Profs must be accountable

On Jan. 2, just five days before the start of the new semester at Wilfrid Laurier University, 2,600 grades had yet to be reported. With graduate school deadlines and last-minute class choices approaching, those students were without an essential piece of information; and that is simply not fair. WLU has a policy that professors have their final marks submitted within 96 hours of the class’s final exam.

Considering the last day of the exam period was Dec. 19, either several profs didn’t respect the deadline, or the university didn’t do a good enough job enforcing it.

One thing that’s for sure: the only losers in the situation were the students.

Yes, professors at Laurier can be burdened with large class sizes, and many go without TAs. But this is a reality of post-secondary education in Canada and professors need to be accountable to their students.

When a student hands an assignment in late, they are given a penalty. Why then is it fair for professors to submit their work late with no repercussions?  Marking students’ work may be just one part of a professor’s job. But it is, nonetheless, part of their job. And one that is very important to students, who, let’s not forget, are essentially paying customers in this scenario.