Decision Letter
Appeal Number: 9380
Decision Date: July 28, 2022
Associate Dean: Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Kelly Humphrey
Student Email: 19kh36@queensu.ca
Course: FILM 240
Term: Winter
Year: 2022
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Dear Kelly Humphrey:
I have carefully considered your appeal to drop FILM 240 (W22) past the academic deadline. After reviewing your file, I have decided to deny your request.
As you know, courses must be dropped on SOLUS within the published deadlines. The Academic Regulations (Appeal of Academic Decisions, IIIb) stress that exceptions to this will only be waived under extenuating circumstances. 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 circumstances beyond their control.
I am certainly sympathetic to your situation and realize that this is a disappointing decision however, the documentation that you supplied does not comment on the timeline of your extenuating circumstances nor does it provide information about the academic impacts that your circumstances had on this specific course. Also, you acknowledged in your appeal letter that this course was impacted before the drop deadline of the term and that you chose to remain enrolled in it despite those impacts. I want to remind you that it is the student??s responsibility to assess the impacts of extenuating circumstances on their academics before the drop deadline. If you have fallen behind in a course or find the material too difficult, you should drop the course before the deadline. The drop deadlines, as they have been outlined in the ??Important Dates? section on the Arts and Science web page, have been established by the Faculty of Arts and Science to ensure a fair and equitable treatment of all students.
If you are concerned with the impacts that your grade in FILM 240 (W22) has on your cumulative GPA I would suggest that you consider repeating it in a future term. When a student repeats the same course code, both attempts will appear on their transcript however only the higher attempt will be included within the calculation of their cumulative GPA.
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 https://www.queensu.ca/ombuds/appeal-process/procedural-fairness and guidance on policy and procedure by visiting their website at https://www.queensu.ca/ombuds/.
Student Academic Appeals Policy (SAAP) https://www.queensu.ca/secretariat/policies/senate/student-academic-appeals-policyE and Rules of Procedure for USAB https://www.queensu.ca/secretariat/policies/senate/student-academic-appeals-policy/usab-rules-of-procedure 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.??
Sincerely,
Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Academic)
Decision Date: July 28, 2022
Associate Dean: Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Kelly Humphrey
Student Email: 19kh36@queensu.ca
Course: FILM 240
Term: Winter
Year: 2022
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Dear Kelly Humphrey:
I have carefully considered your appeal to drop FILM 240 (W22) past the academic deadline. After reviewing your file, I have decided to deny your request.
As you know, courses must be dropped on SOLUS within the published deadlines. The Academic Regulations (Appeal of Academic Decisions, IIIb) stress that exceptions to this will only be waived under extenuating circumstances. 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 circumstances beyond their control.
I am certainly sympathetic to your situation and realize that this is a disappointing decision however, the documentation that you supplied does not comment on the timeline of your extenuating circumstances nor does it provide information about the academic impacts that your circumstances had on this specific course. Also, you acknowledged in your appeal letter that this course was impacted before the drop deadline of the term and that you chose to remain enrolled in it despite those impacts. I want to remind you that it is the student??s responsibility to assess the impacts of extenuating circumstances on their academics before the drop deadline. If you have fallen behind in a course or find the material too difficult, you should drop the course before the deadline. The drop deadlines, as they have been outlined in the ??Important Dates? section on the Arts and Science web page, have been established by the Faculty of Arts and Science to ensure a fair and equitable treatment of all students.
If you are concerned with the impacts that your grade in FILM 240 (W22) has on your cumulative GPA I would suggest that you consider repeating it in a future term. When a student repeats the same course code, both attempts will appear on their transcript however only the higher attempt will be included within the calculation of their cumulative GPA.
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 https://www.queensu.ca/ombuds/appeal-process/procedural-fairness and guidance on policy and procedure by visiting their website at https://www.queensu.ca/ombuds/.
Student Academic Appeals Policy (SAAP) https://www.queensu.ca/secretariat/policies/senate/student-academic-appeals-policyE and Rules of Procedure for USAB https://www.queensu.ca/secretariat/policies/senate/student-academic-appeals-policy/usab-rules-of-procedure 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.??
Sincerely,
Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Academic)
Generated July 28, 2022 at 10:59:21 AM.