Decision Letter
Appeal Number: 1866
Decision Date: March 9, 2016
Associate Dean: Sue Blake
Student Name: Alicia Clark
Student Email: 0ac48@queensu.ca
Course: FREN 107
Term: Fall
Year: 2015
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Dr. Catherine Dhavernas
Dear Ms. Clark:
I have carefully considered your appeal to receive Credit standing in FREN 107 (F 2015). After reviewing your file I have decided to deny your request.
As you know, Academic Regulation 10.2.2. states that, Credit standing in a course is reserved for situations in which a student, who has completed and passed all of the work of the course including the final examination, but because of illness or other extenuating circumstances beyond their control, earned a substantially lower grade than might have been expected, normally a grade of C or lower€. The Calendar goes on to stress that Credit standing will only be granted 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 her control.
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.
While your appeal does describe some circumstances that are extenuating in nature, the supporting documentation does not confirm the extent of the impact that your anxiety had on your ability to complete FREN 107, given your success in the other two courses you took in the fall term. The email communication from your instructor indicates that she attempted to work with you during the term and emails with David Youssef indicated that your stress was a result of working three jobs. Upon further investigation into how this course is structured online and whether or not an error or flaw was present in the design that could lead to students to misunderstand what was required of them, we could not find any evidence of this. It appears that the lack of participation in the component of the course worth 30 of the grade was an error that no other students made and the syllabus clearly outlines the requirements.
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,
Sue Blake
Assistant Dean (Studies)
10001125Clark
Decision Date: March 9, 2016
Associate Dean: Sue Blake
Student Name: Alicia Clark
Student Email: 0ac48@queensu.ca
Course: FREN 107
Term: Fall
Year: 2015
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Dr. Catherine Dhavernas
Dear Ms. Clark:
I have carefully considered your appeal to receive Credit standing in FREN 107 (F 2015). After reviewing your file I have decided to deny your request.
As you know, Academic Regulation 10.2.2. states that, Credit standing in a course is reserved for situations in which a student, who has completed and passed all of the work of the course including the final examination, but because of illness or other extenuating circumstances beyond their control, earned a substantially lower grade than might have been expected, normally a grade of C or lower€. The Calendar goes on to stress that Credit standing will only be granted 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 her control.
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.
While your appeal does describe some circumstances that are extenuating in nature, the supporting documentation does not confirm the extent of the impact that your anxiety had on your ability to complete FREN 107, given your success in the other two courses you took in the fall term. The email communication from your instructor indicates that she attempted to work with you during the term and emails with David Youssef indicated that your stress was a result of working three jobs. Upon further investigation into how this course is structured online and whether or not an error or flaw was present in the design that could lead to students to misunderstand what was required of them, we could not find any evidence of this. It appears that the lack of participation in the component of the course worth 30 of the grade was an error that no other students made and the syllabus clearly outlines the requirements.
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,
Sue Blake
Assistant Dean (Studies)
10001125Clark
Generated March 9, 2016 at 10:50:49 AM.