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Accommodation & Consideration

The Department of Sociology adheres to the university's policy on Academic Consideration.

Requests for Academic Consideration must be completed online, ideally in advance of the missed work. If this is not possible, students must submit the request within three business days of the missed obligation in order for it to be considered. You may be required to submit supporting documentation, depending on the length of the request and the number of requests that you have made.

Your instructors will be advised that a request for academic consideration has been received, and it is up to them whether to provide alternate arrangements. After submitting your online request, you must follow-up directly with your instructors. You are not required to disclose personal health information or diagnoses in order to receive alternate arrangements.

Students who expect that they will require ongoing consideration for medical or compassionate reasons throughout the term, should contact the Sociology Undergraduate Program Director.

The Department of Sociology adheres to the university's policy on Accommodation of Student Religious, Aboriginal and Spiritual Observance.

To request accommodations for Religious, Aboriginal or Spiritual Observances, submit an Academic Consideration Request through the online system within the first two weeks of each term or, for a final examination, within two weeks of the posting of the examination schedule.

A useful list of FAQs and a yearly religious calendar are available from Human Rights Services

The Sociology department adheres to the university's policy on Academic Accommodation of Students with Disabilities.

Students who need academic accommodation support for physical or mental health disabilities should register with Academic Accommodation Support (AAS). Once registered, the student must activate the sending of an accommodation letter via the online system used by AAS to each of their instructors outlining their approved accommodation(s) for each course. This should be done as early as possible, prior to a graded assignment, test or exam.

In some cases, arrangements related to a student’s accommodation needs may be made by the student’s Academic Accommodation Support Facilitator on behalf of the student. You are not required to disclose personal health information or diagnoses to instructors in order to receive academic accommodations.  

Individual course instructors determine whether class attendance will be used as a basis for grades, and if so, this should be clearly indicated in the course outline.

Typically, no more than 10% of the final grade should allotted to attendance alone. If grades are assigned for attendance, then course instructors must institute some process for recording student attendance.

Students who miss class carry the entire responsibility of learning what they have missed; obtaining notes, if desired, from others; doing required work; and in general fulfilling any obligations set forth in the class missed.

Missing classes, even for documented reasons, may result in lower grades, especially in course components related to participation and attendance.

On principle, the Department of Sociology maintains that the timely completion of course work is an integral part of learning.

Instructors have the right to stipulate final deadlines for acceptance of assignments, and to impose late penalties as they see fit; and are expected to notify students of these in advance. However, no assignment of any course value will be acceptable by any instructor after 5:00 p.m. on the final day of examinations for the semester in which the course ends, except in cases where an Incomplete (INC) grade has been assigned by the instructor.

Extensions on deadlines are entirely at the discretion of the instructor.

The Department of Sociology adheres to the guidelines for assigning ‘Incomplete’ grades set out in Section 5.5.2 of the university’s policy on Undergraduate Course Grading, Academic Program Standing and Eligibility to Graduate.

Please note that students must petition their instructor to receive an INC grade within 3 working days, or as soon as reasonably possible, of the missed final examination or final assignment deadline. Supporting documentation (e.g. a university Medical Certificate) must be provided.  Instructors awarding an INC grade must provide the student, within 7 working days, with a written statement of outstanding work to be completed and the date by which it must be completed (or the date of the alternate final examination).

Incomplete grades must be cleared no later than three months after the submission of the INC grade

The Department of Sociology considers the timely completion of work to be essential to learning in courses.

Instructors have the discretion to assess late penalties for work that is not submitted by the assigned deadline. Late penalties should be clearly announced prior to the assignment deadline and should be consistent for all students.

Instructors may also elect not to accept late assignments. If this is the case, this should be clearly announced prior to the assigned deadline.

The Department of Sociology adheres to the guidelines for make-up assessments set out in Section 5.4 of the university’s Course Management Policy.

The Department of Sociology adheres to the guidelines for Make-up Assessments set out in Section 5.4 of the university’s Course Management Policy.

Students are encouraged to follow the procedures for missed exams set out by the Office of the Ombudsperson.