Decision Letter
Submission Number: 12404
Decision Date: November 11, 2024
Associate Dean: Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Wolfgang Schad
Student Email: 22ws@queensu.ca
Course: ECON 255
Term: Fall
Year: 2023
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Jan Zabojnik
Dear Wolfgang Schad:
I have carefully considered your petition request for Credit Standing in ECON 255 (F23). After reviewing your file, I have decided to deny your request.
Academic Petitions and Appeal Regulations 3.3.1.4. state that Credit Standing is reserved for a course in which a student who has completed all of the work of the class, including the final examination, and achieved a passing grade in the class, but due to illness or other extenuating circumstances beyond their control, earned a substantially lower grade than might have been expected. 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. 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 documentation that you supplied and the information that I received from your instructor related to your individual grades in this course.
I acknowledge the health-related diagnosis that you received during the 2023 Winter term. and I understand the ongoing impacts from this extenuating circumstance that you experienced through the first few months of the 2023 Fall term. The documentation that you supplied confirms academic impacts from these circumstances between May and October.
The instructor of ECON 255 (F23) has confirmed that although you achieved passing grades in the homework component of the course, you failed both the midterm in October and the final exam which suggests that the learning outcomes of the course weren’t met.
Wolfgang, it is unclear why you didn’t take the Fall term away from your studies due to the ongoing nature of your medical treatments at that time, or why you didn’t drop this course after failing the midterm in October. I have denied this petition request as you were aware of the academic impacts of extenuating circumstances prior to the drop deadline of 2023 Fall term. I want to remind you that 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.
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 as well as guidance on policy and procedure (queensu.ca/ombuds).
Sincerely,
Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Academic)
Decision Date: November 11, 2024
Associate Dean: Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Wolfgang Schad
Student Email: 22ws@queensu.ca
Course: ECON 255
Term: Fall
Year: 2023
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Jan Zabojnik
Dear Wolfgang Schad:
I have carefully considered your petition request for Credit Standing in ECON 255 (F23). After reviewing your file, I have decided to deny your request.
Academic Petitions and Appeal Regulations 3.3.1.4. state that Credit Standing is reserved for a course in which a student who has completed all of the work of the class, including the final examination, and achieved a passing grade in the class, but due to illness or other extenuating circumstances beyond their control, earned a substantially lower grade than might have been expected. 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. 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 documentation that you supplied and the information that I received from your instructor related to your individual grades in this course.
I acknowledge the health-related diagnosis that you received during the 2023 Winter term. and I understand the ongoing impacts from this extenuating circumstance that you experienced through the first few months of the 2023 Fall term. The documentation that you supplied confirms academic impacts from these circumstances between May and October.
The instructor of ECON 255 (F23) has confirmed that although you achieved passing grades in the homework component of the course, you failed both the midterm in October and the final exam which suggests that the learning outcomes of the course weren’t met.
Wolfgang, it is unclear why you didn’t take the Fall term away from your studies due to the ongoing nature of your medical treatments at that time, or why you didn’t drop this course after failing the midterm in October. I have denied this petition request as you were aware of the academic impacts of extenuating circumstances prior to the drop deadline of 2023 Fall term. I want to remind you that 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.
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 as well as guidance on policy and procedure (queensu.ca/ombuds).
Sincerely,
Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Academic)
Generated November 11, 2024 at 12:10:11 PM.