Decision Letter
Appeal Number: 4142
Decision Date: February 21, 2018
Associate Dean: Jill Atkinson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Ning Feng
Student Email: ning.feng@queensu.ca
Course: CLST 200
Term: Fall
Year: 2017
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Tim Wright
Dear Ms. Feng:
I have carefully considered your appeal to receive Credit standing in CLST 200 (F 2017). After reviewing your file I have decided to deny your request.
As you know, Academic Regulation 10.3.2. states that, Credit standing in a course is reserved for situations in which a student, who has completed and passed all of the work of the course including the final examination, but because of illness or other extenuating circumstances beyond their control, earned a substantially lower grade than might have been expected, normally a grade of C or lower€. Credit standing is only granted in cases where there are well documented and unforeseen extenuating circumstances outside of a student€™s control. 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.
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 reports that you experienced a trauma prior to attending university, the effects of which were recently exacerbated. It also explains that you performed well in your other fall term classes but suggests that you performed poorly in CLST 200 due to the multiple-choice question evaluation. From your file and transcript, it appears that you were registered in CLST 200 in Fall 2015 as well but you decided to drop it based on the advice of the academic advisor you saw that November. This demonstrates that you were familiar with the course content and the expectations. Unfortunately, there is no explanation or documentation supplied to support why this course in particular was impacted by your circumstances. I understand that English is your second language but this is not considered to be grounds to appeal courses with multiple choice exams, nor is needing a higher GPA for graduation a sufficient reason to warrant changing a grade on a transcript.
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,
Jill Atkinson, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Studies)
10101115Feng
Decision Date: February 21, 2018
Associate Dean: Jill Atkinson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Ning Feng
Student Email: ning.feng@queensu.ca
Course: CLST 200
Term: Fall
Year: 2017
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Tim Wright
Dear Ms. Feng:
I have carefully considered your appeal to receive Credit standing in CLST 200 (F 2017). After reviewing your file I have decided to deny your request.
As you know, Academic Regulation 10.3.2. states that, Credit standing in a course is reserved for situations in which a student, who has completed and passed all of the work of the course including the final examination, but because of illness or other extenuating circumstances beyond their control, earned a substantially lower grade than might have been expected, normally a grade of C or lower€. Credit standing is only granted in cases where there are well documented and unforeseen extenuating circumstances outside of a student€™s control. 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.
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 reports that you experienced a trauma prior to attending university, the effects of which were recently exacerbated. It also explains that you performed well in your other fall term classes but suggests that you performed poorly in CLST 200 due to the multiple-choice question evaluation. From your file and transcript, it appears that you were registered in CLST 200 in Fall 2015 as well but you decided to drop it based on the advice of the academic advisor you saw that November. This demonstrates that you were familiar with the course content and the expectations. Unfortunately, there is no explanation or documentation supplied to support why this course in particular was impacted by your circumstances. I understand that English is your second language but this is not considered to be grounds to appeal courses with multiple choice exams, nor is needing a higher GPA for graduation a sufficient reason to warrant changing a grade on a transcript.
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,
Jill Atkinson, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Studies)
10101115Feng
Generated February 21, 2018 at 10:56:13 AM.