If you have been dismissed, your letter of dismissal will provide you with information on how to proceed with the appeal. The first step is to consider if you want to make an appeal – so, a letter requesting an appeal is required. We do note that in some cases it is to a student’s advantage to take the year off. Students who have been dismissed may reapply after one year has elapsed and elect to start with a fresh academic record – previous course attempts are removed from the transcript and only courses with a “C-“ or better grade are counted toward their continued studies.
If a student elects to appeal, the letter should outline the situations that negatively affected their academic performance during that year. Where there situations beyond ones control – illness, family situations, unplanned financial situations, unexpected emergencies? Is there evidence of better grades in one term compared to another – signs of improvement? Naturally, one should treat this as a formal business-type letter and pay close attention to the details such as grammar and punctuation. The letter of appeal must be submitted by the deadline to the Vice-President (Academic) and normally an appeal hearing is granted. Help is available to students in preparing a letter of appeal and to prepare the appeal itself – the Chair of the Appeals Committee (Prof. Slade), the Registrar (Mr. Wikkerink), your Faculty Advisor and staff in the Student Life Department are all willing to help you and review a draft or drafts of this letter. Please allow adequate time for this type of assistance so not to miss the appeal deadline.
The formal appeal is heard by the Academic Appeals Committee. This committee is made up of four faculty along with the Registrar and the Assistant Dean of Students (both of whom are non-voting members of the committee and serve as resource to the committee). Each student is allowed 20 minutes to present their appeal at which time the committee may ask questions of clarification. A student may request a third party to attend the meeting, and elect to have this person speak for them. As this is a formal appeal hearing, it’s generally advised to put your best foot forward by being prepared (having notes with you is a good idea) showing up on time and dressing appropriately.
The decision of the appeals committee is final and the decision will be communicated by the Vice-President (Academic).
9:00-4:00
closed mornings, 12:00-4:00