Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Appeal Number: 5552
Decision Date: May 1, 2019
Associate Dean: Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Cole Young
Student Email: 17cry@queensu.ca

Course: HIST 122B
Term: Fall/Winter
Year: 2019
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline

Course: MATH 126B
Term: Fall/Winter
Year: 2019
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline

Course: CLST 103
Term: Winter
Year: 2019
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline

Course: MUSC 171
Term: Fall
Year: 2019
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline

Course: HLTH 101
Term: Fall
Year: 2019
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline

Course: HLTH 102
Term: Winter
Year: 2019
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline

Course: ECON 110B
Term: Fall/Winter
Year: 2019
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline


Dear Cole Young:

I am sorry to have read in your letter of appeal the challenges you faced during this past year and have carefully considered your appeal to drop HLTH 101, MUSC 171 (F 2018), HIST 122, MATH 126, ECON 110 (FW 2018/19), CLST 103, HLTH 102 (W 2019) 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.

I am certainly sympathetic to your situation and realize that this is a disappointing decision, however students are given ample opportunity to evaluate their progress in courses and drop courses before the academic drop deadline date if they have fallen behind in the course work or do not have the academic background needed to successfully complete a course. In the future, I encourage you to carefully evaluate your progress in a course by week 7 of the term and if you are finding the material too difficult or have not kept up with the course work, you should drop the course by the week 8 drop deadline. I also suggest that if your health continues to be impacted by your concussion, you should consider registering with QSAS who can help implement steps to support your studies while you continue to recover from your health condition.

Cole, you may be aware of the progression rules to proceed to your studies next year but let me remind you that if your GPA falls below 0.7 when we review your transcript in May 2019, you will be required to withdraw from the university for one year. You may decide to appeal that decision if your situation is remedied and you are able to clearly lay out an academic plan which will lead to success going forward. That academic plan may include information about ongoing medical support that you will receive, but also may include information regarding courses you will repeat. For your information, if a student repeats a course, the low grade is excluded from their grade point average and the higher grade is included which would mean there would be no long term negative impact on your GPA. This is considered a wise strategy to ensure you are able to raise your GPA to 1.6 at the next point of progression evaluation.

If you wish to appeal the Associate Dean€™s decision to the Board of Studies, information and deadlines can be found at 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 the Office of the Ombudsman (www.queensu.ca/ombudsman) for advice on matters of procedure and on obtaining a representative.

Sincerely,



Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Studies) 20104619Young