Maggie Macintosh, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Winnipeg Free Press

A now-senior executive at Brandon University turned a student’s failing grade into an A+ when she was the dean of science, a move that overrode the course instructor’s concerns and is raising questions about grading oversight in the aftermath.

Multiple sources corroborated details about an April 2022 incident that took place when Bernadette Ardelli was overseeing eight departments and two programs in the faculty of science at BU. Ardelli has since been promoted to vice-president for research and graduate studies.

“She gave a grade that was mathematically impossible,” one university employee — who agreed to an interview on the condition of anonymity — told the Free Press.

Concerns about the incident resurfaced internally on campus this fall.

The Free Press has learned that, as the winter term was coming to a close in 2021-22, Ardelli replaced a final grade of F despite the instructor’s insistence the student — who is related to someone known to the then-dean outside campus — had not actively participated or completed assignments throughout the course.

Leaked documents show the student originally received a 45 per cent in the advanced science course known for being time-intensive, owing to all the hands-on labs required. That mark — which translated to an F in BU’s letter grade system — was updated in the university’s internal database within 24 hours, according to multiple documents.

The syllabus was set up so that even if the student in question had earned 100 per cent on every outstanding assignment, presentation and lab, the highest possible mark they could have received was 85 per cent. An A+ is the equivalent of 90 per cent or higher.

More than a half-dozen different people with connections to the university have independently verified the chain of events in recent weeks. Both first-person accounts and emails reveal employees and alumni are concerned the former dean has been sharing an incomplete picture of the three-year-old incident.

Some of them described this grade inflation incident as “an open secret” in certain circles on campus.

The faculty association formally alerted BU administration about a grievance on May 18, 2022. It alleged the dean breached a contract instructor’s academic freedom, failed to follow university policies and was in a conflict of interest. The case resulted in a formal apology roughly two years later.

“I write to offer my sincere apology for the stress and anxiety you suffered, and for any pressure you felt, in relation to our interactions, which concluded with my decision to change the grade of one of your students at the conclusion of the winter 2022 term,” Ardelli wrote in a letter addressed to the instructor, who is no longer employed by the university.

“With the benefit of hindsight, I now recognize that I ought to have discussed the grade change and grade appeal process with you in more detail and ensured that you were provided with sufficient information to know the basis for the decision.”

Those comments were printed on university letterhead. The letter was not dated, but the Free Press has reviewed a signed copy and confirmed it was received in November 2024.

The course instructor declined an interview, citing how stressful the incident and its fallout has been for them and their family.

Ardelli did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

On Jan. 14, not long after the apology was delivered to the recipient, the BU senate — the governing board responsible for making academic-related decisions on campus — was scheduled to receive the first report from a newly created subcommittee to review grade-appeal protocols.

University records show senators have debated ways for students to challenge grades, how subsequent investigations should unfold and whether a dean should be able to unilaterally change a final course mark this year.

“Some senators are uncomfortable with the dean being able to make a decision in contradiction to the will of the instructor and the chair,” according to minutes from a May 13 meeting.

Although the undergraduate course calendar advises students of steps required to make an appeal, the university does not have a formal policy to deal with situations of this sort.

Faculty members revealed that senior administration defended the dean’s actions — which did not follow typical protocols or practises at BU — by reframing the course calendar’s contents as guidelines rather than formal policies during the grievance process. Leaked documents corroborate their claims.

The senate subcommittee’s draft is currently under review.

Ardelli was promoted to the highest ranks of the university while the grievance remained unresolved. As of Jan. 1, 2024, she is the inaugural vice-president of research and graduate studies. She is midway through her five-year term.

One of the students who took the lab-intensive course said it was “shocking” to learn this particular classmate earned an A+. “I assumed (the student) dropped the class,” they said, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.

The now-graduate said they regularly attended class but rarely saw the classmate — who ultimately received a higher mark — in attendance or participate in any labs or presentations.

Faculty association president Gautam Srivastava originally declined to comment on the case. Following an initial deadline, he provided a statement to confirm a grade-appeal-related grievance “was resolved to BUFA’s satisfaction.”

Srivastava said he’s confident grades and marking processes at the university “are fair and accurate.”

Kofi Campbell, provost and vice-president (academic), did not answer repeated requests for an interview. University president Christine Bovis-Cnossen did not provide an interview or statement for attribution via her communications office.

Spokesman Grant Hamilton issued a lengthy statement that he insisted be attributed only to “Brandon University.”

It was later copy-and-pasted into a mass email (subject line: “Sticking together through negative media attention”) that the president sent to employees and students on Nov. 7 prior to the story being published.

The mass email included a warning for potential whistleblowers, citing the legal implications of leaking confidential information about a student.

“This article appears to be based in part on a leak of personal student information, which we are taking very seriously,” Bovis-Cnossen wrote in a memo she signed off with “Warmly, Christine.”

“Our legal duty to preserve confidentiality and personal privacy puts us at a disadvantage in responding to the erroneous claims put forward by the reporter.”

Several sources confirmed the student was given multiple extensions to complete coursework. The student failed to meet extended deadlines, they said.

Faculty members pointed out the dean had many options, such as inserting an “incomplete” into the grading database until the student submitted late work and it could be marked by a third party.

BU administration’s prepared statement indicated “conflicts of interest (real or perceived) are inevitable — as are interpersonal conflicts” given the small size of the university.

It noted BU has a senate subcommittee — the statement failed to mention the group was created in response to the 2022 incident — to ensure its grade appeal policy is “as good as it can be.”

Bovis-Cnossen called the university’s policies “robust” in her Nov. 7 email.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

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