Decision Letter
Appeal Number: 48
Decision Date: May 22, 2014
Associate Dean: J. Hugh Horton, Ph.D.
Student Name: Luis Aguilar-Valdivieso
Student Email: 4jla@queensu.ca
Dear Mr. Aguilar-Valdivieso:
I have carefully considered your request to have your appeal heard after the 21-day timeline for submission. After reviewing your file I have decided to deny your request.
The appeal timeline is in place to give students sufficient time to respond to an academic decision. The 21-day timeline offers students time to seek academic counseling, to write up and submit an appeal, and to collect the supporting documents necessary to the appeal. Further, the appeal timeline is in place to ensure that decision making takes place in a timely manner, allowing students to continue in their academic programs without ongoing concern for unresolved matters.
To consider appeals outside these timelines can easily compromise fair decision making. The interested parties and the original contexts within which the matter originated may not be available. Over time, instructors, course content, the norms of evaluating course materials, and program structures may and generally do change. Furthermore, the supporting documents necessary to any appeal may no longer be available or their credibility may more easily come into question. Therefore, the inability to reconstruct accurately the circumstances leading to the original matter under appeal can compromise the decision-making process.
Exceptions to this regulation can only be granted in cases where extenuating circumstances beyond a student's control render the student unable to 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. Appeals of the regulation governing the timeline for appeals must be submitted in writing. An appeal of this type should include a presentation of the specific reasons for a delay and should include any documents which support the reasons for delay.
According to your file you have made numerous appeals since 2009 when you were diagnosed with ADHD. There are no extenuating circumstances prevented to explain why you were unable to drop the courses in question during the regular appeal deadlines. Furthermore, all of the courses listed were repeated in the time period in which you received accommodation and were failed again (with the exception of MATH 121 which you successfully appealed for a CR grade). There is no evidence provided to show that your initial lack of accommodation led to the poor performance in these courses.
If you wish to appeal the Associate Dean€™s decision to the Board of Studies, you must submit a letter of intent to appeal within 21 days of receiving this decision. Appeal forms are available from this office (F200 Mackintosh-Corry Hall) or on the web at http://www.queensu.ca/artsci/help/forms. General information on appeals is available at http://www.queensu.ca/artsci/help/academic-appeals. You may contact Mr. Harry Smith, Dispute Resolution Mechanisms Coordinator for advice on matters of procedure and on obtaining a representative. His office is located in room 153 Richardson Hall and he can be reached by phone (533-6495) or e-mail (drm@queensu.ca).
Sincerely,
J. Hugh Horton, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Studies)
05206035Aguilar-Valdivieso
Decision Date: May 22, 2014
Associate Dean: J. Hugh Horton, Ph.D.
Student Name: Luis Aguilar-Valdivieso
Student Email: 4jla@queensu.ca
Dear Mr. Aguilar-Valdivieso:
I have carefully considered your request to have your appeal heard after the 21-day timeline for submission. After reviewing your file I have decided to deny your request.
The appeal timeline is in place to give students sufficient time to respond to an academic decision. The 21-day timeline offers students time to seek academic counseling, to write up and submit an appeal, and to collect the supporting documents necessary to the appeal. Further, the appeal timeline is in place to ensure that decision making takes place in a timely manner, allowing students to continue in their academic programs without ongoing concern for unresolved matters.
To consider appeals outside these timelines can easily compromise fair decision making. The interested parties and the original contexts within which the matter originated may not be available. Over time, instructors, course content, the norms of evaluating course materials, and program structures may and generally do change. Furthermore, the supporting documents necessary to any appeal may no longer be available or their credibility may more easily come into question. Therefore, the inability to reconstruct accurately the circumstances leading to the original matter under appeal can compromise the decision-making process.
Exceptions to this regulation can only be granted in cases where extenuating circumstances beyond a student's control render the student unable to 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. Appeals of the regulation governing the timeline for appeals must be submitted in writing. An appeal of this type should include a presentation of the specific reasons for a delay and should include any documents which support the reasons for delay.
According to your file you have made numerous appeals since 2009 when you were diagnosed with ADHD. There are no extenuating circumstances prevented to explain why you were unable to drop the courses in question during the regular appeal deadlines. Furthermore, all of the courses listed were repeated in the time period in which you received accommodation and were failed again (with the exception of MATH 121 which you successfully appealed for a CR grade). There is no evidence provided to show that your initial lack of accommodation led to the poor performance in these courses.
If you wish to appeal the Associate Dean€™s decision to the Board of Studies, you must submit a letter of intent to appeal within 21 days of receiving this decision. Appeal forms are available from this office (F200 Mackintosh-Corry Hall) or on the web at http://www.queensu.ca/artsci/help/forms. General information on appeals is available at http://www.queensu.ca/artsci/help/academic-appeals. You may contact Mr. Harry Smith, Dispute Resolution Mechanisms Coordinator for advice on matters of procedure and on obtaining a representative. His office is located in room 153 Richardson Hall and he can be reached by phone (533-6495) or e-mail (drm@queensu.ca).
Sincerely,
J. Hugh Horton, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Studies)
05206035Aguilar-Valdivieso
Generated May 22, 2014 at 2:54:19 PM.