Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Jenn Stephenson,

I'd like to kindly submit a request to waive the deadline for submitting an academic petition for an extension of an incomplete grade beyond one term. I was highly unaware there was a deadline at all to submit this petition. In fact, in a previous conversation with an academic advisor on this topic, she mentioned how I would be able to submit it at any time. I was also not given a hard deadline to submit my work by any of my professors when initially granted the incomplete standing.

I wanted to submit a petition for an extension of five incomplete grades (POLS347, POLS350, POLS432, POLS445, and POLS392, Winter 2023) beyond one term.

Near the end of the Winter 2023 semester, I started facing some mental health issues that severely impacted my ability to complete the final assignments for each of my classes. With the support of all of my professors, I was able to get an incomplete standing for my grade. I was finally in touch with a mental health practitioner at Student Wellness Services who could provide me with care and support that I needed after having negative or unhelpful experiences with former practitioners. With her help, I was working on the incomplete assignments. Things were looking good and I even enrolled in two summer courses as I was feeling much better and on a hopeful track. I took these summer courses so that I could complete my degree quicker since I am in my 5th year and hope to be done by the end of this fall semester. All was going well in those summer courses, however, towards the end, family problems beyond my control affected my mental health which started to plummet again. I was cut off from my family due to personal reasons and no longer had their financial or emotional support, which I was relying heavily on. I was completely alone. In all areas of my life. I didn’t know how to deal with this and was struggling mentally. I was trying to take care of my mental health as daily tasks became very difficult for me like getting up in the morning and taking a simple shower or eating. As someone who has faced a lot of childhood neglect and abuse, it was really hard for me to reach out for support, but I did eventually get back in touch with Student Wellness Services. It took me a while because I was in a dark space but I soon got back in touch with my councillor and got the support and care I needed to pick myself back up. By this time, September had rolled around and the deadline was near, but it was impossible to hand in all of my incomplete work as the load was heavy on top of my schedule. I soon figured out a plan to have this all sorted. I connected myself with trusted adults who have been of great support and decided not to work this semester to focus on my mental health and complete my incomplete courses. I also decided to take a lighter course load (2 courses) so that I’d be able balance all of my work. Additionally, I’ve enrolled in group therapy sessions throughout the term to manage my emotions/mental health. If given this extension, I am very determined that I'll be able to submit all of my incomplete work by the end of the fall semester.

I am certain that if granted this extension of incomplete grades for one more term, I will be able to complete my courses and graduate without having to fall into further financial difficulty by taking more courses. I’ve reached out to all of my professors about this and have been reassured that I have their full support for this academic petition. I hope you can find sympathy for my situation and use your power to support me and help turn my life around.

Thank you.