Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom it may concern,

My name is Lauren De Vries, and I request an appeal on the decision to change my grade for my DEVS 501 thesis project from an 'incomplete' to an 'f' as of Wednesday, October 1st. My experiences this year have been difficult, which I am sure you will already know if you have read my previous letter of appeal, as the preparatory website has assured me you will. But I have made it through a lot to get to this point, so I hope you will hear me out.

When I originally enrolled in DEVS 501, I was mistakenly enrolled in DEVS 502. While DEVS 502 is strictly a Fall and half-credit course, DEVS 501 is a full year, full credit course. In the most recent email I received from Haley Everson, the Appeals Coordinator and Academic Advisor, she stated, DEVS 501 is registered as a Fall 2013 course so it officially ended on December 31, 2013. Instructors can allow up their students up to the end of the following term to submit late work ¿¿ which would have brought you up to April 30 see attached documents labelled 'Emails-Appeal' and the DEVS 501 information sheet. This is the latest example of a lot of confusion I have experienced in regards to this course.

However, it is true that at the end of the 2013-2014 school year I did not feel that my thesis was in any shape to be presented for grading and to the Global Development department. As such, myself and my supervisor came to a mutual decision that I would extend my time working on my thesis until the next term, as is allowed according to university rules. I found it much more difficult than I had expected to remain on campus while many of my friends graduated, and where so many bad memories had accumulated, but I truly wanted to present the best final product possible. I did not want to let down my family, my supervisor, or myself again.

By the end of the summer, I had a fairly complete version of my thesis. All that was left were a few simple edits and some work on the bibliography, something that would not take a lot of time. I had not received a lot of emails on the topic of Fall graduation, and apparently grossly misunderstood an earlier email stating a deadline of October 15th see attached document labelled 'Emails-Deadline'. During this time, something horribly petty and pathetic happened that I am a little bit embarrassed to discuss, but I feel is necessary to explain why my submission was so down to the wire in the first place.

While I did struggle to write my thesis throughout much of the process, as I mentioned before I was mostly finished by the end of the summer see attached documents labelled 'Emails-thesis' and 'Thesis-summer-version'. Unfortunately, in early September I found out that my ex had gotten engaged three-and-a-half months after we had broken up. It was a difficult break up, and we had dated for about a year. That, and the mistaken impression that I had until October 15th to finish my edits, significantly delayed my progress. Towards the end of September I also began working full time at Vancouver Litigation Support Services, which made me feel busy without having to face the past.

It was around this time that I was contacted by my supervisor, who further encouraged me to finish the thesis once and for all. Not long after, I was contacted by Karen Vandermey of the Global Development department see attached document labelled 'Emails-Deadline2', who stated that I had until October 1st to have my supervisor submit my grade. Again, it is entirely possible that I grossly misinterpreted this information. Nevertheless, I did finish my edits by this date and submitted my thesis to the department, and my supervisor did submit my final grade later on the same day see attached documents labelled 'Emails-final-thesis' and 'Emails-grade-submission'. The next day, I was informed by the Dean of Studies office of Arts and Science that my submission was actually a day late, and that I needed to have my supervisor submit my grade by September 30th see attached documents labelled 'Emails-ARTSCI'. Thus, I am appealing this decision.

I understand that you must be fair to all students, but I have to the best of my ability attempted to hand in my thesis on time. Though it may not seem like it to those who may not know me or what I have been through, I have worked incredibly hard on this document and more than anything I want to be finished. Without any disrespect to the university, I desperately want to move on with my life. I want to graduate. This is my last, my final course. I hope you understand, and await your decision.