Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Submission Number: 11741
Decision Date: May 6, 2024
Associate Dean: Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Barbod Attaran
Student Email: 22ba16@queensu.ca

Course: PHIL 266
Term: Winter
Year: 2024
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline

Barbod Attaran:

I have carefully considered your petition request to drop PHIL 266 (W24) 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 amendment that you submitted with additional information, the 4 pieces of documentation that you supplied and your academic transcript.

I acknowledge the health-related extenuating circumstances that you reported in your petition letter and understand the disruption that this had on your classes at that time. I commend you for applying for Academic Consideration in February for these circumstances however, I want you to know that the petition process is not meant to be used to manage a chronic condition. The documentation that you supplied confirms that you experienced health-related extenuating circumstances in November of 2023 and in January and early February of 2024. I have denied this request as your petition letter suggests that you were aware of the academic impacts of these circumstances prior to the drop deadline of the Winter term.

Going forward, 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 this course has on your GPA, I would suggest that you consider repeating it 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)