Manage Appeals
Petition Type: New
ID: 11330
Submitted: December 24, 2023 at 7:40:47 PM
First Name: Nicole
Last Name: Li
Pronoun: She
Student Number: 20354942
Email: 21nl46@queensu.ca
Degree Program: BSH
Plan: LISC
Level of Study: 2
Petition Categories
Petition Categories: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Code: MATH 121
Term: Fall/Winter
Year: 2022
Petition Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor's Name: Ping LI
Code: PHYS 115
Term: Fall
Year: 2022
Petition Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor's Name: Anne Topper
Petition Letter
Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Jenn Stephenson,
I am writing today to petition the changing of my MATH 121 and PHYS 115 grades into a credit standing due to mental health illnesses that affected me throughout the first year. These two courses were affected the most as they were examinations where PHYS had a 15% midterm and 60% final exam, and MATH had a 30% midterm and 30% final exam, totalling 60% of the course assessed through exams. My circumstances made it difficult for me to perform as well as I could during these examinations, resulting in a lower grade than what I am capable of. I was unable to drop these courses as they are requirements for my program and due to familial constraints.
My circumstances started at the beginning of the school year, which I tried to deal with on my own before reaching out for help at Student Wellness. Starting from the end of September 2022, I started seeing an in-residence counsellor for my mental health illness concerns. I visited her almost every week to work through my situation. Around the same time in September, I joined the University’s Autism Support Group and attended meetings throughout the school year. Only by November was I feeling some semblance of normality and acceptance on campus. This transition and change in environment severely affected my academics in the first few months, making it difficult to catch up in November as it led to exam season. PHYS was the main course, as my grades were reliant on the aforementioned 60% exam.
Similarly, for MATH, I was unable to catch up on the course fully as the earlier disruptions made it difficult to follow along as the topics build on each other, resulting in my midterm exam being extremely low. During the winter break, I did my best to teach myself the content I missed during the semester. Even though I was still behind on the content, when the second semester started, I was in a better place than the first semester. My final exam was better than the midterm, but I still believe it was not to the best of my abilities due to the initial disturbance of my circumstances. Throughout the second semester, I still attended the support group and visited my counsellor weekly.
Since the end of my first year, I have worked hard to advocate for my needs, ensuring I will not have to experience my circumstance again to that extent, reducing its effect on my academics. I continued to see my counsellor during the summer until her contract ended in mid-summer, transitioning to a different mental health counsellor, Roger Davidson. I have taken summer courses with these supports in place, and I am glad to say that my situation has improved to a point where I feel my grades reflect my true academic capabilities. I have received QSAS accommodations and saw Dr. Weiss to determine if a diagnosis was a possibility for my mental health concerns, and currently, in December 2023, I have started a new medication. Moving forward, I plan on continuing to see Roger and work with Dr. Weiss and QSAS to determine the best course of action, ensuring I can put forward the best of my abilities toward my academics.
Thank you for considering my appeal, and I hope you have a good day.
Sincerely,
Nicole Li
I am writing today to petition the changing of my MATH 121 and PHYS 115 grades into a credit standing due to mental health illnesses that affected me throughout the first year. These two courses were affected the most as they were examinations where PHYS had a 15% midterm and 60% final exam, and MATH had a 30% midterm and 30% final exam, totalling 60% of the course assessed through exams. My circumstances made it difficult for me to perform as well as I could during these examinations, resulting in a lower grade than what I am capable of. I was unable to drop these courses as they are requirements for my program and due to familial constraints.
My circumstances started at the beginning of the school year, which I tried to deal with on my own before reaching out for help at Student Wellness. Starting from the end of September 2022, I started seeing an in-residence counsellor for my mental health illness concerns. I visited her almost every week to work through my situation. Around the same time in September, I joined the University’s Autism Support Group and attended meetings throughout the school year. Only by November was I feeling some semblance of normality and acceptance on campus. This transition and change in environment severely affected my academics in the first few months, making it difficult to catch up in November as it led to exam season. PHYS was the main course, as my grades were reliant on the aforementioned 60% exam.
Similarly, for MATH, I was unable to catch up on the course fully as the earlier disruptions made it difficult to follow along as the topics build on each other, resulting in my midterm exam being extremely low. During the winter break, I did my best to teach myself the content I missed during the semester. Even though I was still behind on the content, when the second semester started, I was in a better place than the first semester. My final exam was better than the midterm, but I still believe it was not to the best of my abilities due to the initial disturbance of my circumstances. Throughout the second semester, I still attended the support group and visited my counsellor weekly.
Since the end of my first year, I have worked hard to advocate for my needs, ensuring I will not have to experience my circumstance again to that extent, reducing its effect on my academics. I continued to see my counsellor during the summer until her contract ended in mid-summer, transitioning to a different mental health counsellor, Roger Davidson. I have taken summer courses with these supports in place, and I am glad to say that my situation has improved to a point where I feel my grades reflect my true academic capabilities. I have received QSAS accommodations and saw Dr. Weiss to determine if a diagnosis was a possibility for my mental health concerns, and currently, in December 2023, I have started a new medication. Moving forward, I plan on continuing to see Roger and work with Dr. Weiss and QSAS to determine the best course of action, ensuring I can put forward the best of my abilities toward my academics.
Thank you for considering my appeal, and I hope you have a good day.
Sincerely,
Nicole Li
Documentation
Professional Letter: NL - Mitchell_letterhead.pdf
Decision Letters
Level 1 Status
Status: DeniedLevel 2
Appeal Type: Level 2
ID: 262
Submitted: January 29, 2024 at 11:59:55 PM
Relevant Petition: 11330
Decision(s) Being Appealed: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses: MATH 121, Fall/Winter 2022 (Ping LI)
Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses: PHYS 115, Fall 2022 (Anne Topper)
Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses: PHYS 115, Fall 2022 (Anne Topper)
Appeal Grounds
Appeals to the Board of Studies must include a letter based on one or more of the Grounds for Appeal (Appeal Regulation 3.4). What are the grounds you are basing your appeal on?
- The Associate Dean's decision did not follow the rules of procedural fairness. A breach of procedural fairness includes such things as the Associate Dean failed to:
- Make a reasonable decision in your appeal. A “reasonable” decision is one that is based on evidence, thought out and supported by facts and logical inferences from the facts. To be reasonable, the decision must contain adequate reasons for the conclusions.
Appeal Grounds Details: I do not believe the decision was reasonable as I had demonstrated complex mental health situations that I proactively took steps to alleviate the effects it had on my academics. The decision letter mentioned that I should have been proactively managing my circumstances by utilizing the options available to me as a student, which I did. I mentioned in my letter that I was consistently checking in with an in-residence counsellor and attended the Autism Support Group. In order to change my academic performance, I had to find ways to learn to live in an environment that felt foreign and unaccepting. On the Arts and Science appeal website, it mentioned that I could explain as much or as little as I wanted, which I did not feel comfortable explaining into great depth my depression and familial issues that prevented me from dropping the courses before they were applied to my transcript. In addition, by checking my transcript, it would be evident that once I had my supports in place, I was able to do a lot better than my first semester here. It is regretful that my paragraphs on how I tried to find support and how I feel now that I do have the supports in place were not evident enough to my struggles and their impact on my academics.
Appeal Letter
Appeal Letter: Dear Dr. Jenn Stephenson,
Thank you for the email detailing your rationale for denying an appeal, but I do not agree with your decision. Perhaps I did not explain my extenuating circumstances enough, so I hope this clarifies a few points.
Addressing your first point of managing ongoing extenuating circumstances with services offered at Queen’s, throughout the 2022–2023 school year, I had been in constant contact with my in-residence counsellor to discuss my mental health circumstances. If required, I can provide further evidence of my mental health struggles with depression and suicidal ideation from Charlotte’s notes. I had also used up my academic considerations for each term, making it difficult to request extra time for assignments or exemptions. Despite my troubles, I was not made aware of my options at QSAS until this August, when Dr. Weiss and Roger mentioned that I did not need a diagnosis to access QSAS. The website only mentions disabilities, which I do not have documentation for.
I completely understand that the petition is meant for long-term circumstances, which is why I believe it was only my first semester that caused my lower grades in physics and math. Your response mentioned that my lower grades stemmed from my midterm, which is correct. I did not pass my math midterm written in December 2022. Although math was a full-year course, after failing the midterm, it was difficult to catch up, but if you talked to my instructors, you would notice an upward trend, cumulative in my current grade. The physics midterm occurred in late October, within the time frame I mentioned as one of the most trialling ones. In the end, the midterm did not affect my final grade, as the higher of the two was accepted. Even with physics, when it neared the end, I had shown an upward trend.
Finally, I was unable to drop the course as my parents would not continue to fund my schooling. My parents expect me to complete my courses promptly, along with or ahead of my peers, which is a fair compromise as they are paying for the rest of my tuition and living fees that OSAP does not cover. If I had the opportunity to drop the course, it would not have been an easy choice, as it would result in my parents and I falling out. This had happened in high school, less than a year before I started university, so I was not ready to restart the argument. Even now, after working over the summer and winter terms of the 2022-2023 semester, I am unable to support myself solely on OSAP and my savings, making it impossible to accept that I would have had to pay the residence, tuition, and supply fees on my own last year.
After considering last year, the summer term, and even last semester, I have shown that through utilizing the supports now available to me—counselling, QSAS, and medication—I am more fit to achieve my academic goals. I have demonstrated an upward trend and will continue to do so. I ask for some leniency in regard to my first semester of university.
Sincerely,
Nicole Li
Thank you for the email detailing your rationale for denying an appeal, but I do not agree with your decision. Perhaps I did not explain my extenuating circumstances enough, so I hope this clarifies a few points.
Addressing your first point of managing ongoing extenuating circumstances with services offered at Queen’s, throughout the 2022–2023 school year, I had been in constant contact with my in-residence counsellor to discuss my mental health circumstances. If required, I can provide further evidence of my mental health struggles with depression and suicidal ideation from Charlotte’s notes. I had also used up my academic considerations for each term, making it difficult to request extra time for assignments or exemptions. Despite my troubles, I was not made aware of my options at QSAS until this August, when Dr. Weiss and Roger mentioned that I did not need a diagnosis to access QSAS. The website only mentions disabilities, which I do not have documentation for.
I completely understand that the petition is meant for long-term circumstances, which is why I believe it was only my first semester that caused my lower grades in physics and math. Your response mentioned that my lower grades stemmed from my midterm, which is correct. I did not pass my math midterm written in December 2022. Although math was a full-year course, after failing the midterm, it was difficult to catch up, but if you talked to my instructors, you would notice an upward trend, cumulative in my current grade. The physics midterm occurred in late October, within the time frame I mentioned as one of the most trialling ones. In the end, the midterm did not affect my final grade, as the higher of the two was accepted. Even with physics, when it neared the end, I had shown an upward trend.
Finally, I was unable to drop the course as my parents would not continue to fund my schooling. My parents expect me to complete my courses promptly, along with or ahead of my peers, which is a fair compromise as they are paying for the rest of my tuition and living fees that OSAP does not cover. If I had the opportunity to drop the course, it would not have been an easy choice, as it would result in my parents and I falling out. This had happened in high school, less than a year before I started university, so I was not ready to restart the argument. Even now, after working over the summer and winter terms of the 2022-2023 semester, I am unable to support myself solely on OSAP and my savings, making it impossible to accept that I would have had to pay the residence, tuition, and supply fees on my own last year.
After considering last year, the summer term, and even last semester, I have shown that through utilizing the supports now available to me—counselling, QSAS, and medication—I am more fit to achieve my academic goals. I have demonstrated an upward trend and will continue to do so. I ask for some leniency in regard to my first semester of university.
Sincerely,
Nicole Li
Documentation
I plan to submit additional documentation at a later date: Yes, a letter from Roger.
History
Originally submitted December 24, 2023 at 7:40:47 PM.
| Field | Reference | Old Value | New Value | Note | User | Date/Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| status | N/A | Received | Incomplete | Kerri Andrews | 2024-01-03 11:34:22 AM | |
| status | N/A | Incomplete | In Review | Kerri Andrews | 2024-01-11 11:29:11 AM | |
| status | N/A | In Review | Denied | Kerri Andrews | 2024-01-15 4:33:04 PM | |
| associate_dean | N/A | Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D. | Kerri Andrews | 2024-01-15 4:33:04 PM | ||
| decision_letter | N/A | N/A | Decision letter sent | Kerri Andrews | 2024-01-15 4:34:07 PM | |
| new_appeal_level_2 | N/A | Level 2 | Level 2 Appeal ID: 262 | 21nl46 | 2024-01-29 11:59:55 PM | |
| status | N/A | Received | ADA Amended Decision | ADA ammended decision after reviewing further submitted documentation | Libby Hearn | 2024-02-12 11:13:24 AM |