Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Submission Number: 13440
Decision Date: October 7, 2025
Associate Dean: Dorit Naaman (Associate Dean Academic)
Student Name: Mia Ferrante
Student Email: 22wwv2@queensu.ca

Course: PHYS 118
Term: Summer
Year: 2024
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Anne Topper

Dear Mia Ferrante,

I have carefully considered your request for Credit Standing in PHYS 118 (S24) and while I’m unable to grant your petition, I want to assure you that I’ve taken your circumstances into account as part of this decision.

According to the Academic Appeal and Petition Regulation 1.1 petitions 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. These kinds of extraordinary situations should be supported by official documentation from a health care practitioner or other relevant professional.

I acknowledge that you took this course as a prerequisite for a graduate school application and that you had planned to repeat it however, it is not currently being offered.

The documentation that you supplied suggests academic impacts from a health-related circumstance throughout the 2024 Summer term. However, information that I received from the instructor of the course confirms that you performed strongly in all components of this course, including tests, prior to the final exam in July. The documentation provided does not clearly address the timing of your circumstances in relation to your low grade on the final exam. As your petition did not establish a direct correlation between the health-related circumstances and the specific timing of the final exam, I am unable to grant this request.

I want to take this time to remind you that students are not expected to write an exam while they are unwell. Academic Consideration is a process for the university community to provide a compassionate response to assist students experiencing a short-term extenuating circumstance. You can familiarize yourself with your consideration options at: https://www.queensu.ca/artsci/accommodations.

Going forward, you should know that it is your responsibility to pause and evaluate the impact of extenuating circumstances on your coursework prior to the drop deadline of the term. If you fall behind in a course or find the material too difficult, you should drop the course by deadline. 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.

Additionally, if you wish to appeal this decision, you are welcome to submit an appeal to the Board of Studies. 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.

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.

Sincerely,

Dorit Naaman, PhD
Associate Dean (Academic)