Decision Letter
Appeal Number: 8823
Decision Date: April 18, 2022
Associate Dean: Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Priscilla van het Hof
Student Email: 18pcvh@queensu.ca
Course: BIOL 243
Term: Fall
Year: 2019
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: William Nelson
Course: CHEM 211
Term: Fall
Year: 2019
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Jason Vlahakis
Course: ANAT 215
Term: Fall
Year: 2019
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Dear Priscilla:
I have read with interest the circumstances outlined in your letter of appeal and I have carefully considered your request to drop ANAT 215 (F 2019) past the academic deadline as well as receive Credit standing in BIOL 243 and CHEM 211 (F 2019) 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. In addition, courses must be dropped on SOLUS within the published deadlines. 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 sure this is a disappointing decision, but the documentation submitted does not speak to the impact the circumstances had on your studies and there is not sufficient information available related to the requests for Credit standing to confirm that the learning outcomes were met and all course requirements completed since these courses were taken in 2019. Additionally, it is not clear how Fall 2019 is different from previous terms since the grades are not overly dissimilar.
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
Priscilla, 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 with your courses this term.
Sincerely,
Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Academic)
20135508vanhetHof
Decision Date: April 18, 2022
Associate Dean: Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Priscilla van het Hof
Student Email: 18pcvh@queensu.ca
Course: BIOL 243
Term: Fall
Year: 2019
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: William Nelson
Course: CHEM 211
Term: Fall
Year: 2019
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Jason Vlahakis
Course: ANAT 215
Term: Fall
Year: 2019
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Dear Priscilla:
I have read with interest the circumstances outlined in your letter of appeal and I have carefully considered your request to drop ANAT 215 (F 2019) past the academic deadline as well as receive Credit standing in BIOL 243 and CHEM 211 (F 2019) 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. In addition, courses must be dropped on SOLUS within the published deadlines. 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 sure this is a disappointing decision, but the documentation submitted does not speak to the impact the circumstances had on your studies and there is not sufficient information available related to the requests for Credit standing to confirm that the learning outcomes were met and all course requirements completed since these courses were taken in 2019. Additionally, it is not clear how Fall 2019 is different from previous terms since the grades are not overly dissimilar.
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
Priscilla, 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 with your courses this term.
Sincerely,
Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Academic)
20135508vanhetHof
Generated April 18, 2022 at 9:23:40 AM.