Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom it may concern,

I am requesting to drop Econ 255 after the deadline date. My reason for dropping the appeal is Mononucleosis. I first showed symptoms on February 12th, the week before reading week. My symptoms worsened throughout the week, and when I returned home to Bermuda I was continuously experiencing declining health. I was initially misdiagnosed with tonsillitis, but the penicillin I was prescribed had no effect on my health. My health deteriorated until my family doctor instructed me to go to the hospital. I was briefly hospitalized (documents attached) with an IV drip and had the bloodwork done to confirm mononucleosis. I was bed bound for the following three weeks unable to do any course work, sleeping 18-20 hours a day for the second week of illness. I was unable to drop the course before the deadline as I was still at home in bedrest as the deadline passed. I returned to campus on March 12th having missed the entirety of two weeks of class (all of my classes including econ 255). This was further compounded as I was still suffering from fatigue associated with mono. The Econ 255 classes were at the end of the day (2:30-4 on Monday and 4-5:30 on Thursday), and the first week back I was too tired from my earlier classes and catching up on work that I was not well enough to attend Econ 255 classes that week. I had an appointment at the Queens clinic on Tuesday March 20th which cleared me to slowly return to full course work and exercise. I do not have documentation from this visit, it was a verbal health check as I hoped to be able to complete my courses this term. Week 10 was the first week I was well enough to attend all of my classes, and I was far behind on Econ 255. I worked hard to catch up on the class but often found myself unable to complete the assignments because I missed too much coursework and had trouble understanding the course material. This was compounded by having to work hard in my other classes to learn the content I had missed and complete term papers and tests in these other classes. I was also unable to attend office hours as they conflicted with my other classes. Furthermore, when I was hospitalized I missed the midterm in week 7. I appealed the midterm to have the weighting assigned to the final, which is worth 80 of the course work. Additionally, failing this course would field me unable to play rugby at Queens next year, something I missed out on this year due to a severe concussion (which created several academic challenges in the first term). I apologize for leaving the appeal late, but I worked really hard to try to be in a good position for the exam and was hoping to be able to write it. Unfortunately, due to the illness I have been unable to learn the course content and cannot complete any past exams and do not understand course content.

Thank you for consideration,
Benjamin Cook,