College teacher threatens student with grade

I emailed a teacher:

Date: 4/21/2014 12:51:35 PM
From: XXXX, Carolyn
To: XXX, CLEON
Subject: Extra Credit Week 14


You stated:

This is a 20 point extra credit assignment due no later than next Sunday, April 28th by 11:59 p.m. central time.

But only graded it to be 10 points.

Are you going to honor what you posted or is it going to stay 10 points?


He replied:

One of the requirements for this assignment was that empirical evidence be supported with at least two references and one example and by all reasonable measures Carolyn, you failed at doing this. In this particular case, if I were to honor anything it would be my conviction that work turned-in by students receives the grade commensurate with the quality of the work which in this particular case would be a zero. Would you like to retain the grade I gave you for this assignment (meaning it's going to remain at 10 points) or would you like for me to honor my conviction?


The topic for this extra credit assignment in Sociology was in regards to politics. He's a bleeding liberal and I'm a conservative. My assignment did have references and examples.

Did he threaten me?

No. He did not threaten you.

Now, before I answer any further - what is your goal here?

To prove that he threatened me with my grade and that he shouldn't be allowed to do that. We have had ongoing issues due to him posting exams on the weekends but not making himself available on the weekends. Just this past weekend he scheduled 3 of 3 exam and it wasn't the exam we had trouble with but the quiz. Several students emailed him and he didn't respond until Monday. I think if you're only going to make the exam available Friday - Sunday (one of those days being Easter) then you should be available to answer questions should they arise. This is my last class at this college. I have finished all my cousework this is an honors class that I'm taking to complete the honors part of my graduation and this is the worst teacher I have had in all my years of school and now I feel like he has threatened me with my grade, there should be some recourse for that.

If he felt the assignment was worth zero points then that is what he should have given me. He shouldn't award me a grade and then threaten to take it away.

cbillups2 said:

Did he threaten me?

Click to expand...

Short answer - no. (He was just telling you the way it is.)

Extra credit is always at the pleasure of the instructor.

You really think it's okay for a teacher to award you with a grade and then threaten to take it away?

The point of me sending the first email to him is because when I logged on, one column tells you how many points the assignment was worth and the second column tells you how many points you got out of that. When I looged in it said the assignement was worth 10 points and I was given 10 out of ten so I was simply clarifying that I was getting the full amount of points. And he took that as an open door to make more digs at me like he's been doing all semester.

I'd be more than happy to share the assignement to see where I'm coming from. Just because I'm not pro Obama, just because I don't agree with the "affordable" health care act, and just because I don't think that making strict background checks is going to resolve gun violence; he just didn't like what I had in my paper. I by far had SEVERAL references and examples.

I looked up rate my professor and seen that another student had commented the following about him:

He was not willing to help me with anything. His spelling is horrible, but he expects yours to be perfect! He is currently 2.5 weeks behind on grading. He seems very biased on most subjects we've covered. I wouldn't recommend him to anyone, I don't even think he should be teaching!

He just thinks he can railroad students to conforming with his leftist ideology!!

That's not what you said above. And your tone, to him, in that email was disrespectful and rude. There's a couple of "she shouldn'ts" applicable to you, too, Princess.

By far I know that my tone with him isn't the most pleasant. Like I said it's been an ongoing thing. I've spoke with the Dean and the Vice President of the school. The Vice President has agreed with me on the first incident between this teacher and I, and the fact the teacher was wrong. This has been going on since the 3rd week of this semester. I have in all my time at this institution not had any problem with any teacher even when things did not go my way. He crossed the line in my opinion when he threaten to take away a grade he had already awarded.

For goodness sakes, let it go.
I'd be more worried about the harm this current administration is causing the entire country than some lap dog at a college in Kansas.
I'm an old man.
My old carcass and my old wife are emigrating to Belize because of this mess, which can't be laid in the lap of the current White House resident entirely.
Congratulations on your pending graduation with honors. Now, get back into the real world and help fix the messes you've identified.

Or, look into emigrating to countries that leave their citizens alone.
One last shot, that bit about freedom, bread and circuses, bread and circuses.