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[quote=Anonymous]Professors and universities are actually subject to some legal parameters, though most professors are unaware of this and believe something like allowing or not allowing an exam retake is totally up to their discretion.

Title IX, for example, guarantees a pregnant student whose pregnancy impacts an exam or other hard deadlines the right to retake that exam or receive other accommodations. Most professors believe it's up to them whether or not to grant extensions or exceptions to stated policy in that case. In the case of the student with menstrual pain, she might also be covered by Title IX.

More important is the concept of "arbitrary and capricious" grading. The courts have ruled multiple times that professors must grade according the standards of their university and field, and that stated policies must be followed as stated and applied evenly to everyone in the class. This means that if Student A, who has been a stellar student all semester, misses the final due to the flu and is granted a retake, Student B must be granted the same opportunity even if she has been a crummy student and complains of menstrual pain. Policy waivers can only be granted in extraordinary circumstances, or all students in the class can claim that their grades are arbitrary.

The idea is to prevent both favoritism and retaliation.

This also means that a professor can't "forgive" an assignment for one student and not for everyone else, or assess late penalties for some students and not others (excluding those that follow extension policies).

Other case law has held that the Syllabus is, in fact, a contract, and the professor is bound by the policies and content of that syllabus.

Much as they are discouraged from going to the police to report assault and theft, students are discouraged from complaining about unfair, mean, or vindictive professors. The law is on their side, however.

Here is a link to the AAUP's discussion of grading law: https://www.aaup.org/issues/grading/who-grades-students[/quote]

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