Students scrambling to prove grades issued by ousted professor
A fourth-year communication studies class has unexpectedly been assigned a new professor and classroom for second semester, leaving students worried about their unmarked assignments and grades.
Around 4 p.m. on January 7, students from section B of COMN 4700—a full year seminar course taught by Niamh Hennessy—were sent an email saying their 7 p.m. class had been relocated to TEL 0011 and that Professor Rob Gill would be the instructor for the winter term. Students from Section C, the Wednesday class, were not notified via email.
After going to the new classroom and waiting for Gill to arrive, students in the Monday night class say Hennessy showed up instead and taught the class.
Hennessy told the class that she would continue to teach the course and that she was not informed of any changes in location or professors.
“I haven’t received any formal notification from the department saying I’m not teaching the course,” Hennessy told her students during class on January 7. “If I get something official, I would have to contend with it legally.”
Hennessy alleges the communication studies department has been tampering with her documents and grades for the course, and told her students she feels the department is trying to get rid of her.
“There hasn’t been any due process, and no evidence for firing me,” Hennessy said in class on January 7.
When going to their regular classroom on January 9, section C students found two York Security officers guarding the door. They were surprised to learn Hennessy was no longer teaching the course and that Gill was the replacement professor.
On January 14, Hennessy was denied entry into the classroom by two York security officers, who told her she was not supposed to be on the property.
Kevin Dowler, chair of the communications department, visited the class to explain the situation with students and introduce the new professor, Gill.
Henessy is on leave because of personal reasons, said Dowler.
“That’s all I can tell you,” he told students in the Monday class on January 14.
Dowler said there were security officers stationed outside the classroom, not for their safety, but to keep Hennessy out.
“She might show up when she’s not supposed to be there this term,” Dowler said.
Joanne Rider of York media says she is unable to provide details about the circumstances pertaining to Hennessy’s leave due to privacy reasons.
“As previously indicated, the professor who taught this course in the fall is currently on leave, and another individual will teach it,” Rider says.
Students say they were surprised by what happened.
“Seeing a new professor entering the class was a bit frustrating, and I felt like Professor Hennessy did not deserve to be treated that way,” says fourth-year communication studies major, Lea Salameh.
During both last Wednesday’s class on January 9 and this Monday’s class on January 14, Gill discussed how the course will operate for the remainder of the semester.
Gill went over the course syllabus and the weighting of assignments, and said he would not be changing any previously assigned grades, but that students would need to bring in hard copies of their work to confirm marks assigned in first semester due to the transition between professors.
This is a problem for students who never had hard copies of their work returned to them and only saw their marks on Moodle, and for students who no longer have hard copies of their graded work.
Salameh says while Gill assures students their grades won’t change if they can show a hard copy, she is missing the hard copy of her midterm.
“I don’t know if he will ask me to write the midterm again,” she says. “It is unfair, and a lot of students are facing the same problem.”
When asked by Excalibur for a comment regarding what will happen to students who are missing marks and why Hennessy was abruptly removed from the course as the professor, Dowler provided an emailed statement saying, “The course director is in discussion with students and in consultation with the department, and is devising a plan to address the grading for the course. As Chair, I have spoken with the students and requested that if they have any questions or concerns they should contact the Department and/or me personally.”
By Hamid Adem, Assistant News Editor
