system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Question about a professor withholding an exam

I have a question regarding my professor and how I should approach talking to the dean.  My professor has demonstrated favoritism and also violated FERPA. He won't let us students look at our exam without saying "I was lenient so if you want to go over your grade, I will start deducting points and you'll likely leave my office with a worse grade than you walked in with."

Most of us got exactly a 65%. I know this because he pulled up Blackboard in class with all of our names and systems exam grades while in class. I talked to other students and all of us were annoyed and thought it was wrong and it wasn't until today that I remembered that students have a right to privacy concerning academics. 

When he had the grades up, he said we could go over the grades on his computer, at the front of the class. I was one of the three students who felt comfortable enough to basically go stand at the front of the class as he pointed out to me, while everyone was in class just starring, all the things I did wrong. I don't really care but I know this tactic deferred other students from approaching him about their grades. However, when he did this he was switching between windows on the computer between the rubric and the exam that I submitted so quickly, I couldn't actually gather what in the world I missed. I asked if it could be sent to me and that is when he said if he did he would deduct the points. 

He showed favoritism because myself and another girl went to see him for questions on our semester-long project, and when he finally showed up to office hours, basically told us to Google for any help that we needed. I later heard from another student (and the professor himself) that the professor spent two hours on the phone with him helping him rebuild his database over Thanksgiving break. It's nice that he cared about that student enough to help but it was a slap in the face to the girl and I who took the time to attend office hours (which he was an hour late for) and be told to use google. 

I plan on talking to the dean Monday. I am going to let him know that at an institution that values fairness alongside education, that this professor does not value either. He violated FERPA and I want to use that as leverage to have a different professor grade mine and my classmates' assignments through the semester. These were a handful of examples but he has been unfair throughout the whole semester. we are all on the verge of failing despite being otherwise good students and I think that having another professor, while labor intensive, grade our papers would be more preferred than me filing a FERPA complaint with the Department of Education. 

Any advice on how to ask for this or how to actually get my graded exams back? **TL;DR Professor was a turd and won't let us see why basically the entire class was awarded a 65% without threatening to deduct more points. Is this against some teacher law, act, or code of ethics?**
gpt
When you meet with the department chair or the dean, stick to the facts. Don't bring up the favoritism incident, don't bring up university "values," just say lay out what your professor did and why you believe it violates FERPA and/or school policy. If you can, recruit a classmate to back up your account. 

Your concern with your grade is a separate issue. Just proving a FERPA violation occurred doesn't entitle you to a better grade. You will need to inquire about the specific grievance procedure and be prepared to meet whatever (likely high) standard is required. This is typically difficult; absent human error or a significant deviation from the syllabus, you're generally left with proving bad faith, and this is generally difficult to do.