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School of Graduate Studies (SGS) – re-instatement to program – Faculty’s policy reasonable and applied fairly – GAAB decision reasonable and substantiated by evidence – no new evidence raised in the hearing before the Committee – appeal dismissed

School of Graduate Studies – grade appeal – jurisdiction – Student contested the policy applied to convert his grade from a University study abroad program – Student’s petition was about the fairness of the Faculty’s procedure itself, not about the fairness of the procedure’s application – Committee has no jurisdiction over the fairness of Faculty policy – appeal dismissed

School of Graduate Studies – late withdrawal without academic penalty – re-instatement in program despite failure to meet program requirements – documented personal and medical issues – appeal of some of the courses five years after the Student’s initial registration – Student’s last-minute submission of documents not accepted – students have a duty to make themselves aware of their rights and responsibilities and the policies of the programs – late withdrawal without academic penalty granted when the Student’s already-existing circumstances significantly and unpredictably worsen – the Student’s successful performance in some courses cannot be relied on to suggest that she could properly perform in all of her courses – Student not entitled to monetary relief for the Course in which she was granted late withdrawal – late withdrawal and aegrotat standing not allowed for four courses on the merits and untimeliness of the appeal – administrative errors that led to the failure of Accessibility Services to assess the Student cannot be relied upon without a temporal limit – the University cannot be expected to accommodate a condition of which it was unaware – appeal dismissed in part

Faculty of Arts and Science – late withdrawal without academic penalty – preliminary issue of timeliness – Student requesting the remedy for courses taken 20 years earlier – Student did not have adequate documentation – extraordinary remedy of late withdrawal without academic penalty must be well-supported and warranted in the circumstances – appeal dismissed

OISE and School of Graduate Studies – reinstatement to program – jurisdiction – Student failed her comprehensive PhD examination three times – Student made a range of requests for relief including personal remedies and departmental policy changes – Committee’s powers do not extend beyond orders of an academic nature – departmental policies enacted after a decision may be relevant in an appeal in some circumstances, but here the changes did not demonstrate any unfairness to the Student – appeal dismissed

UTSC – late withdrawal without academic penalty – medical issues – insufficient documentation – circumstances did not justify granting the extraordinary remedy – appeal dismissed

School of Graduate Studies – late withdrawal without academic penalty – personal and familial difficulties – Student’s circumstances did not change after the drop date – insufficient documentation – appeal dismissed

UTM – exemption from program requirements – Student’s CGPA was below the minimum threshold to graduate with an Honours degree – mere hard work and personal preference do not justify waiving a fundamental degree requirement – appeal dismissed

UTM – late withdrawal without academic penalty – insufficient reasons to warrant granting the extraordinary remedy – appeal dismissed

Faculty of Medicine – reinstatement to program – Student did not meet the standards of his Remediation Plan – Committee does not have the power to order a further period of Remediation – despite unfortunate miscommunications, changes made to the Plan were reasonable to maintain patient safety and did not prejudice the Student – appeal dismissed

Toronto School of Theology – exemption from program requirements – Student wanted to transfer from the ThD program to the Faculty’s new PhD program without completing the application requirements – Student appealed to the Committee rather than pursuing further internal appeals, but this was not a basis for an adverse inference to be drawn against the Student – Student was arguing against the fairness of the policy itself, not the policy’s application, so the matter was outside of the Committee’s jurisdiction – Student did not take advantage of the opportunities available to him to transfer programs – appeal dismissed

UTSC – late withdrawal without academic penalty – family pressures, financial circumstances and illness of family member – wrong to impose rules as rigorous as are imposed by appellate courts but Committee can refuse to consider new evidence – recommendation that all students are warned that full disclosure of all relevant facts is required at petition stage – nature of issue sufficiently disclosed in original petition – University policy on drop dates does not apply when unanticipated circumstances arise after the drop date, when then existing circumstances unexpectedly become significantly more severe, or when then existing circumstances were reasonably expected to abate, but did not – awareness of adverse circumstances and failing grades by drop date – late receipt of mark not grounds for relief because petition not filed promptly – difficulties associated with family member’s illness occurring around or after the drop date not exempted from drop date policy – appeal dismissed

School of Graduate Studies – reinstatement to program – Student failed two courses – personal and familial difficulties – Departmental policy recommends expulsion when students fail two courses – new medical evidence was of too limited a nature to support a finding that the GAAB had been unreasonable – in some cases, it is appropriate for the Committee to take the Student’s actions following the events central to the appeal into account, but here taking the Student’s later successes into account did not affect the reasonability of the GAAB decision – Student’s unsuccessful appeal of one of the failed courses contributed to the reasonability of the GAAB’s decision – appeal dismissed

Faculty of Arts and Science – delay in filing petition – late withdrawal without academic penalty – request to re-write an examination – anxiety issues – Student’s particular health issues did not preclude him from checking his email or from filing an appeal in a timely manner, especially given that the Student was aware that an important decision was to be released, that the Student had prior experience with these academic processes, and that there is an obligation on students to check their emails regularly – appeal dismissed

Faculty of Arts and Science – deferred examination – Student missed five term evaluations for various medical, legal, and personal problems – Faculty’s refusal to accept the Student’s Verification of Student Illness of Injury form was reasonable given the gaps between the doctor’s examination and the completion of the form – appeal dismissed

School of Graduate Studies – dismissal from Faculty of Forestry’s Ph.D. program – undocumented illness – duty to accommodate – lack of adequate supervision not raised in timely manner –– appeal dismissed
Appeal from the SGS Graduate Academic Appeals Board’s (GAAB) decision to terminate the Student’s enrolment in in the Faculty of Forestry’s Ph.D. program (the “Program”) and a request for reinstatement in the Program. The Student alleged that his progress in the Program was impeded by ongoing illness; a lack of adequate supervision; and/or his registration in the program was terminated prematurely.

Faculty of Nursing – request to void FZ grades – duty to accommodate – appeal started after three years is too long of delay when six month limitation – grounds to extend appeal – addressing appeal on merits and timeliness not mutually exclusive – Faculty need not offer all potential accommodations to meet fairness obligations to student – academic penalty is appropriate where students are informed in clearest possible terms of deadline and consequences of failure to meet deadlines – appeal dismissed

Faculty of Applied Sciences and Engineering – anxiety disorder and deaths of extended family members attributed to poor performance on exams – conditions existed before course drop date – late withdrawal without academic penalty – reinstatement to program – Student was refused further registration due to poor academic performance – Faculty did not provide adequate reasons for its decision to not allow reinstatement – absence of adequate reasons did not change the outcome of the Student’s petition –consequences of refusal to readmit into the program deprives student of pursuing a minor only available at University not an exceptional circumstance – adequate reasons – appeal dismissed

UT – Toronto School of Theology – Graduate Centre for Theological Studies - removal of the chair of a Ph.D. supervisory committee – requirement that supervisors be members of a graduate Faculty – terms clear on the face of the Memorandum of Agreement – appeal dismissed

Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences – entitlement to have examination re-read performed by external examiners using clean copies of the exam – time limits to file an appeal – time limit started at the time the Student learned of the issue to be appealed – time limit paused when circumstances outside of the Student’s control interrupt his ability to proceed with an appeal – discretionary power to extend a time limit not exercised because lack of evidence of continuing intention to pursue an appeal – no evidence that examination re-read policy applied unfairly – appeal dismissed

UTM – Undergraduate programs – attempt to drop a course after the add/drop deadline - request for refund of tuition fees - jurisdiction of Academic Appeals Committee to review fee policy - no jurisdiction to refund tuition fees – fee policy concerning add/drop dates is not unfair in a broader sense - appeal dismissed

UT – Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy – petition to re-write a supplemental exam – fair assessment of exam – appeal dismissed

Faculty of Arts and Science – timeliness – student has responsibility to inform themselves of procedures - Aegrotat Standing – insufficient impact of medical condition – insufficient coursework completed prior to final exam to grant Aegrotat standing - late withdrawal without penalty not appropriate absent extraordinary circumstances arising after drop date - re-write of deferred exam – adequate accommodations already provided by the Faculty – recommendation that Faculty establish policies concerning communication with students about progress of petitions - appeal dismissed

Faculty of Arts and Science – student appeal to have program removed from transcript – retroactive changes to transcripts – purpose and function of student transcripts – no jurisdiction to order retroactive alteration to transcripts – no jurisdiction to intervene with the Registrar writing a letter explaining a transcript on behalf of a student - appeal denied

Woodsworth College – whether a student is classified as “new” or “continuing” - refusal to register in classes – no jurisdiction of AAC on questions concerning financial relationship of student and University – appeal dismissed