm assuming it could possibly lead to a shift in attitude, bedside manner, cultural sensitivity/awareness, interest in other areas, etc. over the years (decades?). (What some Med schools hope for when they like applicants that aren't science majors??)

I'm not sure what the stats are over the last, let's just say, 80 years are on how many doctors that were science majors took these courses, but in my own experience, I've seen waves of premeds at my (very, very, very premed heavy) university rush to register for different psych and soc classes in hopes of doing well on that portion of the MCAT. Maybe the growth I'm thinking will happen with many future applicants is wishful thinking on my part. Hopefully not.

 

[235009]

BTW, the professor is Asian.

The cherry on top.

 

[ace_inhibitor111]

The solution is really simple: just ask to see your exams. If he left them at home, then he has to go get them. I don't see what the issue is.

 

[Crayola227]

I laughed so hard I almost wet myself