Decision Letter
Submission Number: 10779
Decision Date: August 16, 2023
Associate Dean:
Student Name: Diya Upadhyay
Student Email: 22du3@queensu.ca
Course: MATH 121
Term: Summer
Year: 2023
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Dear Diya,
On Monday, 14 August, the Board of Studies reviewed your appeal of Associate Dean (Academic) Jenn Stephenson’s decision to deny your petition to drop MATH 121 (Summer 2023) after the deadline. Board members present that day were Scott-Morgan Straker (Chair), Stephanie Dickey (Faculty member), Elizabeth Goodyear-Grant (Faculty member) and Therese de Rivera (Student representative). Pamela Briand (Arts and Science resource staff) was also present. The Board carefully considered the written submissions contained in your file, and voted to uphold the Associate Dean’s decision to deny your petition to drop MATH 121.
The Board accepts your personal account of the side-effects caused by your medication, and acknowledges that these side-effects affected your academic performance from June to July 2023. However, the Board felt that your account did not constitute grounds for overturning the Associate Dean’s decision, for two reasons. First, the appeals process at Queen’s is document-based, meaning that to permit a student to drop a course after the official deadline, the Associate Dean (Academic) would need to see documentary evidence that extenuating circumstances prevented you from completing the course or from dropping it by the deadline. No such documentation appears in your file. Second, Associate Dean Stephenson notes that you began taking the medication on 26 May, nearly a month before the drop deadline of 23 June, and therefore had plenty of time to assess your standing in the course. Furthermore, your email to Professor Li dated 22 June states that you were submitting a request for Academic Consideration: this note indicates that you were aware of your situation and were able to take appropriate steps. Therefore, the documentation you have submitted with your appeal, while providing a clearer picture of your circumstances, does not constitute grounds for overturning Associate Dean Stephenson’s original decision.
The Board recognizes that this decision comes as a disappointment. However, we wish to emphasize that petitions for a late drop are intended for sudden, unforeseen circumstances that render a student unable either to complete a course or to drop it by the deadline. They are not intended for ongoing, foreseeable circumstances which are more appropriately managed by other mechanisms (such as Academic Consideration or Accommodations). Students are expected to keep track of their standing in their courses and to drop them by their published deadlines; only when they can provide documentary evidence that they were unable to do so is a late drop appropriate.
In April 2021, the Queen’s University Senate released a new appeals policy, which you can read here: https://www.queensu.ca/secretariat/policies/senate/student-academic-appeals-policy. According to this policy, this is the last step in the appeal process for this matter, since your ability to progress to the next level is not affected by this decision.
On behalf of the Board of Studies I wish you every success in the current academic year, and in the years to come.
Sincerely,
Scott-Morgan Straker
Chair, Board of Studies
Decision Date: August 16, 2023
Associate Dean:
Student Name: Diya Upadhyay
Student Email: 22du3@queensu.ca
Course: MATH 121
Term: Summer
Year: 2023
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Dear Diya,
On Monday, 14 August, the Board of Studies reviewed your appeal of Associate Dean (Academic) Jenn Stephenson’s decision to deny your petition to drop MATH 121 (Summer 2023) after the deadline. Board members present that day were Scott-Morgan Straker (Chair), Stephanie Dickey (Faculty member), Elizabeth Goodyear-Grant (Faculty member) and Therese de Rivera (Student representative). Pamela Briand (Arts and Science resource staff) was also present. The Board carefully considered the written submissions contained in your file, and voted to uphold the Associate Dean’s decision to deny your petition to drop MATH 121.
The Board accepts your personal account of the side-effects caused by your medication, and acknowledges that these side-effects affected your academic performance from June to July 2023. However, the Board felt that your account did not constitute grounds for overturning the Associate Dean’s decision, for two reasons. First, the appeals process at Queen’s is document-based, meaning that to permit a student to drop a course after the official deadline, the Associate Dean (Academic) would need to see documentary evidence that extenuating circumstances prevented you from completing the course or from dropping it by the deadline. No such documentation appears in your file. Second, Associate Dean Stephenson notes that you began taking the medication on 26 May, nearly a month before the drop deadline of 23 June, and therefore had plenty of time to assess your standing in the course. Furthermore, your email to Professor Li dated 22 June states that you were submitting a request for Academic Consideration: this note indicates that you were aware of your situation and were able to take appropriate steps. Therefore, the documentation you have submitted with your appeal, while providing a clearer picture of your circumstances, does not constitute grounds for overturning Associate Dean Stephenson’s original decision.
The Board recognizes that this decision comes as a disappointment. However, we wish to emphasize that petitions for a late drop are intended for sudden, unforeseen circumstances that render a student unable either to complete a course or to drop it by the deadline. They are not intended for ongoing, foreseeable circumstances which are more appropriately managed by other mechanisms (such as Academic Consideration or Accommodations). Students are expected to keep track of their standing in their courses and to drop them by their published deadlines; only when they can provide documentary evidence that they were unable to do so is a late drop appropriate.
In April 2021, the Queen’s University Senate released a new appeals policy, which you can read here: https://www.queensu.ca/secretariat/policies/senate/student-academic-appeals-policy. According to this policy, this is the last step in the appeal process for this matter, since your ability to progress to the next level is not affected by this decision.
On behalf of the Board of Studies I wish you every success in the current academic year, and in the years to come.
Sincerely,
Scott-Morgan Straker
Chair, Board of Studies
Generated August 16, 2023 at 12:04:06 PM.