Decision Letter
Appeal Number: 8695
Decision Date: April 6, 2022
Associate Dean: 0
Student Name: Matthew Rezkalla
Student Email: 17mr46@queensu.ca
Course: PHIL 260
Term: Fall
Year: 2021
Category: Request aegrotat (AG) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Nancy Salay
Dear Matthew Rezkalla:
On Thursday, March 31st, the Board of Studies (Board) reviewed your appeal of Associate Dean (Academic) Jenn Stephenson??s decision to deny your request to receive Aegrotat Standing (AG) for PHIL 260 (Fall 2021). Board members present that day were Johanne Bénard (Chair), Scott-Morgan Straker (Faculty member), Ivan Dimitrov (Faculty member), and Tiffany Yung (Student representative). Pamela Briand (Arts and Science resource staff) was also present.
At this meeting, after carefully reviewing all written submissions contained in the file, the Board voted to uphold the Associate Dean??s decision to deny your appeal to receive Aegrotat Standing for PHIL 260 (Fall 2021), finding it reasonable in light of the Faculty??s regulations and your academic record. However, we support the Associate Dean??s decision to offer you to an extension of the incomplete grade for PHIL 260 and allow you to write a deferred exam before August 31, 2022.
In your letter of appeal to the Board and in your earlier submission to the Associate Dean that was included in the file, you reported health issues that prevented you from writing your deferred exam between January 10-12. Also included in the file are two letters from your mother attesting that you are under stress and could not complete PHIL 260 this term.
The Board sympathizes with your situation. Nonetheless, we agree with the Associate Dean that while your submission establishes that you could not complete the exam during the Winter Term 2022, it does not establish that you cannot complete it at any time. In the absence of documentation from a healthcare provider attesting that your health prevents you from writing the exam in the foreseeable future, the preferred outcome must be to allow you extra time to complete the missing work. The Associate Dean also noticed that you were enrolled in 6 courses this term. We would like to reiterate that the appeal system is not meant to manage academics and that students need to make proactive decisions about their classes, and more specifically about their workload. In your case, it would have been possible to drop another course before the academic deadline to alleviate this situation.
We recognize the importance of this decision to you and want to assure you that every effort was made to explore all aspects of your appeal through discussion of your file.
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, the Board of Appeals is the last step in the appeal process for this matter since your ability to progress to the next level has not been affected by this decision. Please also note that Student Academic Appeals Policy (SAAP) or Rules of Procedure for USAB are Queen??s University Senate approved appeal policies. In the event that an inconsistency arises between these policies and Arts & Science regulations, SAAP and USAB will supersede.
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
20103458 Matthew Rezkalla
Decision Date: April 6, 2022
Associate Dean: 0
Student Name: Matthew Rezkalla
Student Email: 17mr46@queensu.ca
Course: PHIL 260
Term: Fall
Year: 2021
Category: Request aegrotat (AG) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Nancy Salay
Dear Matthew Rezkalla:
On Thursday, March 31st, the Board of Studies (Board) reviewed your appeal of Associate Dean (Academic) Jenn Stephenson??s decision to deny your request to receive Aegrotat Standing (AG) for PHIL 260 (Fall 2021). Board members present that day were Johanne Bénard (Chair), Scott-Morgan Straker (Faculty member), Ivan Dimitrov (Faculty member), and Tiffany Yung (Student representative). Pamela Briand (Arts and Science resource staff) was also present.
At this meeting, after carefully reviewing all written submissions contained in the file, the Board voted to uphold the Associate Dean??s decision to deny your appeal to receive Aegrotat Standing for PHIL 260 (Fall 2021), finding it reasonable in light of the Faculty??s regulations and your academic record. However, we support the Associate Dean??s decision to offer you to an extension of the incomplete grade for PHIL 260 and allow you to write a deferred exam before August 31, 2022.
In your letter of appeal to the Board and in your earlier submission to the Associate Dean that was included in the file, you reported health issues that prevented you from writing your deferred exam between January 10-12. Also included in the file are two letters from your mother attesting that you are under stress and could not complete PHIL 260 this term.
The Board sympathizes with your situation. Nonetheless, we agree with the Associate Dean that while your submission establishes that you could not complete the exam during the Winter Term 2022, it does not establish that you cannot complete it at any time. In the absence of documentation from a healthcare provider attesting that your health prevents you from writing the exam in the foreseeable future, the preferred outcome must be to allow you extra time to complete the missing work. The Associate Dean also noticed that you were enrolled in 6 courses this term. We would like to reiterate that the appeal system is not meant to manage academics and that students need to make proactive decisions about their classes, and more specifically about their workload. In your case, it would have been possible to drop another course before the academic deadline to alleviate this situation.
We recognize the importance of this decision to you and want to assure you that every effort was made to explore all aspects of your appeal through discussion of your file.
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, the Board of Appeals is the last step in the appeal process for this matter since your ability to progress to the next level has not been affected by this decision. Please also note that Student Academic Appeals Policy (SAAP) or Rules of Procedure for USAB are Queen??s University Senate approved appeal policies. In the event that an inconsistency arises between these policies and Arts & Science regulations, SAAP and USAB will supersede.
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
20103458 Matthew Rezkalla
Generated April 6, 2022 at 11:58:03 AM.