Decision Letter
Appeal Number: 8650
Decision Date: February 14, 2022
Associate Dean: Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Anjali Choudhury
Student Email: 20amc4@queensu.ca
Course: MATH 280
Term: Fall
Year: 2021
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Thomas Barthelmé
Dear Anjali:
I am sorry to have read of your reported extenuating circumstances and I have carefully considered your request for Credit standing in MATH 280 (F 2021) based on those circumstances. 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 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, often which took place after the drop date deadline. 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 and that the learning outcomes were met.
I am sure this is a disappointing decision, but the input received from your instructor notes that you had strong homework marks during this time period so it is difficult to ascertain why only your midterm and final grades were impacted by the circumstances outlined more-so than your homework. Additionally, not successfully passing both the mid-term and the final exams indicates that the learning outcomes were not sufficiently met to alter your current grade to credit standing.
Going forward, I encourage you to carefully evaluate your progress in courses by week 7 of the term and if you are finding the material too difficult or have not kept up with the course work, you should drop the course by the week 8 drop deadline. The drop deadline is set at Week 8 to allow students plenty of time to assess their progress in a class and withdraw without any academic penalty if they feel that they cannot keep up with the demands or have the academic background needed to successfully complete it.
Another tool to manage your academics in addition to dropping a course by the drop deadline is our Academic Consideration protocol. A student can request short term consideration if they need more time to complete an assignment or miss a class due to documented extenuating circumstances. Here is the link for information about that process:
https://www.queensu.ca/artsci/undergrad-students/academic-consideration-for-students
Anjali, let me remind you that if a student repeats a course, the lower grade is excluded from their GPA and the higher grade is included.
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 ??Board of Studies?). 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).
Student Academic Appeals Policy (SAAP) or Rules of Procedure for USAB are Queen??s University Senate approved appeal policies. If an inconsistency arises between these policies and Arts & Science regulations, SAAP and USAB will supersede.
Best of luck in your degree progression.
Sincerely,
Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Academic)
20243397Choudhury
Decision Date: February 14, 2022
Associate Dean: Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Anjali Choudhury
Student Email: 20amc4@queensu.ca
Course: MATH 280
Term: Fall
Year: 2021
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Thomas Barthelmé
Dear Anjali:
I am sorry to have read of your reported extenuating circumstances and I have carefully considered your request for Credit standing in MATH 280 (F 2021) based on those circumstances. 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 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, often which took place after the drop date deadline. 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 and that the learning outcomes were met.
I am sure this is a disappointing decision, but the input received from your instructor notes that you had strong homework marks during this time period so it is difficult to ascertain why only your midterm and final grades were impacted by the circumstances outlined more-so than your homework. Additionally, not successfully passing both the mid-term and the final exams indicates that the learning outcomes were not sufficiently met to alter your current grade to credit standing.
Going forward, I encourage you to carefully evaluate your progress in courses by week 7 of the term and if you are finding the material too difficult or have not kept up with the course work, you should drop the course by the week 8 drop deadline. The drop deadline is set at Week 8 to allow students plenty of time to assess their progress in a class and withdraw without any academic penalty if they feel that they cannot keep up with the demands or have the academic background needed to successfully complete it.
Another tool to manage your academics in addition to dropping a course by the drop deadline is our Academic Consideration protocol. A student can request short term consideration if they need more time to complete an assignment or miss a class due to documented extenuating circumstances. Here is the link for information about that process:
https://www.queensu.ca/artsci/undergrad-students/academic-consideration-for-students
Anjali, let me remind you that if a student repeats a course, the lower grade is excluded from their GPA and the higher grade is included.
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 ??Board of Studies?). 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).
Student Academic Appeals Policy (SAAP) or Rules of Procedure for USAB are Queen??s University Senate approved appeal policies. If an inconsistency arises between these policies and Arts & Science regulations, SAAP and USAB will supersede.
Best of luck in your degree progression.
Sincerely,
Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Academic)
20243397Choudhury
Generated February 14, 2022 at 8:44:16 AM.