Decision Letter
Submission Number: 13704
Decision Date: April 6, 2026
Associate Dean: Dorit Naaman (Associate Dean Academic)
Student Name: Rebecca Hirst
Student Email: 22xgk2@queensu.ca
Course: MATH 121
Term: Summer
Year: 2025
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Ping Li, Anirban Dutta
Dear Rebecca,
I have carefully considered your request for Credit Standing in MATH 121 (S25) 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. In making this decision, I reviewed your petition letter, supporting documentation, and information provided by the course instructor.
According to the Academic Appeal and Petition Regulation 1.7.1.4 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.
I acknowledge the circumstances that you described in your letter. I understand that while you were taking this course, you were working a job that required commuting. I want to remind you that choosing to work while taking classes is not considered to be an unexpected extenuating circumstance. Academic Regulation 6 in the Faculty of Arts and Science Academic Calendar stresses that students are expected to attend all lectures, laboratories, tutorials, online discussions, tests, and examinations and to submit work at the prescribed times. If circumstances significantly affect attendance or academic performance, students are expected to consider dropping the course by the drop deadline of the term. With the absence of documentation demonstrating that an unexpected extenuating circumstance affected your ability to meet course requirements of MATH 121 within the 2025 Summer term, I am unable to grant this request.
If you are concerned with the impact that your final grade in MATH 121 has on your cumulative 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.
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.
Sincerely,
Dorit Naaman, PhD
Associate Dean (Academic)
Decision Date: April 6, 2026
Associate Dean: Dorit Naaman (Associate Dean Academic)
Student Name: Rebecca Hirst
Student Email: 22xgk2@queensu.ca
Course: MATH 121
Term: Summer
Year: 2025
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Ping Li, Anirban Dutta
Dear Rebecca,
I have carefully considered your request for Credit Standing in MATH 121 (S25) 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. In making this decision, I reviewed your petition letter, supporting documentation, and information provided by the course instructor.
According to the Academic Appeal and Petition Regulation 1.7.1.4 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.
I acknowledge the circumstances that you described in your letter. I understand that while you were taking this course, you were working a job that required commuting. I want to remind you that choosing to work while taking classes is not considered to be an unexpected extenuating circumstance. Academic Regulation 6 in the Faculty of Arts and Science Academic Calendar stresses that students are expected to attend all lectures, laboratories, tutorials, online discussions, tests, and examinations and to submit work at the prescribed times. If circumstances significantly affect attendance or academic performance, students are expected to consider dropping the course by the drop deadline of the term. With the absence of documentation demonstrating that an unexpected extenuating circumstance affected your ability to meet course requirements of MATH 121 within the 2025 Summer term, I am unable to grant this request.
If you are concerned with the impact that your final grade in MATH 121 has on your cumulative 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.
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.
Sincerely,
Dorit Naaman, PhD
Associate Dean (Academic)
Generated April 6, 2026 at 9:03:40 AM.