Decision Letter
Appeal Number: 292
Decision Date: July 31, 2014
Associate Dean: Johanne Bnard, Ph.D.
Student Name: Vrinda Ambwani
Student Email: 12va@queensu.ca
Course: BIOL103
Term: Summer
Year: 2013
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Fernand Gauthier
Course: CHEM281
Term: Fall
Year: 2013
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Instructor: David Zechel
Course: CHEM112B
Term: Winter
Year: 2013
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: John Carran
Course: PHYS117
Term: Winter
Year: 2013
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Marsha Singh
Course: MATH121
Term: Summer
Year: 2013
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Instructor: Youness Aliyari
Course: BIOL103
Term: Winter
Year: 2013
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Instructor: Virginia Walker
Course: ANAT 215
Term: Fall
Year: 2013
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Ms. Vrinda Ambwani
12va@queensu.ca
Dear Ms. Ambwani:
I have carefully considered your appeal to drop MATH 121 (S 2013), CHEM 281 and ANAT 215 (F 2013) past the academic deadline and receive Credit standing in BIOL 103 (S 2013), BIOL 103, CHEM 112B, and PHYS 117B (W 2013). After reviewing your file I have decided to grant your request to drop the courses listed above but I will deny your request for Credit standing.
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.
Normally, when a student appeals for Credit standing in a course, we expect to see a clear distinction in grades during the time in which the extenuating circumstances took place. For example, the grades on the transcript prior to the time of the circumstances occurring are usually higher and give a good indication of what the student€™s usual academic performance is. The grades on the transcript during the time of the extenuating circumstances tend to be lower, indicating that the circumstances had a clear and negative impact on the student€™s overall academic performance. In reviewing your transcript, there is no clear distinction when comparing your grades earned from first year (2012/13) and second year (2013/14). Overall, the grades are quite similar. While I appreciate that your extenuating circumstances may have indeed had some effect on your grades in these courses, there isn€™t enough information on your transcript to judge what your €œusual€ level of academic performance is to warrant Credit standing.
I would finally like to note that I granted your first appeal requesting to waive the requirement to withdraw because this appeal overall demonstrated that you had extenuating circumstances over the 2013/14 academic year, supplied detailed documentation from your counsellor and contained a realistic academic plan moving forward. While this appeal also contains documented extenuating circumstances, they appear to have been reported a year after the fact. When this much time has passed, it is difficult to obtain detailed information and feedback to support an appeal and its credibility may be compromised, weakening the appeal.
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: http://www.queensu.ca/artsci/help/forms General information on appeals is available at http://www.queensu.ca/artsci/academics/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,
Johanne Bénard, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Studies)
10060716Ambwani2
Decision Date: July 31, 2014
Associate Dean: Johanne Bnard, Ph.D.
Student Name: Vrinda Ambwani
Student Email: 12va@queensu.ca
Course: BIOL103
Term: Summer
Year: 2013
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Fernand Gauthier
Course: CHEM281
Term: Fall
Year: 2013
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Instructor: David Zechel
Course: CHEM112B
Term: Winter
Year: 2013
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: John Carran
Course: PHYS117
Term: Winter
Year: 2013
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Marsha Singh
Course: MATH121
Term: Summer
Year: 2013
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Instructor: Youness Aliyari
Course: BIOL103
Term: Winter
Year: 2013
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Instructor: Virginia Walker
Course: ANAT 215
Term: Fall
Year: 2013
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Ms. Vrinda Ambwani
12va@queensu.ca
Dear Ms. Ambwani:
I have carefully considered your appeal to drop MATH 121 (S 2013), CHEM 281 and ANAT 215 (F 2013) past the academic deadline and receive Credit standing in BIOL 103 (S 2013), BIOL 103, CHEM 112B, and PHYS 117B (W 2013). After reviewing your file I have decided to grant your request to drop the courses listed above but I will deny your request for Credit standing.
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.
Normally, when a student appeals for Credit standing in a course, we expect to see a clear distinction in grades during the time in which the extenuating circumstances took place. For example, the grades on the transcript prior to the time of the circumstances occurring are usually higher and give a good indication of what the student€™s usual academic performance is. The grades on the transcript during the time of the extenuating circumstances tend to be lower, indicating that the circumstances had a clear and negative impact on the student€™s overall academic performance. In reviewing your transcript, there is no clear distinction when comparing your grades earned from first year (2012/13) and second year (2013/14). Overall, the grades are quite similar. While I appreciate that your extenuating circumstances may have indeed had some effect on your grades in these courses, there isn€™t enough information on your transcript to judge what your €œusual€ level of academic performance is to warrant Credit standing.
I would finally like to note that I granted your first appeal requesting to waive the requirement to withdraw because this appeal overall demonstrated that you had extenuating circumstances over the 2013/14 academic year, supplied detailed documentation from your counsellor and contained a realistic academic plan moving forward. While this appeal also contains documented extenuating circumstances, they appear to have been reported a year after the fact. When this much time has passed, it is difficult to obtain detailed information and feedback to support an appeal and its credibility may be compromised, weakening the appeal.
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: http://www.queensu.ca/artsci/help/forms General information on appeals is available at http://www.queensu.ca/artsci/academics/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,
Johanne Bénard, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Studies)
10060716Ambwani2
Generated July 31, 2014 at 4:16:23 PM.