Decision Letter
Appeal Number: 7121
Decision Date: December 14, 2020
Associate Dean: Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Elizabeth Panos
Student Email: elizabeth.panos@queensu.ca
Dear Elizabeth Panos:
I am sorry to have read in your letter of appeal the challenges you report you faced during the Winter and Summer terms 2020 and have carefully considered your appeal to drop HIST 211 (W 2020) 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 extenuating 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 circumstances beyond his or her control.
Your appeal reports that you have been dealing with a chronic condition and have been working with your health care team to support you, and I commend you for that. However, your letter or documentation does not outline a specific flareup which prevented you from dropping this course by the drop date deadline date. In addition, the Faculty office provided provisions for students to drop courses during the Winter 2020 term due to COVID and you did not take advantage of that remedy for this course, which was available to request until June 2020. I realize that your intention was to complete this course during the summer term 2020, but since you registered in five courses during that condensed term, completing the outstanding requirements in a 6th course was next to impossible and not good planning on your part. The appeals process is not meant to manage an ongoing and/or chronic condition. Instead, a student should pause and evaluate their progress in courses during week 7 of term and if they have fallen behind or their health is impacting their progress, they should drop courses by the week 8 drop deadline dates.
This is a disappointing decision I am sure Elizabeth, but let me remind you that if a student repeats a course, the low grade is excluded from their grade point average and the higher grade is included which would mean there would be no long term negative impact on your GPA.
I am concerned about your Summer term 2020 courses and trust that you have made good academic choices so you could complete the outstanding course requirements by the end of this current term since the IN grades will expire shortly. Once again, attempting to complete those courses while also enrolled in five courses during Fall term may not have been good academic planning.
If you wish to appeal the Associate Dean€™s decision to the Board of Studies, information and deadlines can be found at 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 the Office of the University Ombudsperson for information about student rights and responsibilities as well as guidance on policy and procedure (www.queensu.ca/ombuds).
Sincerely,
Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Academic)
20072905Panos2
Decision Date: December 14, 2020
Associate Dean: Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Elizabeth Panos
Student Email: elizabeth.panos@queensu.ca
Dear Elizabeth Panos:
I am sorry to have read in your letter of appeal the challenges you report you faced during the Winter and Summer terms 2020 and have carefully considered your appeal to drop HIST 211 (W 2020) 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 extenuating 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 circumstances beyond his or her control.
Your appeal reports that you have been dealing with a chronic condition and have been working with your health care team to support you, and I commend you for that. However, your letter or documentation does not outline a specific flareup which prevented you from dropping this course by the drop date deadline date. In addition, the Faculty office provided provisions for students to drop courses during the Winter 2020 term due to COVID and you did not take advantage of that remedy for this course, which was available to request until June 2020. I realize that your intention was to complete this course during the summer term 2020, but since you registered in five courses during that condensed term, completing the outstanding requirements in a 6th course was next to impossible and not good planning on your part. The appeals process is not meant to manage an ongoing and/or chronic condition. Instead, a student should pause and evaluate their progress in courses during week 7 of term and if they have fallen behind or their health is impacting their progress, they should drop courses by the week 8 drop deadline dates.
This is a disappointing decision I am sure Elizabeth, but let me remind you that if a student repeats a course, the low grade is excluded from their grade point average and the higher grade is included which would mean there would be no long term negative impact on your GPA.
I am concerned about your Summer term 2020 courses and trust that you have made good academic choices so you could complete the outstanding course requirements by the end of this current term since the IN grades will expire shortly. Once again, attempting to complete those courses while also enrolled in five courses during Fall term may not have been good academic planning.
If you wish to appeal the Associate Dean€™s decision to the Board of Studies, information and deadlines can be found at 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 the Office of the University Ombudsperson for information about student rights and responsibilities as well as guidance on policy and procedure (www.queensu.ca/ombuds).
Sincerely,
Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Academic)
20072905Panos2
Generated December 14, 2020 at 11:24:58 AM.