The class, GEE 201 Healthful Living, was taught by Phyllis Wallace, an assistant in the department, during her first semester as a teaching assistant last fall. Matthew Townsend, a sophomore pre-med student from Downers Grove, said he started the petition because students in the class felt they were treated unfairly and unprofessionally by Wallace.

She disrespected us in a lot of ways, he said.

Townsend said that Wallace failed to hand back some assignments done for the class. Out of the 80 percent he estimated were returned to him, his scores averaged about 82 percenthe said. Townsend said he believed the missing assignments had comparable grades.

Townsend received an F for the course on his final grade report.

There was one assignment that I didn’t do, and that was a significant assignment, he said. But that wasn’t a significant assignment for me to get the grade I got.

Townsend said he made several attempts to talk with Wallace about his problems with her, but she repeatedly failed to keep her office hours and appointments.

I didn’t want to get Miss Wallace in trouble, he said. I really didn’t. So I went to Miss Wallace a couple of times and said, Hey, look, I really need to talk to you.’ She gave me some times I could talk to her; she kept disrespecting me by blowing me off.

It was really heartless; that was her attitude.

Townsend said he went to Judy Drolet, a professor in health education and recreation, to explain his problems with Wallace.

I did go to Drolet, and I said, Look, here’s the situation.’ And I gave her the (petition), and I told her all the problems I had, he said. She was a really sweet lady, and I liked her a lot. But obviously the problem is still existing.

Townsend said that Wallace repeatedly said it was her students’ responsibility to know when assignments were due and when tests were scheduled, but she failed to give them the correct day and time for their final exam.

She told us the final exams were a certain day, so people showed up on Monday at 7:50 in the morning. But (the final exam) wasn’t Monday. It was Wednesday she didn’t even know it.

Townsend said the study guide for the final exam had limited useful material. He said the guide incorrectly identified where the answers to review questions were located in the textbook, further confusing him.

When she passed out the study guide, she was five short, he said. She had a piece of paper that was obviously computerized. She spent no time to prepare, and she just went ahead and handed it all out. I wanted to get a good grade in this class, so I spent all night in a caf diner studying health.

Jeff Yates, a sophomore in theater from Carbondale, said he also experienced problems with Wallace.

He said she refused to accept late assignments, and she assigned a major project that was not listed in the syllabus one week before its due date.

I missed the Wednesday before Thanksgiving break, he said. On (the prior) Monday, I asked her if I’d miss anything, and she replied there wouldn’t be (anything missed).

When I returned that next Monday, I found out there was a report due, a paper due and a speech due. I was not aware of this, and she said it was my fault. I asked her why she didn’t have it on her lesson plan, and she said she thought about it Tuesday.

Yates received a C in the class, a grade he said he is currently protesting to the department.

I think the class could have been taught a lot better, he said.

Kelly Pillischafske, an undecided freshman from Champaign, said she feels she was not given a good opportunity to make up a group presentation she had to miss to attend her best friend’s father’s funeral.

She said the original presentation was supposed to occur in mid-October, but Wallace did not assign make-up work for more than a month.

Once I made up the assignment, she didn’t give me the total number of points I would have gotten if I did the presentation, she said.

Pillischafske said she feels the B she received in the class would have been an A if she would have had an opportunity to make up all the points she missed.

Regina Glover, chair of the Department of Health Education and Recreation, said no students from the class went to see her about their problems or with a signed petition.

She said that after she looked at the course evaluation sheets for the class, she decided to reassign the four sections planned for Wallace this semester to another assistant. Wallace is no longer teaching, she said.

Despite having 24 names on the petition calling for grade re-evaluation, Glover said she has only spoken with two students from the class.

I have received two requests to re-evaluate a grade, but what those individual circumstances or situations are, I can’t tell you (for sure what they are), she said.

Judy C. Drolet, professor of health education and coordinator of the department’s teaching assistants, said although Townsend showed her the petition in confidence before the end of the semester, the department never received the final copy.

She said nobody from the class approached her until the last three weeks of the course, when five or six students scheduled appointments with her.

Drolet said a group petition does no good in a situation like this because each student’s complaint is handled separately.

When a student comes in with a grade problem or a problem with an instructor, I will deal with that student and that student’s issues, she said. I think each individual’s issues are their issues.

Glover said that because the Department of Health Education and Recreation is one of the only departments on campus that trains its own teaching students, assistants have to take special classes to learn how to teach.

(Assistants) are enrolled in a seminar, she said. They meet every Friday morning with Dr. Drolet for two hours, and they also, before the semester starts in August, have a full two- to 2 1/2-day orientation, she said.

Drolet said any students who wish for their grades to be re-evaluated need to collect all their coursework and speak with either herself or Glover.

Wallace was unavailable for comment.