Decision Letter
Appeal Number: 9412
Decision Date: August 31, 2022
Associate Dean: Jenn Stephenson
Student Name: Jack Hodgins
Student Email: 21jwh2@queensu.ca
On Tuesday, 30 August, the Board of Studies reviewed your appeal of Associate Dean (Academic) Jenn Stephenson??s decision to deny your appeal to waive the twenty-one day deadline to appeal a Requirement to Withdraw for one year. Board members present that day were Scott-Morgan Straker (Chair), Allison Goebel (Faculty member), Kai Salomaa (Faculty member) and Emma Farrell (Student representative). You attended a portion of the meeting, along with the Associate Dean (Academic) Jenn Stephenson. Pamela Briand (Arts and Science resource staff) was also present. After you and Dr Stephenson left the meeting, the Board carefully considered the information from the oral statements along with the written submissions contained in your file. The Board voted to overturn the Associate Dean??s decision; this means that your appeal was successful, and you will be permitted to appeal the Requirement to Withdraw for one year.
In reaching this decision, the Board focused on the period from 24 May 2022, when the e-mail notifying you of the Requirement to Withdraw was sent, and 14 June 2022, the deadline for appealing that requirement. On the one hand, the Board shares the Associate Dean??s view of the importance of the 21-day deadline, and acknowledges that students are expected at all times to monitor their Queen??s e-mail addresses. On the other, the Board had to consider whether, given the circumstances you were experiencing during that period, you were in a position to be able to take full control of your professional obligations. The second note from Dr Yeats, dated 26 July 2022, attests that you were the caregiver for Amy Clarke from May??July 2022, when she was suffering from a severe mood disorder that placed her in physical danger. The Board acknowledges the strain that this obligation placed on you, on top of your academic struggles. It is easy to see in retrospect that your neglect of your Queen??s e-mail was an error in judgement, but the Board recognizes that at the time, this might have seemed like a reasonable step to take as you struggled to meet Amy??s needs and your own. The Board concluded that the documentation you provided??especially the second note from Dr Yeats, which confirms that you were providing care for a dangerously ill person during precisely the twenty-one day period in question??raises sufficient questions about how much more you were capable of doing at that time as to warrant revisiting the Associate Dean??s decision. Knowing what you now know, you would, the Board hopes, attend more closely to your e-mail if the situation were to recur; given the extraordinary and unfair pressure you were experiencing from 24 May to 14 June, however, the Board recognizes the possibility that you may have been unable to do more than you did. That possibility seemed to the Board to constitute sufficient grounds to set aside the 21-day deadline in your case.
On behalf of the Board of Studies, I wish you every success in turning around your academic fortunes and making progress toward your goals.
Sincerely,
Scott-Morgan Straker
Chair, Board of Studies
Decision Date: August 31, 2022
Associate Dean: Jenn Stephenson
Student Name: Jack Hodgins
Student Email: 21jwh2@queensu.ca
On Tuesday, 30 August, the Board of Studies reviewed your appeal of Associate Dean (Academic) Jenn Stephenson??s decision to deny your appeal to waive the twenty-one day deadline to appeal a Requirement to Withdraw for one year. Board members present that day were Scott-Morgan Straker (Chair), Allison Goebel (Faculty member), Kai Salomaa (Faculty member) and Emma Farrell (Student representative). You attended a portion of the meeting, along with the Associate Dean (Academic) Jenn Stephenson. Pamela Briand (Arts and Science resource staff) was also present. After you and Dr Stephenson left the meeting, the Board carefully considered the information from the oral statements along with the written submissions contained in your file. The Board voted to overturn the Associate Dean??s decision; this means that your appeal was successful, and you will be permitted to appeal the Requirement to Withdraw for one year.
In reaching this decision, the Board focused on the period from 24 May 2022, when the e-mail notifying you of the Requirement to Withdraw was sent, and 14 June 2022, the deadline for appealing that requirement. On the one hand, the Board shares the Associate Dean??s view of the importance of the 21-day deadline, and acknowledges that students are expected at all times to monitor their Queen??s e-mail addresses. On the other, the Board had to consider whether, given the circumstances you were experiencing during that period, you were in a position to be able to take full control of your professional obligations. The second note from Dr Yeats, dated 26 July 2022, attests that you were the caregiver for Amy Clarke from May??July 2022, when she was suffering from a severe mood disorder that placed her in physical danger. The Board acknowledges the strain that this obligation placed on you, on top of your academic struggles. It is easy to see in retrospect that your neglect of your Queen??s e-mail was an error in judgement, but the Board recognizes that at the time, this might have seemed like a reasonable step to take as you struggled to meet Amy??s needs and your own. The Board concluded that the documentation you provided??especially the second note from Dr Yeats, which confirms that you were providing care for a dangerously ill person during precisely the twenty-one day period in question??raises sufficient questions about how much more you were capable of doing at that time as to warrant revisiting the Associate Dean??s decision. Knowing what you now know, you would, the Board hopes, attend more closely to your e-mail if the situation were to recur; given the extraordinary and unfair pressure you were experiencing from 24 May to 14 June, however, the Board recognizes the possibility that you may have been unable to do more than you did. That possibility seemed to the Board to constitute sufficient grounds to set aside the 21-day deadline in your case.
On behalf of the Board of Studies, I wish you every success in turning around your academic fortunes and making progress toward your goals.
Sincerely,
Scott-Morgan Straker
Chair, Board of Studies
Generated August 31, 2022 at 8:25:55 AM.