Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To Whom It May Concern:

I wish to submit the present appeal to obtain permission to add a course beyond the fall term course add deadline, which was September 25th. The course in question is Hist. 502 and is an internship working in the Queen's archives.

I had hoped to participate in one of the History department internships organized with the various museums in Kingston and run by Dr. James Carson, chair of the History department. My particular interest was to work with the archives and conduct archival research and this was the internship for which I intended to apply. Concurrent with the application for the internship, I had also begun volunteering at the Queen's archives in order to gain experience working with archives.

As it was the first year that the History department organized this internship, there were some issues in connection with the application process and indeed, I only received the email regarding the internships on the same day that the application was in fact due, namely September 18th. I emailed Dr. Carson regarding this fact, and he responded that there had been some issues relative to the application process but that I should nevertheless submit an application for the internship I wished to partake in, regardless of the fact that the deadline had passed. This I did immediately on September 21st. Unfortunately, I was informed that the internship I initially requested was no longer available and that I should modify my application and apply for a different internship that was still available. This was September 23rd. The same day, I resubmitted the application but was then informed that unfortunately the museum had decided to no longer offer the internship. Dr. Carson then suggested that I apply for one of the other internships, involving more event-planning and committee activities, but I replied that while I appreciated his help, my interest was to work with the archives and conduct research, and I requested to meet with him to see if we could find an opportunity that was in keeping with my interest. By this time it was September 28th, thus the ¿¿add¿ deadline had passed, but I was still hopeful that I could meet with Dr. Carson and find an opportunity that suited my interest. Dr. Carson responded a few days later that while all the archival internships he had for the fall semester were full, he was planning on offering an internship in the Queen's archives in the winter term, and that I should look into a project that I could do as a winter term internship. This course, Hist 502 requires that I secure a faculty sponsor (in the form of department chair Dr. James Carson), and meet with the Public Service/Public records archivist, Heather Home, to come up with a suitable project in order to receive course credit. This was October 1st.

It was at this point I realized that perhaps once I had already been volunteering with the archives (and thus had been in contact with Heather), that perhaps I could arrange with Heather to immediately come up with a project and make up the few hours I had missed (as my volunteer hours would count as the hours I initially put in). I emailed Heather on the 2nd, and arranged a meeting on the 5th where we discussed a project, how I would make up the missing hours, and what my hours would be for the rest of the semester. That night, she emailed Dr. Carson to see if this would be permissible, and if I could be registered in the archives' internship course, Hist 502. Heather emailed me the morning of the 6th to say that while the deadline to add courses had passed, I could nevertheless appeal to the Faculty of Arts and Science. Moreover, she advised that Dr. Carson had approved the project and would be willing to write a letter of support in my favor.

I have attached emails from both Heather and Dr. Carson in which they both indicate that the emails would serve as letters of attestation in support of my appeal to take the course. Dr. Carson notes that my volunteer work in the archives would enable me to enroll late and make up missing hours, and supports my appeal to add this course. Heather cites my volunteer work, our meeting to discuss the project, and my interest in volunteering as demonstrative of my interest in the subject, and that she supports my appeal as well.

I have therefore received support and permission from both the chair of the history department as well as the archivist, the two individuals whose permission is required to take this course and would ask that my appeal be granted to enable me to add this course.

Thank you for your time and consideration,
Sean Adessky (10084908)
12sa83@queensu.ca