Decision Letter
Appeal Number: 8337
Decision Date: January 19, 2022
Associate Dean: Jenn Stephepnson
Course: CHEM 112
Term: Fall/Winter
Year: 2021
Category: Add a course after the academic deadline
Instructor: Michael Mombourquette
January 17, 2022
Kaitlin Fortier
20knf3@queensu.ca
Dear Kaitlin,
On January 14, 2021, the Board of Studies (Board) reviewed your appeal of Associate Dean (Academic) Jill Atkinson??s decision to deny your request to add CHEM 112 (FW 2021/22) after September 20, 2021, the last date for adding classes. Board members present that day were Johanne Bénard (Chair), Dongmei Chen (Faculty Member), Allison Goebel (Faculty member), and Brandon Aldworth (Student representative). As you are aware, you also attended a portion of the meeting along with the current Associate Dean (Academic), Jenn Stephenson. Pamela Briand (Arts and Science resource staff) was also present.
After you and Dr. Stephenson left the meeting, the Board carefully considered the information from the oral statements along with the written submissions contained in the file. After this deliberation, the Board voted to uphold the Associate Dean??s decision to deny your appeal, finding her decision reasonable in light of the Faculty??s regulations.
In your presentation at the meeting, your letter of appeal and note to the Board, as well as in your earlier submission to the Associate Dean that was included in the file, you reported that your decision to drop CHEM 112 at the beginning of November was due to a lack of proper academic consideration in other courses related to the extenuating circumstances you experienced in the first seven weeks of the class. While the Board does not dispute the severity of your extenuating circumstances, we agree with the Associate Dean that the amount of missed work and the absence of support from your instructor to add the course at a very late stage of the course hindered not only a successful completion of the course, but also its integrity.
The Board would also want to draw your attention to the academic regulation regarding the addition of a class after the last official date for adding a course.
3.3.1 ?? To Add a Class after the Last Official Date for Adding Classes
Students must be enrolled in a class to be eligible to attend or otherwise participate in lectures, laboratories, tutorials, tests, and examinations associated with the class (see Academic Regulation 6).
Appeals to add a class late must clearly demonstrate the significant extenuating circumstances, beyond the student??s control, which prevented him or her from making the addition by the published deadline. A medical certificate or other documentation that outlines how the personal extenuating circumstances hindered the student??s ability to add the class during the published deadlines should be provided with the letter of appeal. The student must also have support from the Undergraduate Chair of the relevant department and from the class instructor. If the class was full prior to the deadline and a wait list existed for the class, the student must have been at or near the top of the wait list for the class in order for the appeal to be considered.
An appeal to add a class late must be submitted within 21 calendar days of the deadline to add a class for the specified term.
In your case, the last date to add the course was September 20, 2021 and the last date to submit an appeal was October 11, 2021. Nonetheless, your appeal was submitted on November 17, 2021. We want to reiterate that these dates have been set to allow the students to join a course when they can meet all its learning outcomes, which would not have been possible if you were to add the course so late in the term.
As we expressed it in the meeting, the Board recognizes the extenuating circumstances and the frustration that you have experienced at the beginning of your studies at Queen??s. However, we agree with the Associate Dean that the re-addition of CHEM 112 is not possible at this point of the academic year. We recommend instead that you continue to explore other avenues with the Chemistry department to take courses which would be the equivalent of CHEM 112.
In April 2021, the Queen??s University Senate released a new appeals policy, which you can read here: https://www.queensu.ca/secretariat/policies/senate/student-academic-appeals-policy. According to this new policy, this is the last step in the appeal process for this matter, since your ability to progress to the next level is not affected by this decision.
On behalf of the Board of Studies, I would like to wish you every success as you pursue your educational and career goals.
Sincerely,
Johanne Bénard
Chair, Board of Studies
Decision Date: January 19, 2022
Associate Dean: Jenn Stephepnson
Course: CHEM 112
Term: Fall/Winter
Year: 2021
Category: Add a course after the academic deadline
Instructor: Michael Mombourquette
January 17, 2022
Kaitlin Fortier
20knf3@queensu.ca
Dear Kaitlin,
On January 14, 2021, the Board of Studies (Board) reviewed your appeal of Associate Dean (Academic) Jill Atkinson??s decision to deny your request to add CHEM 112 (FW 2021/22) after September 20, 2021, the last date for adding classes. Board members present that day were Johanne Bénard (Chair), Dongmei Chen (Faculty Member), Allison Goebel (Faculty member), and Brandon Aldworth (Student representative). As you are aware, you also attended a portion of the meeting along with the current Associate Dean (Academic), Jenn Stephenson. Pamela Briand (Arts and Science resource staff) was also present.
After you and Dr. Stephenson left the meeting, the Board carefully considered the information from the oral statements along with the written submissions contained in the file. After this deliberation, the Board voted to uphold the Associate Dean??s decision to deny your appeal, finding her decision reasonable in light of the Faculty??s regulations.
In your presentation at the meeting, your letter of appeal and note to the Board, as well as in your earlier submission to the Associate Dean that was included in the file, you reported that your decision to drop CHEM 112 at the beginning of November was due to a lack of proper academic consideration in other courses related to the extenuating circumstances you experienced in the first seven weeks of the class. While the Board does not dispute the severity of your extenuating circumstances, we agree with the Associate Dean that the amount of missed work and the absence of support from your instructor to add the course at a very late stage of the course hindered not only a successful completion of the course, but also its integrity.
The Board would also want to draw your attention to the academic regulation regarding the addition of a class after the last official date for adding a course.
3.3.1 ?? To Add a Class after the Last Official Date for Adding Classes
Students must be enrolled in a class to be eligible to attend or otherwise participate in lectures, laboratories, tutorials, tests, and examinations associated with the class (see Academic Regulation 6).
Appeals to add a class late must clearly demonstrate the significant extenuating circumstances, beyond the student??s control, which prevented him or her from making the addition by the published deadline. A medical certificate or other documentation that outlines how the personal extenuating circumstances hindered the student??s ability to add the class during the published deadlines should be provided with the letter of appeal. The student must also have support from the Undergraduate Chair of the relevant department and from the class instructor. If the class was full prior to the deadline and a wait list existed for the class, the student must have been at or near the top of the wait list for the class in order for the appeal to be considered.
An appeal to add a class late must be submitted within 21 calendar days of the deadline to add a class for the specified term.
In your case, the last date to add the course was September 20, 2021 and the last date to submit an appeal was October 11, 2021. Nonetheless, your appeal was submitted on November 17, 2021. We want to reiterate that these dates have been set to allow the students to join a course when they can meet all its learning outcomes, which would not have been possible if you were to add the course so late in the term.
As we expressed it in the meeting, the Board recognizes the extenuating circumstances and the frustration that you have experienced at the beginning of your studies at Queen??s. However, we agree with the Associate Dean that the re-addition of CHEM 112 is not possible at this point of the academic year. We recommend instead that you continue to explore other avenues with the Chemistry department to take courses which would be the equivalent of CHEM 112.
In April 2021, the Queen??s University Senate released a new appeals policy, which you can read here: https://www.queensu.ca/secretariat/policies/senate/student-academic-appeals-policy. According to this new policy, this is the last step in the appeal process for this matter, since your ability to progress to the next level is not affected by this decision.
On behalf of the Board of Studies, I would like to wish you every success as you pursue your educational and career goals.
Sincerely,
Johanne Bénard
Chair, Board of Studies
Generated January 19, 2022 at 2:34:51 PM.