Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Academic Petitions Committee,

I am writing to respectfully request a late/retroactive withdrawal without academic penalty for STAT 353 (Probability II), Winter 2025, under Academic Regulation 1.7.1.5.

The circumstances surrounding this course were extraordinary due to the faculty strike. As a student, I fulfilled my responsibilities: I attended class, completed the required coursework, and put in the necessary effort. What was missing was the school’s side of the academic relationship, the consistent instruction, timely feedback, and fair assessment structure that allows students to learn, adjust, and succeed.

Because of the strike, assignments and assessments were returned very late or never at all. The last homework sets, which were directly correlated with the material tested on the final exam, were never returned. Feedback on crucial earlier work was also delayed until it was too late to use it for improvement. Entering the final exam, I had no clear indication of where I stood in the course or how to prepare effectively.

In addition, the exam format itself was changed at the last minute as a result of the strike. Long-answer questions, which are a fundamental and fair way of testing understanding in mathematics, were removed because they could not be marked under the disrupted conditions. This meant the final exam was not delivered in the format students were prepared for, and it tested ability under an assessment structure that was not consistent with the expectations set at the start of the term.

These circumstances were entirely beyond my control. In effect, the strike disrupted the balance between student and institution. I upheld my responsibilities, but the lack of timely feedback, delayed or missing graded work, and a last-minute exam format change prevented me from receiving the tools necessary to demonstrate my ability. I continued in good faith, believing my work and effort would be enough, but under these conditions it was not possible to succeed fairly.

After the course concluded, I pursued the formal grading review process under Regulation 1.7.1.10. In that petition, I raised the strike-related issues outlined above. The Academic Petitions Team acknowledged that my concerns were valid, but also explained that they could not be addressed under the grading review process. That review concluded on August 25, 2025, with only a minor adjustment to my exam grade. It was only once that process ended that it became clear a late withdrawal was the appropriate and necessary next step.

This petition is being submitted within the one-year window following the Winter 2025 term. The timing reflects the fact that I first pursued the grading petition in good faith, and only after its conclusion did I understand that a separate petition was required to address the extenuating circumstances that prevented my success.

The grade currently on my transcript does not reflect my knowledge or effort. Instead, it reflects a term where the strike undermined the academic conditions normally in place, timely feedback, fair evaluation, and consistency of assessment, leaving students without the opportunity to demonstrate their learning on fair terms.

For these reasons, I respectfully request a late/retroactive withdrawal without academic penalty for STAT 353 (Winter 2025). Thank you very much for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
Guy Cohen