Decision Letter
Appeal Number: 4394
Decision Date: May 8, 2018
Associate Dean: Jill Atkinson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Marshall Mackoff
Student Email: 0mrm@queensu.ca
Course: CHEM 281
Term: Summer
Year: 2016
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Course: WRIT 125
Term: Fall
Year: 2016
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Course: PHYS P20
Term: Winter
Year: 2017
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Dear Mr. Mackoff:
I have carefully considered your appeal to drop CHEM 281 (S 2016), WRIT 125 (F 2016) and PHYS P20 (W 2017) past the academic deadline. 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 extenuating 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 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.
Your file shows that you have previously used the appeals system resulting in 14 grade changes all based on the same chronic health condition, early into your academic career. During the time you took each of these courses you were well aware of your condition and familiar with your functional limitations at the time as well as your accommodation needs. The appeal system is not designed to compensate for chronic health conditions. Instead students with ongoing health issues are expected to register with Accessibility Services to receive academic accommodations. If the student still struggles despite having approved accommodation in place, like all other students, he or she is expected to drop courses within the academic deadlines. Dropping courses past the deadlines is only permissible when there are well documented, unforeseen circumstances (such as sudden worsening of symptoms or relapses in conditions that were previously being well managed) that impacted a student€™s ability to meet these deadlines.
There is also no clear explanation supplied in your appeal as to why your grades in these courses were impacted by your circumstances and not your grades in the other courses you took during those terms which are quite strong.
Moving forward, I would recommend that you meet your QSAS Advisor around Week 7 of each term to evaluate your progress in each course and drop any in which you have fallen behind in.
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)
06331074Mackoff6
Decision Date: May 8, 2018
Associate Dean: Jill Atkinson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Marshall Mackoff
Student Email: 0mrm@queensu.ca
Course: CHEM 281
Term: Summer
Year: 2016
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Course: WRIT 125
Term: Fall
Year: 2016
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Course: PHYS P20
Term: Winter
Year: 2017
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Dear Mr. Mackoff:
I have carefully considered your appeal to drop CHEM 281 (S 2016), WRIT 125 (F 2016) and PHYS P20 (W 2017) past the academic deadline. 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 extenuating 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 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.
Your file shows that you have previously used the appeals system resulting in 14 grade changes all based on the same chronic health condition, early into your academic career. During the time you took each of these courses you were well aware of your condition and familiar with your functional limitations at the time as well as your accommodation needs. The appeal system is not designed to compensate for chronic health conditions. Instead students with ongoing health issues are expected to register with Accessibility Services to receive academic accommodations. If the student still struggles despite having approved accommodation in place, like all other students, he or she is expected to drop courses within the academic deadlines. Dropping courses past the deadlines is only permissible when there are well documented, unforeseen circumstances (such as sudden worsening of symptoms or relapses in conditions that were previously being well managed) that impacted a student€™s ability to meet these deadlines.
There is also no clear explanation supplied in your appeal as to why your grades in these courses were impacted by your circumstances and not your grades in the other courses you took during those terms which are quite strong.
Moving forward, I would recommend that you meet your QSAS Advisor around Week 7 of each term to evaluate your progress in each course and drop any in which you have fallen behind in.
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)
06331074Mackoff6
Generated May 8, 2018 at 3:09:06 PM.