Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To the Associate Dean (Studies):

I am submitting an appeal to drop History 367, a seminar for Fall 2015/Winter 2016. I currently have an incomplete grade in this course. Due to medical issues and extenuating circumstances, I believe it would be in my best interest to drop this course and move on with my studies. I am a fourth year student but I was already planning on taking a fifth year based off of advice from my doctor.

During the fall term, I was thriving in History 367. However, a relapse of my health issues occurred in early December and I was unable to finish the fall term paper. I received temporary accommodations from SWS. I then registered with Accessibility Services. In January, I met with my professor regarding the paper. Due to ongoing medical issues, I often require incomplete grades to finish up my coursework over the summer. Up until now, I have managed to finish everything by the end of summer. This is the first time I am requesting a late drop.

I told my professor my history of needing incomplete grades and he responded with accusations that I spend too much time on social media and with inquiries about the nature of my medical problems. We then agreed on an incomplete for the summer.

Starting in February, the classroom became a toxic environment. The first half of the year was based off of traditional readings. The second half of the year was based off of watching videos about futurology. Futurology can be based off of history but we were often using a mathematical and scientific approach. I consider myself a conscientious student but I felt unable to participate as much due to a lack of ability to grasp the subject matter. Additionally, when I did speak, my classmates would make fun of me. I believe this discrimination was based off of an intersection between my gender, disability (hearing loss), and my penchant for abstract thinking. Going to class was exacerbating my medical condition but I still attended since I did not want to lose marks. This course had an impact on my other courses since I usually have an incomplete for one or two courses. This year, I received incompletes for all of my courses. I have finished one course now and I am currently finishing up the other course.

I was scared to approach my professor in regards to these issues with my classmates because he is a subjective evaluator. He never formally gave me back my marks for the presentation and participation from the fall term. When I asked him about it, he implied that since I had not gotten my fall term paper in, I did not merit knowing exactly what my other marks were. In early March, I had a good chat with my professor. He seemed to be accommodating of my request to have an incomplete. He did not formally give me my marks back but he told me which range they were in. This was before the drop date. I was still struggling because of my classmates but my plan was to survive the last few classes and then finish up my three remaining papers (for a total of 60 percent of the mark for the entire year) over the summer. My classmates were harassing me so badly during the second-last class when I was distributing the USATs that I could not even show up to the last class.

After the drop date in March, the professor started displaying his negative attitudes towards accommodations again. He sent the whole class a long email complaining about accommodations (Email 1 Parts A and B) in which he even referred to the specific case of my friend. I have highlighted this sentence in the attachment (Email 1 Part A). He also did not send me an email with my participation marks for the winter term. The last straw for me was an email he sent me while I was confirming my incomplete grade with him (Email 2). I was merely trying to inform him that the last date to submit work is two weeks later than he thought, which I have confirmed with an academic advisor.

I already struggle with my medical condition. Experiencing emotional distress from my classmates has also been severely taxing. The uncertainty of the professor's negative attitudes towards accommodations is too much to handle. My medical condition was debilitating in May and I had to see a doctor once I was back in Kingston in early June.

Next time, I would re-evaluate my drive to succeed at the cost of my health and not be afraid to drop a course that was exacerbating my medical condition. However, the negative emails arrived after the drop date. I am already doing a fifth year. I was planning on taking multiple electives since with finishing all of my incomplete courses by the end of summer, I would only need 3.0 to 6.0 credits to graduate (depending on whether I can transfer Explore credits from this summer). I could easily replace some of my planned electives with 9.0 credits more of seminar classes for a total of 12.0 or 15.0 credits next year.

I have attached a doctor's note, a verification of illness, and the three screenshots of the two aforementioned emails to this appeal. I have heavily considered my options. I have even consulted with Stephanie Simpson from the Human Rights Office. I think it would be in my best interest academically and in terms of wellbeing to move on from this course.

Thank you for your consideration,
Tamarra Wallace