Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Submission Number: 11548
Decision Date: February 26, 2024
Associate Dean: Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Georgia McCarthy
Student Email: 18grm1@queensu.ca

Course: IDIS 373
Term: Summer
Year: 2023
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline

Course: MATH 387
Term: Fall
Year: 2023
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline

Dear Georgia:

I have carefully considered your petition request to drop IDIS 373 (S23) and MATH 387 (F23) 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 their control.

I am sympathetic to your situation and understand that this is a difficult decision, however, I want you to know that I considered this request very thoroughly. In making this decision, I reviewed your petition letter, the documentation that you supplied and your academic transcript.

I was happy to read that you are connected with a variety of support services and that you are managing your current Winter term courses successfully. I acknowledge that the documentation that you supplied confirms the academic impacts from your extenuating circumstances however, I have denied this request as the petitions process is not meant to be used to manage a chronic condition. As the documentation that you supplied reports that you have been experiencing these extenuating circumstances since September of 2021 and does not suggest an unexpected extenuating circumstance during these terms, I cannot grant this request.

I want to remind you of your previous petition decision from January of 2023 where you were informed of the importance of dropping courses by the academic deadline going forward. As you know, academic impacts from ongoing circumstances should be managed proactively by utilizing options such as academic consideration or accommodations through Queen’s Student Accessibility Services (QSAS). 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, as they have been outlined in the “Important Dates” section on the Arts and Science web page, have been established by the Faculty of Arts and Science to ensure fair and equitable treatment of all students.

If you are concerned with the impact that these courses have on your GPA, I would suggest that you consider repeating them in a future term. When repeating the exact same course code, both attempts will appear on your transcript however, only the higher grade will be included within the calculation of your cumulative GPA.

If you wish to appeal the Associate Dean’s decision to the Board of Studies, information and deadlines can be found at 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 queensu.ca/ombuds/appeal-process/procedural-fairness and guidance on policy and procedure by visiting their website at queensu.ca/ombuds/.

Sincerely,

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