Decision Letter
Submission Number: 12771
Decision Date: March 10, 2025
Associate Dean: Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Edward Boyle
Student Email: 13ejwb@queensu.ca
Dear Ted:
Thank you for your request to Waive a Petition Deadline related to your graduation date. I have carefully reviewed your petition and while I’m unable to grant your request, I want to assure you that I’ve taken your circumstances into account as part of this decision.
The Academic Petitions and Appeal Regulations 3.7.2 at queensu.ca/academic-calendar/arts-science/appeal-regulations/ stress that exceptions to the petition and appeal deadlines can only be granted in cases where extenuating circumstances beyond a student’s control render the student unable to submit a petition or appeal within the specified timeline. The student must be able to show that the extenuating circumstances were ongoing. The student must also be able to demonstrate that these circumstances prevented the student from acting between the time the original decision was received and the time at which the appeal was eventually initiated. I also want to remind you that subsequent petitions cannot be submitted for a term that has already been the subject of a previous petition.
I appreciate that you want to petition courses within the 2014/2015, 2015/2016, and 2016/2017 academic years however, I want to remind you that you had previously petitioned courses from 2015 Fall, 2016 Fall and 2017 Winter terms and so these cannot be considered again.
Related to your graded courses from the 2015 Winter and 2016 Winter terms, I completely understand the extenuating circumstances that you experienced during this time, as disclosed within your petition letter and confirmed within the documentation that you supplied. However, after reviewing the documentation that you supplied from Laurie J. White, M.D. dated January 31, 2025, and your prior petition requests, it unclear why you didn’t petition these courses before your graduation date.
Specifically, the documentation that you included with prior petition #5824 from Alex Honeyman, RP dated May 30, 2019, confirms the diagnosis and treatment of one disorder as well as mentions the diagnosis of a chronic disability, both in 2017. Looking at your transcript, I can see that you were able to engage and successfully complete courses during the 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 academic years, some with strong grades. I also see that you petitioned other courses from prior terms in the year 2019.
Ted, I want you to know that I am sympathetic to your situation and understand that this is a difficult decision. As your petition request did not speak to a new diagnosis of a disability or contain documentation to suggest that you were not able to petition your 2015 Winter and 2016 Winter term courses prior to your graduation date, I cannot grant your request. 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.
If you wish to appeal this decision, information on the appeal process and deadlines is available at queensu.ca/artsci/undergraduate/student-services/academic-petitions-and-appeals (click on Second Level). The Office of the University Ombudsperson offers guidance on student rights and procedural fairness at queensu.ca/ombuds/appeal-process/procedural-fairness, and they are also available to support you at queensu.ca/ombuds.
Student Academic Appeals Policy (SAAP) or Rules of Procedure for USAB 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.
I hope that you continue to seek out the support and resources available to you, and I wish you the best in navigating your next steps.
Warm regards,
Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Academic)
Decision Date: March 10, 2025
Associate Dean: Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Edward Boyle
Student Email: 13ejwb@queensu.ca
Dear Ted:
Thank you for your request to Waive a Petition Deadline related to your graduation date. I have carefully reviewed your petition and while I’m unable to grant your request, I want to assure you that I’ve taken your circumstances into account as part of this decision.
The Academic Petitions and Appeal Regulations 3.7.2 at queensu.ca/academic-calendar/arts-science/appeal-regulations/ stress that exceptions to the petition and appeal deadlines can only be granted in cases where extenuating circumstances beyond a student’s control render the student unable to submit a petition or appeal within the specified timeline. The student must be able to show that the extenuating circumstances were ongoing. The student must also be able to demonstrate that these circumstances prevented the student from acting between the time the original decision was received and the time at which the appeal was eventually initiated. I also want to remind you that subsequent petitions cannot be submitted for a term that has already been the subject of a previous petition.
I appreciate that you want to petition courses within the 2014/2015, 2015/2016, and 2016/2017 academic years however, I want to remind you that you had previously petitioned courses from 2015 Fall, 2016 Fall and 2017 Winter terms and so these cannot be considered again.
Related to your graded courses from the 2015 Winter and 2016 Winter terms, I completely understand the extenuating circumstances that you experienced during this time, as disclosed within your petition letter and confirmed within the documentation that you supplied. However, after reviewing the documentation that you supplied from Laurie J. White, M.D. dated January 31, 2025, and your prior petition requests, it unclear why you didn’t petition these courses before your graduation date.
Specifically, the documentation that you included with prior petition #5824 from Alex Honeyman, RP dated May 30, 2019, confirms the diagnosis and treatment of one disorder as well as mentions the diagnosis of a chronic disability, both in 2017. Looking at your transcript, I can see that you were able to engage and successfully complete courses during the 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 academic years, some with strong grades. I also see that you petitioned other courses from prior terms in the year 2019.
Ted, I want you to know that I am sympathetic to your situation and understand that this is a difficult decision. As your petition request did not speak to a new diagnosis of a disability or contain documentation to suggest that you were not able to petition your 2015 Winter and 2016 Winter term courses prior to your graduation date, I cannot grant your request. 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.
If you wish to appeal this decision, information on the appeal process and deadlines is available at queensu.ca/artsci/undergraduate/student-services/academic-petitions-and-appeals (click on Second Level). The Office of the University Ombudsperson offers guidance on student rights and procedural fairness at queensu.ca/ombuds/appeal-process/procedural-fairness, and they are also available to support you at queensu.ca/ombuds.
Student Academic Appeals Policy (SAAP) or Rules of Procedure for USAB 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.
I hope that you continue to seek out the support and resources available to you, and I wish you the best in navigating your next steps.
Warm regards,
Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Academic)
Generated March 10, 2025 at 11:16:08 AM.