Decision Letter
Appeal Number: 2843
Decision Date: December 7, 2016
Associate Dean: Sue Blake
Student Name: Frederic Casgrain
Student Email: 12fc11@queensu.ca
Course: MATH 401
Term: Fall
Year: 2016
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Dear Mr. Casgrain:
I have carefully considered your appeal to drop MATH 401 (F 2016) past the academic deadline. After reviewing your file I have decided to deny your request.
As you know, courses must be dropped on SOLUS within the published deadlines. The Academic Regulations (Appeal of Academic Decisions, IIIb) stress that exceptions to this will only be waived under exceptional circumstances. The integrity of Arts and Science transcripts in general would be greatly diminished if the Faculty were to effect changes to students€™ records without clear and compelling documentation indicating that the student€™s performance was significantly compromised by extenuating circumstances beyond his or her control.
The deadlines for dropping courses have been designed and established in order to provide sufficient time for students to determine their interest in the course material, to consider their ability to handle each course, and to evaluate their overall workload.
Extenuating circumstances normally involve a significant physical or psychological event that is beyond your control and debilitating to your overall academic performance. Additionally, these kinds of extraordinary situations are normally supported by documentation from a professional.
Your appeal does not describe any circumstances that are extenuating in nature. Upper year students are expected to be able to gauge their academic progress in a course even without the benefit of receiving direct feedback and make academic decisions within the drop deadlines. In your case, you received three assignments back before the midterm exam and despite receiving mediocre marks on them, you made the conscious decision to remain enrolled in the course. While I understand that it can be quite difficult to make these judgement calls at times, out of fairness to all students, I cannot reasonably waive the deadline without any clear and documented circumstances outside of your personal control that prevented you from dropping this class by November 4.
I note also that you were ill prior to the drop deadline, and this may have affected your performance in this course. You may have been able to defer your midterm or receive extensions on your assignments, based on your illness, but there is no indication in your appeal letter whether you sought any accommodation. However, despite this illness, you made the decision to continue with the course and so I cannot grant your appeal.
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).
Sincerely,
Sue Blake
Assistant Dean (Studies)
10092636Casgrain
Decision Date: December 7, 2016
Associate Dean: Sue Blake
Student Name: Frederic Casgrain
Student Email: 12fc11@queensu.ca
Course: MATH 401
Term: Fall
Year: 2016
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Dear Mr. Casgrain:
I have carefully considered your appeal to drop MATH 401 (F 2016) past the academic deadline. After reviewing your file I have decided to deny your request.
As you know, courses must be dropped on SOLUS within the published deadlines. The Academic Regulations (Appeal of Academic Decisions, IIIb) stress that exceptions to this will only be waived under exceptional circumstances. The integrity of Arts and Science transcripts in general would be greatly diminished if the Faculty were to effect changes to students€™ records without clear and compelling documentation indicating that the student€™s performance was significantly compromised by extenuating circumstances beyond his or her control.
The deadlines for dropping courses have been designed and established in order to provide sufficient time for students to determine their interest in the course material, to consider their ability to handle each course, and to evaluate their overall workload.
Extenuating circumstances normally involve a significant physical or psychological event that is beyond your control and debilitating to your overall academic performance. Additionally, these kinds of extraordinary situations are normally supported by documentation from a professional.
Your appeal does not describe any circumstances that are extenuating in nature. Upper year students are expected to be able to gauge their academic progress in a course even without the benefit of receiving direct feedback and make academic decisions within the drop deadlines. In your case, you received three assignments back before the midterm exam and despite receiving mediocre marks on them, you made the conscious decision to remain enrolled in the course. While I understand that it can be quite difficult to make these judgement calls at times, out of fairness to all students, I cannot reasonably waive the deadline without any clear and documented circumstances outside of your personal control that prevented you from dropping this class by November 4.
I note also that you were ill prior to the drop deadline, and this may have affected your performance in this course. You may have been able to defer your midterm or receive extensions on your assignments, based on your illness, but there is no indication in your appeal letter whether you sought any accommodation. However, despite this illness, you made the decision to continue with the course and so I cannot grant your appeal.
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).
Sincerely,
Sue Blake
Assistant Dean (Studies)
10092636Casgrain
Generated December 7, 2016 at 11:33:32 AM.