Decision Letter
Appeal Number: 8777
Decision Date: May 27, 2022
Associate Dean: 0
Student Name: Anna Siju
Student Email: annasiju15@gmail.com
Course: MATH 121
Term: Winter
Year: 2018
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Felicia Magpantay
Course: MATH 111
Term: Winter
Year: 2018
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Peter Taylor
Dear Anna:
On Tuesday, May 24, 2022, the Board of Studies (Board) reviewed your appeal of Associate Dean (Academic) Jenn Stephenson??s decision to deny your request to receive Credit Standing in MATH 121 and MATH 111 (Winter 2018). Members present that day were Johanne Bénard (Chair), Tara MacDonald (Faculty member), Dongmei Chen (Faculty member), and Emma Farrell (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 for Credit Standing in MATH 121 and MATH 111 (Winter 2018), finding her decision reasonable in light of the Faculty??s regulations and your academic record. I wish to emphasize that the Board recognizes the importance of this decision to you, and I want to assure you that every effort was made to explore all aspects of your appeal in our discussion.
In your letter of appeal to the Board and in your earlier submission to the Associate Dean included in the file, you reported mental health issues that affected your academic performance in the winter term of 2018. Also included in the file were two different attestations from Student Wellness Services, respectively dated January 18, 2022 (by Allison Lavigne) and March 6, 2022 (by Roger Davidson), as well as a letter dated March 8 (also by Roger Davidson).
The appeal regulation related to credit standing reads as follows:
3.3.4 ?? To Request Credit (CR) Standing in a Course
Credit standing is reserved for a student who has completed and passed all of the work of the class, including the final examination, but due to illness or other extenuating circumstances beyond his or her control, earned a substantially lower grade than might have been expected. Normally CR standing is only awarded for a grade of C or lower. A medical certificate or other documentation outlining how the personal extenuating circumstances affected the student??s academic performance must be provided with the letter of appeal (see Academic Regulation 10).
The Board recognizes the extenuating circumstances that you have experienced. Nonetheless, we agree with the Associate Dean that the documents included in your appeal, which also show some discrepancies, do not attest to the impairment that affected your performance in MATH 121 and MATH 111 during the winter of 2018. We would also like to refer to another criterion of the appeal regulation related to credit standing, specifically that CR are reserved for a student who, due to extenuating circumstances, earned substantially lower grades than might have been suspected. In your case, your grades in MATH 121 and MATH 111 in the winter of 2018 are aligned with the grades you earned in similar courses between 2018 and 2021.
We would also like to reiterate the Associate Dean??s advice that the best strategy for a student to raise their GPA is to retake a course, with an effort to achieve a higher grade. We encourage you to persevere in MATH 121 during the summer and to contact an academic advisor to discuss your academic plan.
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: May 27, 2022
Associate Dean: 0
Student Name: Anna Siju
Student Email: annasiju15@gmail.com
Course: MATH 121
Term: Winter
Year: 2018
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Felicia Magpantay
Course: MATH 111
Term: Winter
Year: 2018
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Peter Taylor
Dear Anna:
On Tuesday, May 24, 2022, the Board of Studies (Board) reviewed your appeal of Associate Dean (Academic) Jenn Stephenson??s decision to deny your request to receive Credit Standing in MATH 121 and MATH 111 (Winter 2018). Members present that day were Johanne Bénard (Chair), Tara MacDonald (Faculty member), Dongmei Chen (Faculty member), and Emma Farrell (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 for Credit Standing in MATH 121 and MATH 111 (Winter 2018), finding her decision reasonable in light of the Faculty??s regulations and your academic record. I wish to emphasize that the Board recognizes the importance of this decision to you, and I want to assure you that every effort was made to explore all aspects of your appeal in our discussion.
In your letter of appeal to the Board and in your earlier submission to the Associate Dean included in the file, you reported mental health issues that affected your academic performance in the winter term of 2018. Also included in the file were two different attestations from Student Wellness Services, respectively dated January 18, 2022 (by Allison Lavigne) and March 6, 2022 (by Roger Davidson), as well as a letter dated March 8 (also by Roger Davidson).
The appeal regulation related to credit standing reads as follows:
3.3.4 ?? To Request Credit (CR) Standing in a Course
Credit standing is reserved for a student who has completed and passed all of the work of the class, including the final examination, but due to illness or other extenuating circumstances beyond his or her control, earned a substantially lower grade than might have been expected. Normally CR standing is only awarded for a grade of C or lower. A medical certificate or other documentation outlining how the personal extenuating circumstances affected the student??s academic performance must be provided with the letter of appeal (see Academic Regulation 10).
The Board recognizes the extenuating circumstances that you have experienced. Nonetheless, we agree with the Associate Dean that the documents included in your appeal, which also show some discrepancies, do not attest to the impairment that affected your performance in MATH 121 and MATH 111 during the winter of 2018. We would also like to refer to another criterion of the appeal regulation related to credit standing, specifically that CR are reserved for a student who, due to extenuating circumstances, earned substantially lower grades than might have been suspected. In your case, your grades in MATH 121 and MATH 111 in the winter of 2018 are aligned with the grades you earned in similar courses between 2018 and 2021.
We would also like to reiterate the Associate Dean??s advice that the best strategy for a student to raise their GPA is to retake a course, with an effort to achieve a higher grade. We encourage you to persevere in MATH 121 during the summer and to contact an academic advisor to discuss your academic plan.
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 May 27, 2022 at 8:29:42 AM.