Decision Letter
Appeal Number: 4465
Decision Date: May 30, 2018
Associate Dean: Johanne Benard, Ph.D.
Student Name: Girish Maharaj
Student Email: 14gcm1@queensu.ca
Dear Mr. Maharaj:
I have carefully considered your appeal to drop ECON 111, PHAR 100, WRIT 125 (W 2015) and BIOL 102 (S 2015) 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.
The documentation supplied with your appeal is unfortunately not sufficient. The note from Dr. Sweet states that you have had cluster headaches since 2014 but it does not confirm the specific timeline and severity of this condition during the 2015 winter and summer terms. It also fails to confirm the specific impact that your condition had on these courses in particular and why the 2015 winter and summer terms were impacted more than the other terms from 2014 until now.
I would also like to note that you appealed a requirement to withdraw in Spring of 2017 and included a request to drop courses from Winter 2017 at that time. There is no reasonable explanation as to why you did not address these particular courses from 2015 at the time as well to warrant dropping classes so long after the fact. Improving the appearance of your transcript for the purpose of applying to graduate school is not a valid reason to justify dropping classes three years late.
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,
Johanne Bénard, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Studies)
10169444Maharaj2
Decision Date: May 30, 2018
Associate Dean: Johanne Benard, Ph.D.
Student Name: Girish Maharaj
Student Email: 14gcm1@queensu.ca
Dear Mr. Maharaj:
I have carefully considered your appeal to drop ECON 111, PHAR 100, WRIT 125 (W 2015) and BIOL 102 (S 2015) 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.
The documentation supplied with your appeal is unfortunately not sufficient. The note from Dr. Sweet states that you have had cluster headaches since 2014 but it does not confirm the specific timeline and severity of this condition during the 2015 winter and summer terms. It also fails to confirm the specific impact that your condition had on these courses in particular and why the 2015 winter and summer terms were impacted more than the other terms from 2014 until now.
I would also like to note that you appealed a requirement to withdraw in Spring of 2017 and included a request to drop courses from Winter 2017 at that time. There is no reasonable explanation as to why you did not address these particular courses from 2015 at the time as well to warrant dropping classes so long after the fact. Improving the appearance of your transcript for the purpose of applying to graduate school is not a valid reason to justify dropping classes three years late.
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,
Johanne Bénard, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Studies)
10169444Maharaj2
Generated May 30, 2018 at 10:53:16 AM.