Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Academic Appeal: Faculty of Arts and Science
Attention: Associate Dean
Re: Student 10137746, Nicole L. Thompson

I am writing this letter on behalf of Nicole L. Thompson, a fourth year student majoring in Global Development with an Economics minor. Nicole is unable to write this letter herself given she recently suffered a serious concussion. After consulting with several people at Queen¿¿s regarding options for Nicole, we would now like to request that Nicole be considered for Aegrotat status so that she can graduate from Queen¿¿s this Spring as planned.

On April 6th, 2018 Nicole fell and hit the back of her head on a hard surface. She visited emergency at the Kingston Hospital and I then brought her home to Toronto where she has seen another doctor for more testing. Unfortunately, Nicole¿¿s concussion is serious enough that the doctor has instructed her to cease all activities and not continue with any visual activities, including the use of screens, reading or studying. As such, we submitted a Request for Academic Consideration to the Queens Faculty of Arts and Science on April 11th and subsequently sent individual notes to each of Nicole¿¿s instructors to advise that she would not be able to sit for final exams, or complete one final essay.

Nicole is in her final year at Queens and has been looking forward to graduating, and moving on to a Masters program. We are very concerned about her recent injury and the complications it may have on her graduation. Unfortunately, Nicole suffered from a previous concussion two years ago and it took her 6-7 months before she felt symptom free and could function at her normal level. Given the nature of concussion injuries, we are unsure when Nicole will be able to resume reading and be in a position to sit for any exams. In our opinion, any significant delay in writing exams would put Nicole at a disadvantage given the time lapse from learning the material in class.

Adding to our concern, Nicole has applied to do a Masters program and is in the final stages of her application being processed. We have contacted the Masters program and confirmed that an Aegrotat status is acceptable to them, and will not create a disadvantage to Nicole¿¿s application as long as she graduates from Queen¿¿s with final grades that meet their threshold. Having reviewed the criteria from the Queen¿¿s website it would appear that Nicole meets the requirements for Aegrotat, including exceeding the 60 course coverage through classroom and mid-term exams.

In summary, the uncertain timing of her recovery, the disadvantage of writing exams months after learning the material, combined with her application for a Masters program being in jeopardy has caused stress around her graduation. While not ideal, and certainly not the way she wanted to complete her fourth year at Queen¿¿s, we feel that obtaining an Aegrotat approval will be the best option for Nicole considering all the factors.

We would appreciate you considering Nicole¿¿s situation as quickly as possible. We regret that this accident has happened, but appreciate your consideration to identify a fair accommodation for her to graduate. Thank you.

John Thompson, on behalf of Nicole Thompson