Decision Letter
Submission Number: 12966
Decision Date: May 27, 2025
Associate Dean: Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Rishab Chakraborty
Student Email: 22hy31@queensu.ca
Course: MATH 280
Term: Fall
Year: 2024
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Maria Teresa Chiri
Course: STAT 268
Term: Fall
Year: 2024
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Wenyu Jiang
Dear Rishab,
Thank you for your petition regarding Credit Standing in MATH 280 and STAT 268 (F24). I have carefully reviewed your request and the supporting documentation that you supplied, and while I’m unable to grant your petition, I want to assure you that I’ve taken your circumstances into account as part of this decision.
Academic Petition and Appeal regulation 3.3.1.4. state that Credit standing is reserved for a course in which a student who has completed all of the work of the class, including the final examination, and achieved a passing grade in the class, but due to illness or other extenuating circumstances beyond their control, earned a substantially lower grade than might have been expected.
I acknowledge the extenuating circumstances that you experienced during the 2024 Fall term, as confirmed within the documentation that you supplied, and I was glad to read that you have been supported with counselling. However, I have denied this request as you did not meet the learning outcomes of MATH 280 and STAT 268 based on the work that you completed in them and the academic impacts on these specific courses are not clear. Looking at your transcript I see that you achieved high grades in other courses during the 2024 Fall term despite the ongoing impacts of extenuating circumstances. Additionally, the information that I received from the instructors of MATH 280 and STAT 268 confirms that you did not pass the mid-terms or final exams in these courses. 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.
Going forward, it is the student’s responsibility to pause and evaluate the impact of extenuating circumstances on their classes prior to the drop deadline of the term. If they have fallen behind in a course or find the material too difficult, they should drop the course by the deadline. 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.
Additionally, if you wish to appeal this decision, information on the appeal process and deadlines is available at queensu.ca/artsci/undergraduate/student-services/academic-petitions-and-appeals (click on “Second Level”). The Office of the University Ombudsperson offers guidance on student rights and procedural fairness at queensu.ca/ombuds/appeal-process/procedural-fairness, and they are also available to support you at queensu.ca/ombuds.
I hope that you continue to seek out the support and resources available to you, and I wish you the best in navigating your next steps.
Sincerely,
Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Academic)
Decision Date: May 27, 2025
Associate Dean: Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Student Name: Rishab Chakraborty
Student Email: 22hy31@queensu.ca
Course: MATH 280
Term: Fall
Year: 2024
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Maria Teresa Chiri
Course: STAT 268
Term: Fall
Year: 2024
Category: Request credit (CR) standing in a course or courses
Instructor: Wenyu Jiang
Dear Rishab,
Thank you for your petition regarding Credit Standing in MATH 280 and STAT 268 (F24). I have carefully reviewed your request and the supporting documentation that you supplied, and while I’m unable to grant your petition, I want to assure you that I’ve taken your circumstances into account as part of this decision.
Academic Petition and Appeal regulation 3.3.1.4. state that Credit standing is reserved for a course in which a student who has completed all of the work of the class, including the final examination, and achieved a passing grade in the class, but due to illness or other extenuating circumstances beyond their control, earned a substantially lower grade than might have been expected.
I acknowledge the extenuating circumstances that you experienced during the 2024 Fall term, as confirmed within the documentation that you supplied, and I was glad to read that you have been supported with counselling. However, I have denied this request as you did not meet the learning outcomes of MATH 280 and STAT 268 based on the work that you completed in them and the academic impacts on these specific courses are not clear. Looking at your transcript I see that you achieved high grades in other courses during the 2024 Fall term despite the ongoing impacts of extenuating circumstances. Additionally, the information that I received from the instructors of MATH 280 and STAT 268 confirms that you did not pass the mid-terms or final exams in these courses. 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.
Going forward, it is the student’s responsibility to pause and evaluate the impact of extenuating circumstances on their classes prior to the drop deadline of the term. If they have fallen behind in a course or find the material too difficult, they should drop the course by the deadline. 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.
Additionally, if you wish to appeal this decision, information on the appeal process and deadlines is available at queensu.ca/artsci/undergraduate/student-services/academic-petitions-and-appeals (click on “Second Level”). The Office of the University Ombudsperson offers guidance on student rights and procedural fairness at queensu.ca/ombuds/appeal-process/procedural-fairness, and they are also available to support you at queensu.ca/ombuds.
I hope that you continue to seek out the support and resources available to you, and I wish you the best in navigating your next steps.
Sincerely,
Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D.
Associate Dean (Academic)
Generated May 27, 2025 at 10:33:59 AM.