Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Submission Number: 13879
Decision Date: March 3, 2026
Associate Dean: Dorit Naaman (Associate Dean Academic)
Student Name: Shayaan Saleem
Student Email: 25tk8@queensu.ca

Course: MATH 112
Term: Fall
Year: 2025
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline

Course: CISC 102
Term: Fall
Year: 2025
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline

Course: ECON 111
Term: Fall
Year: 2025
Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline

Dear Shayaan,

I have carefully considered your request to drop CISC 102, ECON 111 and MATH 112 (F25) after the academic deadline 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.

According to the Academic Appeal and Petition Regulation 1.7.1.2. a petition to drop a class late must clearly demonstrate the significant extenuating circumstances, beyond the student’s control, which prevented them from dropping the class by the deadline, as indicated in the Faculty’s Sessional Dates. A medical certificate or other documentation that outlines how the personal extenuating circumstances hindered the student’s ability to drop the class prior to the deadline should be provided with the petition.

I acknowledge the technical difficulties that you experienced with your computer beginning in September of the Fall term and I appreciate the documentation that you supplied regarding these challenges. However, under Academic Regulation 6, students are expected to attend all lectures, laboratories, tutorials, online discussions, tests, and examinations and to submit work at the prescribed times. If circumstances significantly affect attendance or academic performance, students are expected to consider dropping the course by the drop deadline of the term.

While I recognize that the technical difficulties you described may have impacted your coursework, it is unclear how these circumstances prevented you from dropping CISC 102, ECON 111, and MATH 112 before the December 2, 2025 deadline, particularly given your demonstrated academic engagement in another Fall term course. In the absence of documentation to confirm that an unexpected extenuating circumstance specifically affected your ability to drop courses prior to the academic drop deadline, I am unable to grant this request.

If you are concerned about the impact that your grade these courses have on your cumulative 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.

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.

Additionally, 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.

Sincerely,

Dorit Naaman, PhD
Associate Dean (Academic)