Decision Letter
Submission Number: 11836
Decision Date: May 27, 2024
Associate Dean: Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Yun-Yun Teng
Student Email: 22yyt@queensu.ca
Course: CISC 101
Term: Fall
Year: 2023
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Powley,Wendy L
Dear Sylvia:
I have carefully considered your petition request for Credit Standing in CISC 101 (F23). 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 Petitions and Appeals Regulation 1.1 at https://www.queensu.ca/academic-calendar/arts-science/appeal-regulations/ stress that petitions and appeals are only granted where there are significantly extenuating circumstances, which would merit the waiving of a particular Faculty regulation or decision. Extenuating circumstances normally involve a significant physical or psychological event that is beyond a student’s control and debilitating to their academic performance. 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 the information that I received from your instructor related to your grades in this course.
I acknowledge the work that you put into completing CISC 101 during the 2023 Fall term and I recognize that you feel that your final grade isn’t a true reflection of the time and commitment that you spent on it. The information that I received from the instructor of the course confirmed that although you completed each component in it, that you failed 2 of the 3 quizzes as well as the final exam.
As your individual grades in CISC 101 suggest that you did not meet the learning objectives in the course and your petition didn’t demonstrate academic impacts from an unexpected extenuating circumstance, I cannot grant this request.
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, 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 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 as well as guidance on policy and procedure (queensu.ca/ombuds).
Sincerely,
Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Academic)
Decision Date: May 27, 2024
Associate Dean: Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Yun-Yun Teng
Student Email: 22yyt@queensu.ca
Course: CISC 101
Term: Fall
Year: 2023
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Powley,Wendy L
Dear Sylvia:
I have carefully considered your petition request for Credit Standing in CISC 101 (F23). 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 Petitions and Appeals Regulation 1.1 at https://www.queensu.ca/academic-calendar/arts-science/appeal-regulations/ stress that petitions and appeals are only granted where there are significantly extenuating circumstances, which would merit the waiving of a particular Faculty regulation or decision. Extenuating circumstances normally involve a significant physical or psychological event that is beyond a student’s control and debilitating to their academic performance. 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 the information that I received from your instructor related to your grades in this course.
I acknowledge the work that you put into completing CISC 101 during the 2023 Fall term and I recognize that you feel that your final grade isn’t a true reflection of the time and commitment that you spent on it. The information that I received from the instructor of the course confirmed that although you completed each component in it, that you failed 2 of the 3 quizzes as well as the final exam.
As your individual grades in CISC 101 suggest that you did not meet the learning objectives in the course and your petition didn’t demonstrate academic impacts from an unexpected extenuating circumstance, I cannot grant this request.
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, 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 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 as well as guidance on policy and procedure (queensu.ca/ombuds).
Sincerely,
Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Academic)
Generated May 27, 2024 at 11:08:10 AM.