Decision Letter
Appeal Number: 4524
Decision Date: May 29, 2018
Associate Dean: Jill Atkinson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Lindsay Bevan
Student Email: 16lb40@queensu.ca
Course: COGS100
Term: Fall
Year: 2017
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Farhana Zulkernine
Course: SOCY122
Term: Fall/Winter
Year: 2017
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Rob Beamish
Dear Ms. Bevan:
I have carefully considered your appeal to receive Credit standing in COGS 100 (F 2017) and SOCY 122 (FW 2017/18). 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.
While your appeal does allude to some circumstances that may be extenuating in nature, it fails to include any adequate supporting documentation to confirm the exact timeline of your mental health challenges, how serious or severe they were over the fall term and what specific impact your circumstances had on these courses in particular. The appeal also fails to explain why only these courses in particular were affected by your circumstances and not the other courses you took during the same time period and received higher grades in. There is also no evidence to show that you would have performed significantly better in these courses, had the circumstances not occurred. Without a previous established pattern of grades to demonstrate your academic performance under normal conditions, it is not possible to determine from your appeal that these grades are indeed significantly lower as a result of your circumstances. For these reasons, I cannot justify altering the grades on your 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)
20058344Bevan
Decision Date: May 29, 2018
Associate Dean: Jill Atkinson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Lindsay Bevan
Student Email: 16lb40@queensu.ca
Course: COGS100
Term: Fall
Year: 2017
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Farhana Zulkernine
Course: SOCY122
Term: Fall/Winter
Year: 2017
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Rob Beamish
Dear Ms. Bevan:
I have carefully considered your appeal to receive Credit standing in COGS 100 (F 2017) and SOCY 122 (FW 2017/18). 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.
While your appeal does allude to some circumstances that may be extenuating in nature, it fails to include any adequate supporting documentation to confirm the exact timeline of your mental health challenges, how serious or severe they were over the fall term and what specific impact your circumstances had on these courses in particular. The appeal also fails to explain why only these courses in particular were affected by your circumstances and not the other courses you took during the same time period and received higher grades in. There is also no evidence to show that you would have performed significantly better in these courses, had the circumstances not occurred. Without a previous established pattern of grades to demonstrate your academic performance under normal conditions, it is not possible to determine from your appeal that these grades are indeed significantly lower as a result of your circumstances. For these reasons, I cannot justify altering the grades on your 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)
20058344Bevan
Generated May 29, 2018 at 1:19:14 PM.