Decision Letter
Appeal Number: 1791
Decision Date: February 18, 2016
Associate Dean: Johanne Benard, Ph.D.
Student Name: Vrajesh Dave
Student Email: vrajesh.dave@queensu.ca
Course: CHEM 281
Term: Fall
Year: 2015
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Course: BIOL 243
Term: Fall
Year: 2015
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Course: BIOL 201
Term: Fall
Year: 2015
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Dr. Grogan and Dr. Aarsenn
Dear Mr. Dave:
I have carefully considered your appeal to drop CHEM 281 and BIOL 243 (F 2015) and receive Credit standing in BIOL 201 (F 2015). After reviewing your file I have decided to deny your request.
As you know, courses must be dropped on SOLUS within the published deadlines. The Academic Regulations (Appeal of Academic Decisions, IIIb) stress that exceptions to this will only be waived under exceptional circumstances. 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 extenuating circumstances beyond his or her control.
The deadlines for dropping courses have been designed and established in order to provide sufficient time for students to determine their interest in the course material, to consider their ability to handle each course, and to evaluate their overall workload.
Extenuating circumstances normally involve a significant physical or psychological event that is beyond your control and debilitating to your overall academic performance. Additionally, these kinds of extraordinary situations are normally supported by documentation from a professional.
The circumstances described in your appeal appear to be ongoing in nature since the start of your academic career. While your documentation confirms that these challenges continued over the fall term there is no good indication of how severe these circumstances were or to what degree they prevented you from making academic decisions such as dropping courses within the drop deadlines. From your file it appears that you met with academic advisors on several occasions and were informed of the fall term drop deadlines as well as the various academic support services available on campus. Given that you are an upper year student and you have been facing these challenges for some time now, you should have been able to gauge how heavy of a workload you could realistically handle and judge when you have fallen so behind in your work that you cannot catch up and drop courses within the deadlines.
If you wish to appeal the Associate Dean€™s decision to the Board of Studies, you must submit an appeal to the Board of Studies within 21 days of the date this decision was sent. Guidelines for appealing to the Board of Studies and the appeal form can be found at: http://www.queensu.ca/artsci/students-at-queens/academic-appeals (click on €œBoard of Studies€) Do not use the on-line application for this process. You may contact Mr. Harry Smith, Office of the Ombudsperson for advice on matters of procedure and on obtaining a representative. His office is located in room 421 Robert Sutherland Hall and he can be reached by phone (533-6495) or e-mail (ombuds@queensu.ca).
Sincerely,
Johanne Bénard, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Studies)
10146658Dave
Decision Date: February 18, 2016
Associate Dean: Johanne Benard, Ph.D.
Student Name: Vrajesh Dave
Student Email: vrajesh.dave@queensu.ca
Course: CHEM 281
Term: Fall
Year: 2015
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Course: BIOL 243
Term: Fall
Year: 2015
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Course: BIOL 201
Term: Fall
Year: 2015
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Dr. Grogan and Dr. Aarsenn
Dear Mr. Dave:
I have carefully considered your appeal to drop CHEM 281 and BIOL 243 (F 2015) and receive Credit standing in BIOL 201 (F 2015). After reviewing your file I have decided to deny your request.
As you know, courses must be dropped on SOLUS within the published deadlines. The Academic Regulations (Appeal of Academic Decisions, IIIb) stress that exceptions to this will only be waived under exceptional circumstances. 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 extenuating circumstances beyond his or her control.
The deadlines for dropping courses have been designed and established in order to provide sufficient time for students to determine their interest in the course material, to consider their ability to handle each course, and to evaluate their overall workload.
Extenuating circumstances normally involve a significant physical or psychological event that is beyond your control and debilitating to your overall academic performance. Additionally, these kinds of extraordinary situations are normally supported by documentation from a professional.
The circumstances described in your appeal appear to be ongoing in nature since the start of your academic career. While your documentation confirms that these challenges continued over the fall term there is no good indication of how severe these circumstances were or to what degree they prevented you from making academic decisions such as dropping courses within the drop deadlines. From your file it appears that you met with academic advisors on several occasions and were informed of the fall term drop deadlines as well as the various academic support services available on campus. Given that you are an upper year student and you have been facing these challenges for some time now, you should have been able to gauge how heavy of a workload you could realistically handle and judge when you have fallen so behind in your work that you cannot catch up and drop courses within the deadlines.
If you wish to appeal the Associate Dean€™s decision to the Board of Studies, you must submit an appeal to the Board of Studies within 21 days of the date this decision was sent. Guidelines for appealing to the Board of Studies and the appeal form can be found at: http://www.queensu.ca/artsci/students-at-queens/academic-appeals (click on €œBoard of Studies€) Do not use the on-line application for this process. You may contact Mr. Harry Smith, Office of the Ombudsperson for advice on matters of procedure and on obtaining a representative. His office is located in room 421 Robert Sutherland Hall and he can be reached by phone (533-6495) or e-mail (ombuds@queensu.ca).
Sincerely,
Johanne Bénard, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Studies)
10146658Dave
Generated February 18, 2016 at 10:12:03 AM.