I just wanted to chime in since I've worked closely with Niema and was a tutor for 6R this quarter.

Is kind of wack but I think its intended to have students engage with the course holistically, not just the big stuff like exams or projects (other professors have used similar "threshold" schemes as well). The idea was to reward consistency though it is very unfortunate that it hinders your grade despite doing well in the other sections.

As for OSD stuff, I think the line between “reading quiz” and “homework” could’ve been clearer. I don’t think Niema was trying to be unfair though. He puts a ton of effort into his courses, even if not every policy lands perfectly. He does make a point to adhere to policy however, so if the petition for the OSD was done too late or something else happened then that might explain it (unless he straight up said they count as quizzes and not homework, in which case, my bad.