Decision Letter
Appeal Number: 4605
Decision Date: June 11, 2018
Associate Dean: Johanne Benard, Ph.D.
Student Name: Molly Urquhart
Student Email: 17mru@queensu.ca
Course: BIO103
Term: Winter
Year: 2018
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Dr. Walker and Chippendale
Course: PHYS117
Term: Fall/Winter
Year: 2018
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Dr.Topper
Course: CHEM112
Term: Fall/Winter
Year: 2018
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Dr. Mombourquette, Wu, Liu, Wang, Jerkiewicz, and Stamplecoskie
Dear Ms. Urquhart:
I have carefully considered your appeal to receive Credit standing in BIOL 103 (W 2018), CHEM 112 and PHYS 117 (FW 2017/18). After reviewing your file I have decided to deny your request.
As you know, Academic Regulation 10.3.2. 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€. Credit standing is only granted in cases where there are well documented and unforeseen extenuating circumstances outside of a student€™s control. 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.
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.
While your appeal does describe some circumstances that are extenuating in nature, the documentation supplied is unfortunately not sufficient. The letter from Dr. Fletcher confirms that you had surgery on May 1, 2018 but it does not confirm the full timeline of your injury, how serious or severe your symptoms were over the winter term or what specific impact these problems had on your Biology, Chemistry and Physics courses. The appeal also fails to explain why these courses in particular were affected by your circumstances and not the other courses you were registered in during the same time period (for which you earned higher grades in).
Credit standing is also only granted in cases where there is evidence of a substantial drop in grades. Given that your circumstances occurred over the entire year and as a first-year student there is no previous pattern of grades available to compare your €œusual€ or €œexpected€ university performance against, there isn€™t enough evidence available to determine that your grades in BIOL 103, CHEM 112 and PHYS 117 would have been significantly higher under any different circumstances.
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)
20075335Urquhart
Decision Date: June 11, 2018
Associate Dean: Johanne Benard, Ph.D.
Student Name: Molly Urquhart
Student Email: 17mru@queensu.ca
Course: BIO103
Term: Winter
Year: 2018
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Dr. Walker and Chippendale
Course: PHYS117
Term: Fall/Winter
Year: 2018
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Dr.Topper
Course: CHEM112
Term: Fall/Winter
Year: 2018
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Dr. Mombourquette, Wu, Liu, Wang, Jerkiewicz, and Stamplecoskie
Dear Ms. Urquhart:
I have carefully considered your appeal to receive Credit standing in BIOL 103 (W 2018), CHEM 112 and PHYS 117 (FW 2017/18). After reviewing your file I have decided to deny your request.
As you know, Academic Regulation 10.3.2. 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€. Credit standing is only granted in cases where there are well documented and unforeseen extenuating circumstances outside of a student€™s control. 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.
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.
While your appeal does describe some circumstances that are extenuating in nature, the documentation supplied is unfortunately not sufficient. The letter from Dr. Fletcher confirms that you had surgery on May 1, 2018 but it does not confirm the full timeline of your injury, how serious or severe your symptoms were over the winter term or what specific impact these problems had on your Biology, Chemistry and Physics courses. The appeal also fails to explain why these courses in particular were affected by your circumstances and not the other courses you were registered in during the same time period (for which you earned higher grades in).
Credit standing is also only granted in cases where there is evidence of a substantial drop in grades. Given that your circumstances occurred over the entire year and as a first-year student there is no previous pattern of grades available to compare your €œusual€ or €œexpected€ university performance against, there isn€™t enough evidence available to determine that your grades in BIOL 103, CHEM 112 and PHYS 117 would have been significantly higher under any different circumstances.
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)
20075335Urquhart
Generated June 11, 2018 at 9:12:16 AM.