Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Appeal Number: 2611
Decision Date: September 28, 2016
Associate Dean: Johanne Benard, Ph.D.
Student Name: Vaithini Vijayakumar
Student Email: vaithini.vijayakumar@queensu.ca

Course: BIOL 201
Term: Fall
Year: 2014
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline

Course: CHEM 281
Term: Fall
Year: 2014
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline

Course: BIOL 335
Term: Fall
Year: 2014
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline

Course: BIOL 331
Term: Winter
Year: 2016
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline

Course: BIOL 201
Term: Fall
Year: 2015
Category: Request an extension of an incomplete grade
Instructor: Dr. Aarssen

Course: BIOL 350
Term: Fall
Year: 2015
Category: Request an extension of an incomplete grade
Instructor: Dr. Aarssen

Course: BIOL 339
Term: Fall
Year: 2015
Category: Request an extension of an incomplete grade
Instructor: Dr. Robertson

Course: CHEM 281
Term: Fall
Year: 2015
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline

Course: PHAR 100
Term: Fall
Year: 2015
Category: Request an extension of an incomplete grade
Instructor: Dr. Racz

Course: BIOL 103
Term: Winter
Year: 2014
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Dr. Walker

Course: BIOL 330
Term: Winter
Year: 2016
Category: Request an extension of an incomplete grade
Instructor: Dr. Regan

Course: ENSC 301
Term: Winter
Year: 2016
Category: Request an extension of an incomplete grade
Instructor: Dr. Khan


Dear Ms. Vijayakumar:

I have carefully considered your appeal to waive the Faculty ruling that you be Required to Withdraw for One Year as well as drop BIOL 201, CHEM 281, BIOL 335 (F 2014), CHEM 281 (F 2015) and BIOL 331 (W 2016) past the academic deadlines, receive Credit standing in BIOL 103 (W 2014) and receive extensions of your incomplete grades in BIOL 201, BIOL 350, BIOL 339, PHAR 100 (F 2015), ENSC 301 and BIOL 330 (W 2016). I will address each request below.

1. I will grant your request to drop BIOL 201, CHEM 281, BIOL 335 (F 2014), CHEM 281 (F 2015) and BIOL 331 (W 2016) past the academic deadlines.

2. I will deny your request to receive Credit standing in BIOL 103 (W 2014). You were provided several accommodations in this course and given the opportunity to write a deferred exam but you declined, confirming that you would retake the course instead. Furthermore, as you have not written the final exam you are not eligible for Credit standing. To be eligible for this notation, students must have completed and passed the course.

3. I will grant your request to receive an extension of your incomplete grades in BIOL 201, BIOL 350, BIOL 339, PHAR 100 (F 2015), ENSC 301 (W 2016). You will have up to December 21, 2016 at the latest to submit any outstanding work or exams for these courses.

4. I will deny your request to receive an extension of your incomplete grade in BIOL 330. As you have admitted, you have not submitted any work for this course to date and missed the majority of classes. As we agreed upon, I will allow you to drop this course past the academic deadline instead.

5. I will deny your request to waive the requirement to withdraw for one year. As you already know, the academic requirements in the Faculty of Arts and Science are clearly outlined in the Academic Regulation section of the Calendar. The requirement to withdraw is invoked only where students experience ongoing or extreme academic difficulties. The ruling is designed to provide the student with time away from the university to reflect on and remedy the factors impeding their academic success.

As we have discussed, I recognize the fact that you have had significant extenuating circumstances and they have severely affected your academic studies. I also recognize your desire to salvage as much of your work and progress toward your degree as possible. I am therefore, willing to meet you halfway and allow you the opportunity to complete the outstanding work in your incomplete courses over the fall term. By not registering in any new courses, this should afford you the time and opportunity to fully focus on reviewing the material, finishing the work and earning those credits. If you complete each course with a grade of C- or higher, this should raise your GPA to 1.60, which would trigger an academic reassessment and remove the requirement to withdraw ruling altogether, allowing you to proceed with registering in winter term courses. I would suggest that we meet again at the end of fall term to discuss your progress and next steps.

If you wish to appeal the Associate Dean€™s decision to the Board of Studies, you must submit an appeal to the Board of Studies within 21 days of the date this decision was sent. Guidelines for appealing to the Board of Studies and the appeal form can be found at: http://www.queensu.ca/artsci/students-at-queens/academic-appeals (click on €œBoard of Studies€) Do not use the on-line application for this process. You may contact Mr. Harry Smith, Office of the Ombudsman for advice on matters of procedure and on obtaining a representative. His office is located in room 421 Robert Sutherland Hall and he can be reached by phone (533-6495) or e-mail (ombuds@queensu.ca).

Yours sincerely,

Johanne Bénard, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Studies)






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