Decision Letter
Submission Number: 11373
Decision Date: February 12, 2024
Associate Dean: Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Weiran Xu
Student Email: 19wx11@queensu.ca
Course: CISC 124
Term: Fall
Year: 2023
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Burton Ma
Dear Weiran Xu:
I have carefully considered your petition request for Credit Standing in CISC 124 (F23). After reviewing your file, I have decided to deny your request.
The Academic Petitions and Appeals Regulation 1.1 at 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.
I am sympathetic to your situation and understand that this is a difficult decision, however, I want you to know that I considered this request very thoroughly. In making this decision, I reviewed your petition letter, the two pieces of documentation that you supplied, the additional information that you supplied the petitions office dated January 15, 2024, and the information that I received from your instructor related to your grades in this course.
I acknowledge the family-related extenuating circumstances that you have been experiencing since December 8th, 2023 however, I have denied this request as the timeline of this circumstance doesn’t correlate with all of your lower grades in this course. I also want to let you know that the instructor suggested to me that you didn’t meet the learning outcomes based on the work that you completed.
The information that I received from your instructor indicates that you were able to successfully complete each assignment in CISC 124 to high standards and that your lower grades stem from the two tests and the final exam. I recognize that you may not have been prepared for the final exam due to the uncertainty of your family-related circumstances at that time however I cannot grant Credit Standing in this course as the
dates of your other lower grades (two term tests) occurred on October 4 and November 15, prior to these circumstances beginning.
Weiran, you reported in your petition letter that you did not receive any feedback from the instructor related to your Test 2 grade. Professor Ma has let me know that you achieved 14.5/30 on this test and so I strongly suggest that you request an informal review with them so that you can understand your grade in this component.
Please know that it is never suggested that a student write an exam while unwell or experiencing the impacts of an unexpected circumstance. Going forward, you can request short term academic consideration if you need more time to complete a component or had to miss a class as a result of your circumstances. Here is the link for information about that process: queensu.ca/artsci/undergrad-students/student-services/academic-consideration-for-students
If you are concerned with the impact that this course has on your GPA, I would suggest that you consider repeating it in a future term. When repeating the exact same course code, both attempts will appear on your transcript however, only the higher grade will be included within the calculation of your cumulative GPA.
If you wish to appeal the Associate Dean’s decision to the Board of Studies, information and deadlines can be found at 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 queensu.ca/ombuds/appeal-process/procedural-fairness and guidance on policy and procedure by visiting their website at queensu.ca/ombuds/.
Sincerely,
Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Academic)
Decision Date: February 12, 2024
Associate Dean: Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Weiran Xu
Student Email: 19wx11@queensu.ca
Course: CISC 124
Term: Fall
Year: 2023
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Burton Ma
Dear Weiran Xu:
I have carefully considered your petition request for Credit Standing in CISC 124 (F23). After reviewing your file, I have decided to deny your request.
The Academic Petitions and Appeals Regulation 1.1 at 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.
I am sympathetic to your situation and understand that this is a difficult decision, however, I want you to know that I considered this request very thoroughly. In making this decision, I reviewed your petition letter, the two pieces of documentation that you supplied, the additional information that you supplied the petitions office dated January 15, 2024, and the information that I received from your instructor related to your grades in this course.
I acknowledge the family-related extenuating circumstances that you have been experiencing since December 8th, 2023 however, I have denied this request as the timeline of this circumstance doesn’t correlate with all of your lower grades in this course. I also want to let you know that the instructor suggested to me that you didn’t meet the learning outcomes based on the work that you completed.
The information that I received from your instructor indicates that you were able to successfully complete each assignment in CISC 124 to high standards and that your lower grades stem from the two tests and the final exam. I recognize that you may not have been prepared for the final exam due to the uncertainty of your family-related circumstances at that time however I cannot grant Credit Standing in this course as the
dates of your other lower grades (two term tests) occurred on October 4 and November 15, prior to these circumstances beginning.
Weiran, you reported in your petition letter that you did not receive any feedback from the instructor related to your Test 2 grade. Professor Ma has let me know that you achieved 14.5/30 on this test and so I strongly suggest that you request an informal review with them so that you can understand your grade in this component.
Please know that it is never suggested that a student write an exam while unwell or experiencing the impacts of an unexpected circumstance. Going forward, you can request short term academic consideration if you need more time to complete a component or had to miss a class as a result of your circumstances. Here is the link for information about that process: queensu.ca/artsci/undergrad-students/student-services/academic-consideration-for-students
If you are concerned with the impact that this course has on your GPA, I would suggest that you consider repeating it in a future term. When repeating the exact same course code, both attempts will appear on your transcript however, only the higher grade will be included within the calculation of your cumulative GPA.
If you wish to appeal the Associate Dean’s decision to the Board of Studies, information and deadlines can be found at 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 queensu.ca/ombuds/appeal-process/procedural-fairness and guidance on policy and procedure by visiting their website at queensu.ca/ombuds/.
Sincerely,
Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Academic)
Generated February 12, 2024 at 12:01:51 PM.