If the system were not set up against the student

Some time ago I received a call from a colleague who asked if I would be the referee on the grading of an examination question. He was about to give a student a zero for his answer to a physics question, while the student claimed he should receive a perfect score and would if the system were not set up against the student: The instructor and the student agreed to submit this to an impartial arbiter, and I was selected.

Hi,

Does the bolded part in the above mean "if the system of grading were not adverst to the student" or something else? Thanks.