On Monday, March 31, in response to immense community pressure to clarify expectations about final grade assignment, two sets of guidance were released to the Queen’s community: A Message to Faculty from Vice-Provost (Teaching and Learning) Gavan Watson and a revised set of Winter 2025 Grading Guidelines from the Dean of FAS, Bob Lemieux. 

While these new documents provide written guidance for instructors and heads–something people have been requesting for several weeks–this guidance is incomplete and in some cases, misleading. Certain aspects of the advice also contravene current academic regulations. Most problematically, both documents emphasize the drawbacks of GD grades but omit any mention of the drawbacks of CR grades. Given the “pan-institutional” approach that Watson advocates in his message, these drawbacks are a concern for students in all faculties. 

Once again, let’s spell this out. 

What is a CR grade?

  • Smith Engineering (Reg. 3.h)​​: “Credit standing (CR) is a permanent designation normally reserved for exceptional cases where students, who have completed all of the work for a course, and achieved a passing grade in the course, but due to illness or other extenuating circumstances beyond their control, earned a substantially lower grade than might have been expected, normally a grade of C or lower. A student seeking credit standing in a course must submit their request (supported by their course instructor) and appropriate supporting documentation to the FEAS Faculty Board Committee for consideration. If the request is granted, the designation CR will appear on the student’s transcript in place of a letter grade. CR grades will not be included in the student’s GPA, and cannot be reversed to a letter grade. Students may be granted credit standing for a maximum of 18.0 units during their entire program.” 
  • Faculty of Arts and Science (Reg. 10.3.2): “Credit Standing (CR) is reserved for a course in which a student who has completed all of the work of the class, including the final examination, and achieved a passing grade in the class, but due to illness or other extenuating circumstances beyond their control, earned a substantially lower grade than might have been expected. Normally CR standing is only awarded for a grade of C or lower (see Academic Regulation 6). A course with credit standing will not be included in the student’s GPA but can be used as credit earned towards a degree program.”
  • Health Science (Reg. 8.3.2): “Credit standing (CR) in a course is reserved for situations in which a student, who has completed and passed all of the work of the course including the final examination, but because of illness or other extenuating circumstances beyond their control, earned a substantially lower grade than might have been expected, normally a grade of C or lower. A course with CR will not be included in the student’s GPA but can be used as credit earned towards a degree program. Students who wish to use a course in which they have CR as a prerequisite for registering in a further class may need to appeal to the instructor of the class if the prerequisite requirement includes a minimum grade. The instructor has the authority to waive this prerequisite at their discretion. An appeal/petition to the student’s home Faculty/Program is required for this notation.”
  • Faculty of Education (Reg. 2.3): “Credit (CR): recorded only for those courses or components which the Faculty Board has determined are not to be graded.”
  • Smith Business (Reg. 4.5.2): “Credit standing (CR) in a course is reserved for situations in which a student, who has completed all of the work of the course including the final examination, and achieved a passing grade in the course, but because of illness or other extenuating circumstances beyond his or her control (see Extenuating Circumstances), earned a substantially lower grade than might have been expected, normally a grade of C or lower. A student seeking Credit Standing in a course must submit a formal appeal to the Executive Director (or delegate; see Appeals to the Executive Director). Students should note, in particular, the Timeline of Appeals to the Executive Director. As part of the appeal, the instructor must provide written support. The Executive Director will consider whether a request for academic consideration was made to the course instructor and/or the Program Manager and/or the student’s home faculty during the term during the term and, if academic consideration was provided during the term, what additional basis exists that might warrant substituting the grade assigned by the instructor. If the request is granted, a course with credit standing will not be included in the student’s GPA, but can be used as credit earned towards a degree program. Students who wish to use a course in which they have credit standing as a prerequisite for registering in a further class may need to appeal to the instructor of the class if the prerequisite requirement includes a minimum grade. Instructors have the authority to waive this prerequisite at their discretion. For the purposes of Academic Progression in the Certificate, a CR shall be considered equivalent to a grade of C, and will therefore not have implications for progression the Certificate [sic!].” 
  • The Faculty of Law and the School of Nursing do not list a CR notation in their Academic Regulations.

In other words, CR grades are a mechanism to make sure that extenuating circumstances, like illness or family emergencies, do not have a negative impact on a student’s transcript. A CR grade on a transcript implies that the student performed poorly in a course but for reasons beyond their control. The CR is a way for the university to demonstrate compassion. A student with a CR receives credit toward their degree, and their poor performance does not harm their GPA.

Drawbacks of CR grades

  • CR grades don’t count toward a student’s GPA. Hard work and good performance in the course will not translate to a higher GPA.
  • If a student were to have many CRs on their transcript in a year – say, a term’s worth (15.0 units) – it is possible they would not be eligible for the Dean’s Honour List. As noted on the FAS GPA Info page, to be considered for the Dean’s Honour List, “[Students] must have completed a minimum of 18.0 Queen’s units in the relevant Fall-Winter-Summer academic year, excluding courses with the non-evaluative grades AU, CR, DR, NG and P.” 
  • CR grades are viewed negatively by other universities. Here is a list of other Canadian universities’ guidance about CR grades. The list suggests how officials at other universities may read graduate school applications from upper-year students whose transcripts include non-evaluative grades like CR.
  • It is unclear whether or how CR grades count towards course prerequisites and program admissions. FAS’s new Grading Guidelines reference Academic Regulation 11.4, which notes that students will be blocked from enrolling in courses, but the FAS Faculty Board has voted to remove this regulation from the calendar for Fall 2025, so students with GD should not encounter issues registering for classes. (If they ever did. Undergraduate chairs tell QCAA that this has not been a problem for students in the past). 
  • Unlike GD grades, a CR grade cannot be changed to a letter grade without a petition (and at Smith Engineering, it is permanent). Allowing students to petition to change CRs to letter grades would seem to be an unprecedented use of this grade option. A CR is a notation that a student petitions to have on their transcript in place of a grade. QCAA is unaware of situations where students have petitioned to change a CR back to a normal letter grade and we do not know if an instructor has the prerogative to refuse to replace a CR with a letter grade. 
  • Queen’s regulations include a maximum number of CR grades that a student is allowed to receive in a program (e.g., 18 in Engineering and 36 in FAS). If a student were to exceed this maximum because they are in multiple courses affected by the strike, their academic standing could be affected. Students with disabilities, who may already have CR grades for legitimate reasons, could be further disadvantaged.
  • CR grades, in the context of a strike, are also strikebreaking. A GD implies that grades can and will be calculated later, when the strike is over and striking TAs return to work. A CR implies that it is unnecessary to ever calculate the grades, because instructors can just wave their hands and tell students that they passed the course. A CR implies that the striking TAs’ work is worthless and undermines the leverage that PSAC 901 has to secure a fair deal from the university.

What is a GD grade?

All faculties have a GD notation in their Academic Regulations:

  • From regulations at FAS (Reg. 10.3.3), Health Science (Reg. 8.3.3), Business (Reg. 4.5.2) and the School of Nursing (Reg. 8.2):
    “Grade deferred standing (GD) is a temporary designation reserved for circumstances in which
    (1) a student has submitted all the work in a course, but the final grade is not available (e.g., late assignments not yet marked); or
    (2) a suspected departure from academic integrity is under investigation or under appeal and a final grade for the course cannot yet be determined.
    The instructor shall indicate to the Associate Dean (Academic) the special circumstances under which the GD is being assigned, and in the case of (1) above, shall provide a timeline for submission of the final grade.
    A grade of GD will not be included in the determination of a student’s GPA, and any course with a GD designation may not be counted for credit towards a degree program.    “
  • From the Smith Engineering regulations (Reg. 3.h):
    “The Grade Deferred (GD) designation is a temporary designation used in situations where a student’s final grade in a course is being held.“
  • From the Faculty of Education (Reg. 2.5):
    “Grade Deferred (GD): a temporary designation to be used only with the approval of the Director, Education Student Services. The instructor must submit a change of grade to assign a grade. The GD will not lapse to F (Failure). The Director, Education Student Services and Office of the University Registrar will monitor.“
  • From the Faculty of Law:
    “GD (Grade Deferred): similar to IN, but has no lapse rule.“

A GD grade is for precisely a situation like the current one, in which coursework can’t be graded because the TAs who would typically mark it are on strike (as in point 1, above). The timeline for submission would be when the strike is over. This is why many faculty members are asking to assign GD grades during the strike, and it is why many students have asked for GD and not CR grades to be applied. 

One important caveat is that not all instructors may be in a position to complete marking after the end of the strike. If the strike goes on past the end of existing TA contracts, it is unclear whether new contracts could be signed to bring in enough people to do the marking, or whether the responsibility for marking after the end of the strike will fall solely on the instructor. Ideally, TA contracts could be extended or additional markers hired (this has been done, for example, as part of back-to-work protocols at York University), but it’s unclear if Queen’s will do this. Some instructors may avoid GD grades if they do not have the capacity to complete the grading on their own.

Mythbusting GD grades

Is a GD grade permanent?

Unlike CR grades, GD grades could easily be changed to normal letter grades as soon as the strike was over and the grades became available. Once a GD grade is changed to a letter grade, the GD no longer shows up anywhere on a transcript. 

Will having a GD stop me from enrolling in classes or programs?

No, it will not. Students with a GD on their transcript are not blocked from enrolling in programs. The regulation that used to prevent this is no longer in use.

Does a GD imply that I have departed from academic integrity?

No, it does not. Academic integrity investigations are only one of the situations in which a GD might be given. It is more common for a GD to be given in cases where there is an administrative delay, such as when a student writes an exam in a remote location and has to wait for it to be mailed to the teaching team, or when members of the teaching team are unavailable during the usual grading time due to illness, or a family emergency, or some other event that interrupts their work. A GD simply acts as a placeholder until the administrative work associated with the marking is complete and a final grade becomes available.

What about graduating students?

Graduating students are in a difficult position no matter which grade is assigned, but a GD grade allows for more time for PSAC 901 and the administration to come to a fair agreement and return to work, and thus it is the best chance for graduating students to receive a fair grade before graduation. 

Vice Provost Watson claims that awarding CR grades represents a “student-centered” response, but if the administration were actually student-centered, they would return to the table immediately. 

Faculty must hand in grades for their courses (letter grade, GD, or indicate to their head which students are to receive a CR since instructors cannot enter a CR themselves) by the end of April. However, grade changes can still be made after the end of April. As soon as the strike is over and TAs are able to grade outstanding work, GD grades of graduating students could be converted to letter grades. If grade changes were to be made during May, there would still be time for the changed grades to count towards graduation requirements. 

We still have two months until the end of May. The final deadline for grade changes for students to be added to the graduation list is May 23. That’s two months for the university to return to the bargaining table with PSAC 901 and to offer graduate workers a fair deal.

While QCAA has received word from several students that their instructors have told them that assignments submitted but not yet graded during the strike period cannot be graded even after the strike ends, we want to emphasize that this is untrue. No directive has been issued to that effect.

The best thing graduating students and those who care about them can do is continue to pressure Queen’s leadership to return to the bargaining table so that fair grades can be awarded to graduating students in time. GD grades give the most time for this bargaining process to happen and the most possibilities for the best outcome for most students in the class.

Queen’s wants us to award CR grades, but the truth is that a CR grade is the worst option both for undergraduate students and for the graduate workers who are on strike.

Whatever the administration recommends, instructors must maintain their integrity to decide on the appropriate grades for their students. This is no one else’s decision to make. 

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