Decision Letter
Submission Number: 13203
Decision Date: July 7, 2025
Associate Dean: Dorit Naaman (Associate Dean Academic)
Student Name: Austin Stadel
Student Email: 13as199@queensu.ca
Course: ECON 112
Term: Fall
Year: 2024
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Course: ENGL 259
Term: Fall
Year: 2024
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Course: ENGL 281
Term: Fall
Year: 2024
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Dear Austin:
Thank you for your petition request to drop ECON 112, ENGL 259, and ENGL 281 (F24) past the academic deadline. I have carefully reviewed your petition and while I’m unable to grant your request, I want to assure you that your circumstances were considered thoughtfully and with care as part of the decision-making process.
I was sorry to read about the family-related extenuating circumstances that you described in your petition letter. I understand how personal events, such as supporting a family member through health issues can affect many areas of life, including academics.
As outlined in the Academic Petitions and Appeal Regulations 1.1, petitions and appeals are only granted in cases where extenuating circumstances significantly impaired a student’s ability to meet academic responsibilities, and where these impacts can be clearly supported by documentation. The regulations also emphasize the importance of demonstrating how these circumstances directly prevented the student from taking academic actions within established timelines, such as dropping a course by the published deadline.
While I do not doubt the sincerity or the severity of this extenuating circumstance, your petition did not contain evidence that you pursued available remedies at the time, such as seeking academic consideration, requesting an extension, or deferring final exams in these courses. Although the documentation that you supplied confirms a chronic mental health condition over the last five years, it does not suggest any academic impacts, specifically during the 2024 Fall term that you are petitioning from. With the absence of documentation to demonstrate how the circumstances affected your ability to meet course requirements or act within the drop deadline, I am unable to grant this request.
Going forward, you should know that it is your responsibility to pause and evaluate the impact of extenuating circumstances on your coursework prior to the drop deadline of the term. If you fall behind in a course or find the material too difficult, you should drop the course by deadline. 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 about 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, but only the higher grade will be included within the calculation of your cumulative GPA.
If you wish to appeal this decision, you are welcome to submit an appeal to the Board of Studies. 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,
Dorit Naaman
Associate Dean (Academic)
Decision Date: July 7, 2025
Associate Dean: Dorit Naaman (Associate Dean Academic)
Student Name: Austin Stadel
Student Email: 13as199@queensu.ca
Course: ECON 112
Term: Fall
Year: 2024
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Course: ENGL 259
Term: Fall
Year: 2024
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Course: ENGL 281
Term: Fall
Year: 2024
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Dear Austin:
Thank you for your petition request to drop ECON 112, ENGL 259, and ENGL 281 (F24) past the academic deadline. I have carefully reviewed your petition and while I’m unable to grant your request, I want to assure you that your circumstances were considered thoughtfully and with care as part of the decision-making process.
I was sorry to read about the family-related extenuating circumstances that you described in your petition letter. I understand how personal events, such as supporting a family member through health issues can affect many areas of life, including academics.
As outlined in the Academic Petitions and Appeal Regulations 1.1, petitions and appeals are only granted in cases where extenuating circumstances significantly impaired a student’s ability to meet academic responsibilities, and where these impacts can be clearly supported by documentation. The regulations also emphasize the importance of demonstrating how these circumstances directly prevented the student from taking academic actions within established timelines, such as dropping a course by the published deadline.
While I do not doubt the sincerity or the severity of this extenuating circumstance, your petition did not contain evidence that you pursued available remedies at the time, such as seeking academic consideration, requesting an extension, or deferring final exams in these courses. Although the documentation that you supplied confirms a chronic mental health condition over the last five years, it does not suggest any academic impacts, specifically during the 2024 Fall term that you are petitioning from. With the absence of documentation to demonstrate how the circumstances affected your ability to meet course requirements or act within the drop deadline, I am unable to grant this request.
Going forward, you should know that it is your responsibility to pause and evaluate the impact of extenuating circumstances on your coursework prior to the drop deadline of the term. If you fall behind in a course or find the material too difficult, you should drop the course by deadline. 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 about 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, but only the higher grade will be included within the calculation of your cumulative GPA.
If you wish to appeal this decision, you are welcome to submit an appeal to the Board of Studies. 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,
Dorit Naaman
Associate Dean (Academic)
Generated July 7, 2025 at 4:03:27 PM.