Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: March 5, 2018

Faculty of Arts & Science

SUBJECT: Request for late request for course drop

To the Associate Dean of Arts and Science:

The Request
I am writing to request late withdrawal from Spanish 111 which I am currently taking this winter, 2018.

Explanation of Extenuating Circumstances
I regret to inform you that this semester has been very hard on me. I have been struggling with the
following two health issues that I kindly ask you consider:

1. In my current residence, I have been suffering from severe allergies. My doctor and I have yet to
determine what this allergy may be ¿¿ but we are working on it. Such allergies have consisted of
significant eye and facial allergies. Most mornings this semester I have woken up with swollen,
itchy, watery eyes, in addition to ¿chalazions¿¿. Prior to visiting my eye doctor on reading week,
(Dr. Pat Hamilton in Ottawa), I was using over-the-counter Visine to try and cope with the pain I
was experiencing in my eyes. The ineffectiveness of Visine prevented me from seeing clearly and
functioning to my best academic ability on a day-to-day basis. Unfortunately, this profoundly
impacted my ability to complete the course work given to me in SPAN 111, and prevented me
from attending classes. Dr. Pat Hamilton prescribed me the medication, Sandoz Olopatadime,
until I can see an allergist in Ottawa this upcoming April.

2. In addition to my health problem regarding my allergies, I have been consumed with some very
unpleasant actions and behaviors toward me from my current housemates, which has been
extremely detrimental to the state of my mental health. This issue, combined with another
traumatizing incident that I underwent in December 2017 has been very overwhelming for me,
and given the state of my mental wellness, I was not equip to complete the everyday course
work of SPAN 111. Due to such traumatic events I was experiencing low self-esteem, high levels
of fatigue, high levels of anxiety, which crippled me from completing my Span 111 course work
on various occasions.

In addition to the previously mentioned health issues, there is another circumstance that has hindered
my ability to perform to my fullest academic ability in Span 111. Before reading week, our Span 111 class
was told that our current Professor was leaving for personal reasons. After attending classes this week, I
am really not adjusting well to the new Professor¿¿s teaching styles, which poses a great challenge to me,
as I was already struggling with keeping up in the course given my health issues. Moreover, as of March
4th, my class had only gotten back marks totaling 12 of the course which is significantly low considering
it was more than half way through the course. Late on March 4th, the first test results were released. I
received a failing grade, which demonstrates that my success in this course is not going to be favorable.
With only 5 weeks left in the semester, I feel as if I will not receive a grade that represents my usual
academic standings. I thereby, am applying to drop Span 111 because given my current health issues, I
do not think I am capable of completing this course to my usual ability.

Future Plan
If my appeal is granted, I will have more time to focus on my core courses in Sociology and in my Law
certificate. I plan on staying in Kingston for the summer, and will take another elective (3.0) in the spring
or summer session. By September, 2018, I will still have achieved 60.0 hours of courses required by end
of second year, and will be on track to graduate in May, 2020.

I also plan on making an appointment at the student wellness center in hopes that I can develop
additional coping strategies for my mental health, as well as working through my issues with my
parents. Lastly, I plan on visiting an allergist this April (only time I could get an appointment) to finally
tackle one of my prominent health issues.

Thank you so much for your consideration in this matter.

Kind regards,

Margaret Keenan