Mitigating circumstances is a crucial, yet complex, piece of University policy that can make the difference between a 2:2 and a 2:1 in some cases. It is there as a safeguard for students who have been negatively affected by issues or events that have come up out of their control, which have a large knock-on effect on their ability to complete academic work, whether an exam, essay or presentation. This can include, but isn’t limited to, illness, trauma, death of someone close to you, family issues and mental health difficulties.
This can mean that something out of your control, like for example, a sudden bout of illness that means you cannot leave the house to attend lectures, pick up library books, or even focus properly, is taken into consideration regarding a piece of academic work. You can get the form on the University website, or from your department’s office and you hand it back into your department when you’re done.
You would contact your supervisor or tutor whenever possible, and they could potentially ask for a letter from the Health Centre or your GP, to clarify that you are indeed ill, and from there they can decide on an action, like an extension, re-marking or re-taking.
Things become slightly trickier with more complex situations, especially regarding death, where the students’ inability to cope might not present itself quite so clearly. For example, if there is a death close to you, your grief might not necessarily show in any tangible way, apart from slightly unusual behaviour, which supervisors, seeing hundreds of students might not be able to spot.
There are two main options. The first one is presenting a death certificate, which, if you’re grieving the death of a loved one, is the last thing you want to be doing, especially if that loved one isn’t from your family, like for example a partner. This becomes even more complex when the situation is overseas, when those documents become a lot harder to get hold of. Potentially even more complex are situations where there are no death certificates but the shock and grief is similar, like the attempted suicide of a loved one.
The University and its departments are not monsters – there is a second option, which departments are often brilliant at pointing students towards, namely Open Door, our on-campus counselling service. They can arrange appointments with the student, provide a letter to the department and then help the student through the process and help them deal with the potential stress and grief, even after the mitigating circumstances might have been applied for and granted.
However, it can be tough for a student firstly to know that they might need to access help, and secondly to know how to access it. Many students, when a situation like this happens, will try to carry on and hope that it works itself out, not realising how much it has been affecting their degree and social life until they’ve failed several modules and the University is threatening to kick them out.
The procedure can seem quite lengthy and often difficult, particularly when you’re ill, grieving or stressed. There is support at hand to guide you through the process, whether by a tutor or supervisor, one of the University’s Student Support team, or YUSU.
Unfortunately, there are cases that slip through the net, and this is what the appeals procedure and YUSU are for- as a way of challenging issues where students aren’t able to. It’s not always perfect, and I would ask that any students who have had issues with the process contact me so I can raise this with the University.
There’s a lot to try and describe in so few words, but if something unexpected affects your ability to focus on your work, turn up to lectures, exams etc., please do let your supervisor or tutor know as soon as possible so they can help. Also, don’t suffer in silence – I know from personal experience that you might feel like you don’t want to trouble anyone, but the best thing you can do is try to let someone know, preferably your department or any of the University and YUSU support services; the Open Door team ([email protected]), Nightline (www.yorknightline.org.uk) and ASC ([email protected]) if possible.
Bob Hughes is the YUSU Welfare Officer.