Decision Letter
Submission Number: 12184
Decision Date: September 9, 2024
Associate Dean: Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Sarah Burgess
Student Email: 19smb16@queensu.ca
Course: MUSC 127
Term: Fall/Winter
Year: 2020
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Course: MUSC 221
Term: Fall/Winter
Year: 2021
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Course: MUSC 127
Term: Fall/Winter
Year: 2021
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Course: HIST 124
Term: Fall/Winter
Year: 2021
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Course: HIST 124
Term: Fall/Winter
Year: 2022
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Course: CLST 102
Term: Fall
Year: 2022
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Dear Sari Cole-Burgess:
I have carefully considered your petition to drop MUSC 127 (FW20/21), MUSC 221 (FW21/22) and MUSC 127 (FW20/21), HIST 124 (FW21/22), HIST 124 (FW22/23), and CLST 102 (F22) after the academic deadline. After reviewing your file, I have decided to deny your request.
The Academic Petitions and Appeal Regulations 1.1 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. 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 two pieces of documentation that you supplied and your academic transcript.
I recognize the ongoing health issues that you have been experiencing as reported in your petition letter and the documentation that you supplied, and I was glad to read that you are being supported successfully at this time. I have denied this request as it is unclear how the ongoing circumstances specifically impacted these courses, and why you did not drop them by their respective drop deadlines.
The documentation that you supplied dated February 28, 2024 does not speak to the academic years that you are petitioning here as it appears to confirm academic impacts beginning in the 2024 Winter term. I acknowledge that the documentation that you supplied dated June 26, 2024 does suggest academic impacts over the past 3 years however it is based on your self-report and doesn’t offer enough evidence to show how only some of your courses each term were impacted and why you weren’t able to drop these courses by the academic deadline.
I want to remind you that 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 as well as guidance on policy and procedure (queensu.ca/ombuds).
Sincerely,
Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Academic)
Decision Date: September 9, 2024
Associate Dean: Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Sarah Burgess
Student Email: 19smb16@queensu.ca
Course: MUSC 127
Term: Fall/Winter
Year: 2020
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Course: MUSC 221
Term: Fall/Winter
Year: 2021
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Course: MUSC 127
Term: Fall/Winter
Year: 2021
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Course: HIST 124
Term: Fall/Winter
Year: 2021
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Course: HIST 124
Term: Fall/Winter
Year: 2022
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Course: CLST 102
Term: Fall
Year: 2022
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Dear Sari Cole-Burgess:
I have carefully considered your petition to drop MUSC 127 (FW20/21), MUSC 221 (FW21/22) and MUSC 127 (FW20/21), HIST 124 (FW21/22), HIST 124 (FW22/23), and CLST 102 (F22) after the academic deadline. After reviewing your file, I have decided to deny your request.
The Academic Petitions and Appeal Regulations 1.1 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. 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 two pieces of documentation that you supplied and your academic transcript.
I recognize the ongoing health issues that you have been experiencing as reported in your petition letter and the documentation that you supplied, and I was glad to read that you are being supported successfully at this time. I have denied this request as it is unclear how the ongoing circumstances specifically impacted these courses, and why you did not drop them by their respective drop deadlines.
The documentation that you supplied dated February 28, 2024 does not speak to the academic years that you are petitioning here as it appears to confirm academic impacts beginning in the 2024 Winter term. I acknowledge that the documentation that you supplied dated June 26, 2024 does suggest academic impacts over the past 3 years however it is based on your self-report and doesn’t offer enough evidence to show how only some of your courses each term were impacted and why you weren’t able to drop these courses by the academic deadline.
I want to remind you that 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 as well as guidance on policy and procedure (queensu.ca/ombuds).
Sincerely,
Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Academic)
Generated September 9, 2024 at 11:16:26 AM.