Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Dorit Naaman,
I am petitioning to request credit standing in PSYC 358 (Fall, 2024). During the second and third year of my undergraduate degree (September 2023 - May 2025), I was living in a student house in which my room was infested with black mold. Due to this, I had to abruptly leave my place of residence and move back to my parents house where I had to commute approximately 45 minutes a day to campus for the entirety of the semester. This in itself hindered my ability to attend all of my classes, due to the unsafe driving conditions once the winter weather came. The time I had to focus on my education was also restricted, as I did not have a stable place near campus to live/study. During the busiest times of the semester, I was sleeping on the couch at my student house and living out of a suitcase in order to be close to campus, so I could attend early classes and maximize my study time as much as possible. This left me feeling drained and displaced which impacted my mental health significantly on top of my academics. Moreover, during the 2024 Fall semester, I was also enrolled in a full course load consisting of important classes that were crucial to my degree plan, including PSYC 301, PSYC 358 and two additional PSYC classes. Throughout the beginning of the semester, my physical and mental health began to rapidly decline as I started to experience a range of symptoms including symptoms of anxiety, a goiter (an enlarged thyroid), rapid heart rate, heart palpitations, tremors, a consistent cough that lasted approximately two months, eye bulging, extreme sensitivity to heat, hair loss, increase in appetite despite the rapid weight loss, menstrual cycle irregularity, brain fog, etc., which all arose within a month of the start of the semester. My turning point was October 10th, 2024, when I was admitted to the hospital due to these numerous, chronic symptoms. Multiple blood tests were run to determine what was happening. At this time, I also had midterms in all of my classes, one of which I had to defer due to my time in the hospital. For the next couple of months, the symptoms continued (some of which are still present today) which brought me December 17th, when my doctor finally got the results. I was in the middle of studying for final exams when I received the call. I was diagnosed with Graves' disease, which is an autoimmune disorder where the immune system causes the thyroid to overproduce hormones which causes hyperthyroidism; however, they were still unsure as to why my levels were much higher than a normal 20 year old. Getting this news after an extremely draining semester while I was struggling to write and study for final exams was crushing. I was then referred to my endocrinologist who I had my first meeting with on February 14th, 2025, and finally got on a treatment plan. I was put on two medications, Atenolol (a beta blocker) to lower the physical symptoms I was experiencing, and Methimazole to reduce and regulate my hormone levels produced by my thyroid. During this time, I experienced a wide range of symptoms that significantly impacted my focus, and my physical and cognitive abilities. The time I was able to dedicate to school was limited, as I had numerous appointments for blood work and follow-ups with my endocrinologist. This significantly impacted the quality of work I was able to produce. My mental health took a hit, not only from the sudden diagnosis, but also from the fact that I, a very dedicated student, could not perform up to my standards academically. This was also the first time that I struggled with my health, and the fact that I was suddenly dealing with a lifelong diagnosis, made me feel very unstable. My housing situation only added to my instability and poor mental health. For these reasons, I was unable to dedicate most of my time and effort to my education, ultimately resulting in significantly lower grades during that semester.
Although I am petitioning after the deadline, I hope that you can still consider my request. During this time, I was advised that I was unable to do anything about my grades once I had already completed the assessments in the course. I just recently had a meeting with Dr. Meghan Norris who brought to my attention that this was an option and suggested that I still requested the credit standing as I was not aware of this opportunity beforehand. I also think it is important to mention that in one of the classes I was enrolled in (PSYC 301), I had to defer the midterm due to my stay in the hospital. I ended up failing the class, which I had never experienced before this. Because I was unaware that petitioning was an option, I did what any dedicated student would do, and I retook the class with determination to finish with an A. I did indeed finish with an A in the class, but the F still remains on my transcript. This goes to show that if it was not due to my extenuating circumstances, I would have been able to perform to the best of my ability, which ultimately would’ve been reflected in my grades.