Decision Letter
Appeal Number: 3933
Decision Date: December 7, 2017
Associate Dean: Johanne Benard, Ph.D.
Student Name: Henry Yueh
Student Email: 14hy17@queensu.ca
Course: Biol 321
Term: Fall
Year: 2017
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Dear Mr. Yueh:
I have carefully considered your appeal to drop BIOL 321 (F 2017) 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 letter alludes to some circumstances that sound extenuating in nature (depression and anxiety) but it does not explain the timeline of these issues or the specific impact it had on this course only and not your other fall term classes. Your letter also fails to explain why you didn€™t drop this class by the November 3 deadline. The note from Dr. Bettle also does not confirm the full timeline of your personal issues or the impact on BIOL 321. Without such confirmation, I cannot reasonably grant your request.
If your circumstances have affected your ability to submit work on time, you could look into the option of registering with Queen€™s Student Accessibility Services in the LaSalle Building to receive academic accommodations. Their office can be reached by calling 613-533-6467.
While I understand that your instructor made a finding of a departure from academic integrity as a result of the work you submitted for your major project, and this finding would undoubtedly cause some stress and likely have an impact on your final grade in BIOL 321, this in and of itself is not considered to be a sufficient circumstance to warrant dropping a class past the academic deadline. If you disagree with the Finding itself or feel that the sanction is inappropriate or perhaps that your mitigating circumstances have not been sufficiently accounted for, then I would recommend that you appeal this finding and/or sanction through this route instead: https://www.queensu.ca/artsci/students-at-queens/academic-integrity
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,
Johanne Bénard, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Studies)
10189733Yueh
Decision Date: December 7, 2017
Associate Dean: Johanne Benard, Ph.D.
Student Name: Henry Yueh
Student Email: 14hy17@queensu.ca
Course: Biol 321
Term: Fall
Year: 2017
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Dear Mr. Yueh:
I have carefully considered your appeal to drop BIOL 321 (F 2017) 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 letter alludes to some circumstances that sound extenuating in nature (depression and anxiety) but it does not explain the timeline of these issues or the specific impact it had on this course only and not your other fall term classes. Your letter also fails to explain why you didn€™t drop this class by the November 3 deadline. The note from Dr. Bettle also does not confirm the full timeline of your personal issues or the impact on BIOL 321. Without such confirmation, I cannot reasonably grant your request.
If your circumstances have affected your ability to submit work on time, you could look into the option of registering with Queen€™s Student Accessibility Services in the LaSalle Building to receive academic accommodations. Their office can be reached by calling 613-533-6467.
While I understand that your instructor made a finding of a departure from academic integrity as a result of the work you submitted for your major project, and this finding would undoubtedly cause some stress and likely have an impact on your final grade in BIOL 321, this in and of itself is not considered to be a sufficient circumstance to warrant dropping a class past the academic deadline. If you disagree with the Finding itself or feel that the sanction is inappropriate or perhaps that your mitigating circumstances have not been sufficiently accounted for, then I would recommend that you appeal this finding and/or sanction through this route instead: https://www.queensu.ca/artsci/students-at-queens/academic-integrity
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,
Johanne Bénard, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Studies)
10189733Yueh
Generated December 7, 2017 at 3:42:06 PM.