Decision Letter
Submission Number: 10509
Decision Date: June 5, 2023
Associate Dean: Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Sascha Kaplan
Student Email: 20ssk8@queensu.ca
Course: MATH 121
Term: Fall/Winter
Year: 2023
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Course: CHEM 112
Term: Fall/Winter
Year: 2023
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Michael Mombourquette
Dear Sascha Kaplan:
I have carefully considered your petition to drop MATH 121 (W22/23) after the academic deadline and for Credit Standing in CHEM 112 (FW22/23). 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 Petitions and Appeals Regulation 1.1 at https://www.queensu.ca/academic-calendar/arts-science/appeal-regulations/ stress that petitions and appeals are only granted where there are significantly extenuating circumstances, which would merit the waiving of a particular Faculty regulation or decision. Extenuating circumstances normally involve a significant physical or psychological event that is beyond a student??s control and debilitating to their academic performance. 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.
While I acknowledge that you have continued to be impacted by extenuating circumstances since September of 2022 as confirmed by the documentation that you supplied, I want to remind you of your previous petition request for these same circumstances related to the 2022 Winter and 2022 Summer terms. The academic petition process is not meant to be used to manage a chronic condition. It is the student's responsibility to pause and evaluate the impact of extenuating circumstances on their classes during week 7 of the term. If they have fallen behind in a course or find the material too difficult, they should drop the course by week 8 of term. The drop deadlines, outlined in the ??Important Dates? section on the Faculty of Arts and Science web page, have been established to ensure fair and equitable treatment of all students.
I am sympathetic to your situation and understand that this is a difficult decision however, as both CHEM 112 and MATH 121 are full year courses, there was time to consider how your extenuating circumstances were impacting your grades prior to the drop deadlines. Going forward I encourage you to utilize academic options during the term as needed. These could include requesting academic consideration and asking instructors for an Incomplete Grade in the event that you cannot complete the final components of a course successfully by the end of the term.
If you are concerned with the impact that these courses have on your cumulative GPA, I would suggest that you consider repeating them in a future term. When repeating the exact same course code, both attempts will appear on your transcript however only the higher attempt will be included within the calculation of your cumulative GPA.
I also notice that you are currently enrolled in 12.0 units for the 2023 Summer term. Please know that it is not suggested that students attempt more than 6.0 units in a Summer term as these classes are condensed and tend to move quickly. I suggest that you make note of the academic drop deadlines for this term and reduce your course load as needed.
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).
Sincerely,
Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Academic)
Decision Date: June 5, 2023
Associate Dean: Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Sascha Kaplan
Student Email: 20ssk8@queensu.ca
Course: MATH 121
Term: Fall/Winter
Year: 2023
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Course: CHEM 112
Term: Fall/Winter
Year: 2023
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Michael Mombourquette
Dear Sascha Kaplan:
I have carefully considered your petition to drop MATH 121 (W22/23) after the academic deadline and for Credit Standing in CHEM 112 (FW22/23). 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 Petitions and Appeals Regulation 1.1 at https://www.queensu.ca/academic-calendar/arts-science/appeal-regulations/ stress that petitions and appeals are only granted where there are significantly extenuating circumstances, which would merit the waiving of a particular Faculty regulation or decision. Extenuating circumstances normally involve a significant physical or psychological event that is beyond a student??s control and debilitating to their academic performance. 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.
While I acknowledge that you have continued to be impacted by extenuating circumstances since September of 2022 as confirmed by the documentation that you supplied, I want to remind you of your previous petition request for these same circumstances related to the 2022 Winter and 2022 Summer terms. The academic petition process is not meant to be used to manage a chronic condition. It is the student's responsibility to pause and evaluate the impact of extenuating circumstances on their classes during week 7 of the term. If they have fallen behind in a course or find the material too difficult, they should drop the course by week 8 of term. The drop deadlines, outlined in the ??Important Dates? section on the Faculty of Arts and Science web page, have been established to ensure fair and equitable treatment of all students.
I am sympathetic to your situation and understand that this is a difficult decision however, as both CHEM 112 and MATH 121 are full year courses, there was time to consider how your extenuating circumstances were impacting your grades prior to the drop deadlines. Going forward I encourage you to utilize academic options during the term as needed. These could include requesting academic consideration and asking instructors for an Incomplete Grade in the event that you cannot complete the final components of a course successfully by the end of the term.
If you are concerned with the impact that these courses have on your cumulative GPA, I would suggest that you consider repeating them in a future term. When repeating the exact same course code, both attempts will appear on your transcript however only the higher attempt will be included within the calculation of your cumulative GPA.
I also notice that you are currently enrolled in 12.0 units for the 2023 Summer term. Please know that it is not suggested that students attempt more than 6.0 units in a Summer term as these classes are condensed and tend to move quickly. I suggest that you make note of the academic drop deadlines for this term and reduce your course load as needed.
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).
Sincerely,
Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Academic)
Generated June 5, 2023 at 1:01:54 PM.