Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Submission Number: 10272
Decision Date: May 15, 2023
Associate Dean: Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Amy Owen
Student Email: 19aeo3@queensu.ca

Course: CLST 205
Term: Summer
Year: 2022
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline

Course: ARTH 250
Term: Fall
Year: 2022
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline

Course: HIST 270
Term: Fall
Year: 2022
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline

Course: MUSC 171
Term: Winter
Year: 2023
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline

Course: EMPR 200
Term: Winter
Year: 2023
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline

Course: BADR 101
Term: Winter
Year: 2023
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline

Dear Amy Owen:

I have carefully considered your petition to drop CLST 205 (S22), ARTH 250, HIST 270 (F22), MUSC 171, EMPR 200, and BADR 101 (W23)??past the academic deadline. After reviewing your file, I have decided the following:

To grant your request to drop CLST 205 (S22), ARTH 250, and HIST 270 (F22). Your grades in these courses will be replaced with a ?DR?? notation on your transcript. I have granted this request due to the timeline of your extenuating circumstances during Summer and Fall terms as confirmed by the documentation that you supplied.

To deny your request to drop MUSC 171, EMPR 200, and BADR 101 (W23) past the academic deadline. As you know, courses must be dropped on SOLUS within the published deadlines. Academic Petitions and Appeals Regulation section 1.1 stresses that exceptions to this will only be made under extenuating circumstances. The integrity of Arts and Science transcripts in general would be greatly diminished if the Faculty were to make changes to students?? records without clear and compelling documentation indicating that the student??s performance was significantly compromised by circumstances beyond their control.

I am certainly sympathetic to your situation and realize that this is a disappointing decision however, the information that you provided within your petition letter indicates that your extenuating circumstances began before the academic drop deadline of the Winter term. The documentation that you supplied confirms that your employment at Best Buy Canada Ltd was terminated in January of 2023 and you did not supply documentation related to the other circumstances that you reported in your petition letter. As you know, it is the student??s responsibility to pause and evaluate the impact of extenuating circumstances on their classes during week 7 of the term. If they have fallen behind in a course or find the material too difficult, they should drop the course by week 8 of term. The drop deadlines, outlined in the ??Important Dates? section on the Faculty of Arts and Science web page, have been established to ensure fair and equitable treatment of all students.

If you are concerned with the impact that your grades in these courses have on your cumulative GPA, you may want to consider repeating them. When a student repeats the same course code, both attempts will appear on their transcript however only the higher attempt will be included within the calculation of their GPA.

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 ??Board of Studies?).??You may contact the Office of the University Ombudsperson for information about??student rights and responsibilities??https://www.queensu.ca/ombuds/appeal-process/procedural-fairness and guidance on policy and procedure by visiting their website at https://www.queensu.ca/ombuds/.

Yours sincerely,

Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Academic)