Decision Letter
Appeal Number: 6633
Decision Date: May 4, 2020
Associate Dean: Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Bianca Cairo
Student Email: 15blc2@queensu.ca
Course: PSYC333
Term: Fall
Year: 2019
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Caroline Pukall
Course: PSYC251
Term: Fall
Year: 2019
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Laura Lambe
Course: PSYC301
Term: Fall
Year: 2019
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Course: PSYC452
Term: Fall
Year: 2019
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Dear Bianca Cairo:
I am sorry to have read of your reported extenuating circumstances during the Fall term 2019 and I have carefully considered your appeal to drop PSYC 301 and PSYC 452 past the academic deadline date as well as request Credit standing in PSYC 333 and PSYC 251 (F 2019) based on those circumstances. 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 all of the work in the course including the final examination, and achieved a passing grade in the course, 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. In addition, courses must be dropped on SOLUS within the published deadlines. 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.
I am sure this is a disappointing decision, but the information we received from the instructor of PSYC 333 indicated that you missed the midterm due to problems with your medications so your exam was rescheduled and you completed it at a later date therefore accommodations have already made in this course. In addition to this, the appeal process is not meant to help a student manage an ongoing or chronic condition. It is a student€™s responsibility to pause and assess their health and evaluate how it is impacting their studies prior to the drop dates, thus ensuring courses are drop dropped by the drop date deadline. The appeal process is designed to assist students who experience challenges after the drop date deadline.
Although you have submitted documentation Bianca, it does not provide enough information about the correlation between the assignment timeline and your challenges nor does it support the severity of your circumstances.
Bianca, let me remind you that if a student repeats a course, the lower grade is excluded from their GPA and the higher grade is included.
Going forward, I suggest that you inform yourself of the academic regulations concerning deadlines as they are outlined in the Important Dates section on the Arts and Science web page and assess your progress in your courses or discuss your options with an Academic Advisor during week 7 or 8 of the term. If you find that you have fallen behind in your attendance, readings or assignments, it is your responsibility to drop by the end of week 8.
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 University Ombudsperson for information about student rights and responsibilities as well as guidance on policy and procedure (www.queensu.ca/ombuds).
I am pleased to see that you plan to continue to work on your health related challenges and I wish you luck with your courses this term.
Sincerely,
Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Academic)
20008255Cairo2
Decision Date: May 4, 2020
Associate Dean: Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Bianca Cairo
Student Email: 15blc2@queensu.ca
Course: PSYC333
Term: Fall
Year: 2019
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Caroline Pukall
Course: PSYC251
Term: Fall
Year: 2019
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Laura Lambe
Course: PSYC301
Term: Fall
Year: 2019
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Course: PSYC452
Term: Fall
Year: 2019
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Dear Bianca Cairo:
I am sorry to have read of your reported extenuating circumstances during the Fall term 2019 and I have carefully considered your appeal to drop PSYC 301 and PSYC 452 past the academic deadline date as well as request Credit standing in PSYC 333 and PSYC 251 (F 2019) based on those circumstances. 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 all of the work in the course including the final examination, and achieved a passing grade in the course, 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. In addition, courses must be dropped on SOLUS within the published deadlines. 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.
I am sure this is a disappointing decision, but the information we received from the instructor of PSYC 333 indicated that you missed the midterm due to problems with your medications so your exam was rescheduled and you completed it at a later date therefore accommodations have already made in this course. In addition to this, the appeal process is not meant to help a student manage an ongoing or chronic condition. It is a student€™s responsibility to pause and assess their health and evaluate how it is impacting their studies prior to the drop dates, thus ensuring courses are drop dropped by the drop date deadline. The appeal process is designed to assist students who experience challenges after the drop date deadline.
Although you have submitted documentation Bianca, it does not provide enough information about the correlation between the assignment timeline and your challenges nor does it support the severity of your circumstances.
Bianca, let me remind you that if a student repeats a course, the lower grade is excluded from their GPA and the higher grade is included.
Going forward, I suggest that you inform yourself of the academic regulations concerning deadlines as they are outlined in the Important Dates section on the Arts and Science web page and assess your progress in your courses or discuss your options with an Academic Advisor during week 7 or 8 of the term. If you find that you have fallen behind in your attendance, readings or assignments, it is your responsibility to drop by the end of week 8.
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 University Ombudsperson for information about student rights and responsibilities as well as guidance on policy and procedure (www.queensu.ca/ombuds).
I am pleased to see that you plan to continue to work on your health related challenges and I wish you luck with your courses this term.
Sincerely,
Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Academic)
20008255Cairo2
Generated May 4, 2020 at 10:54:37 AM.