Decision Letter
Appeal Number: 4117
Decision Date: February 20, 2018
Associate Dean: Jill Atkinson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Daniel Wang
Student Email: 15dw36@queensu.ca
Course: CISC 124
Term: Fall
Year: 2017
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Course: CISC 220
Term: Fall
Year: 2017
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Margaret Lamb
Dear Mr. Wang:
I have carefully considered your appeal to drop CISC 124 (F 2017) past the academic deadline and receive Credit standing in CISC 220 (F 2017). 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 and Credit standing will only apply 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.
Your appeal circumstances are based on your illness during final exams, yet according to your grade breakdowns from your instructors, you did not complete any of the assignments for CISC 220 and only 1 of 5 assignments for CISC 124. Your grades going into each exam were consistent with your final grades in both cases so I do not accept your argument that your failure in CISC 124 and your low grade in CISC 220 were the direct result of having the flu during final exams. There is no pattern on your transcript to show that you would have performed any better in these classes under usual circumstances.
I will further note that your medical note dated January 9, 2018 reports that you had the flu a month earlier, on December 8, 2017. This is considered to be a self-report and is not sufficient for the purposes of allowing late course drops or granting CR grades.
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 Ombudsman 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,
Jill Atkinson, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Studies)
20019680Wang
Decision Date: February 20, 2018
Associate Dean: Jill Atkinson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Daniel Wang
Student Email: 15dw36@queensu.ca
Course: CISC 124
Term: Fall
Year: 2017
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Course: CISC 220
Term: Fall
Year: 2017
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Margaret Lamb
Dear Mr. Wang:
I have carefully considered your appeal to drop CISC 124 (F 2017) past the academic deadline and receive Credit standing in CISC 220 (F 2017). 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 and Credit standing will only apply 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.
Your appeal circumstances are based on your illness during final exams, yet according to your grade breakdowns from your instructors, you did not complete any of the assignments for CISC 220 and only 1 of 5 assignments for CISC 124. Your grades going into each exam were consistent with your final grades in both cases so I do not accept your argument that your failure in CISC 124 and your low grade in CISC 220 were the direct result of having the flu during final exams. There is no pattern on your transcript to show that you would have performed any better in these classes under usual circumstances.
I will further note that your medical note dated January 9, 2018 reports that you had the flu a month earlier, on December 8, 2017. This is considered to be a self-report and is not sufficient for the purposes of allowing late course drops or granting CR grades.
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 Ombudsman 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,
Jill Atkinson, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Studies)
20019680Wang
Generated February 20, 2018 at 9:43:10 AM.