Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Appeal Number: 7663
Decision Date: May 25, 2021
Associate Dean: Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Mackenzie Ling
Student Email: 17mll7@queensu.ca

Course: PHGY 170
Term: Winter
Year: 2019
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Cynthia Pruss

Course: HLTH 230
Term: Fall
Year: 2019
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Jeffrey Lalonde

Course: GEOL 104
Term: Fall
Year: 2019
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Christopher Omelon


Dear Mackenzie Ling:

I am sorry to have read that you struggled with health-related challenges during 2019 and I understand that you are seeking Credit standing in PHGY 170 (W 2019) and HLTH 230, GEOL 104 (F 2019) due to the impact those circumstances had on these courses. After reviewing your appeal letter and documentation, 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 all of the work in the course including the final examination, and achieved a passing grade in the course, 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.

I am certainly sympathetic to your situation and realize that this is a disappointing decision, however, the documentation you have submitted does not provide me with sufficient information regarding the impact your circumstances had on these courses. In addition to this, it appears that you had already been accommodated with STAA and multiple considerations, so an additional accommodation of granting Credit standing in these courses would be excessive. And finally, the timeline of the incidents in January 2019 and September 2019 gave you time to assess the impact these circumstances had on your studies and you could have dropped the courses by the drop date deadline if needed.

Going forward, I suggest that you inform yourself of the academic regulations concerning deadlines as they are outlined in the Important Dates section on the Arts and Science web page and assess your progress in your courses or discuss your options with an Academic Advisor during week 7 or 8 of the term. If you find that you have fallen behind in your attendance, readings or assignments, it is your responsibility to drop by the end of week 8.

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)

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