Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Deans of the University Registar,

My name is Fraser Grimes and I am currently a 3rd year English major. During this past summer, I was working for a pool/construction company and on May 13th, a sump-pump fell on my leg severing my Achilles tendon completely. After a non-surgical approach, and three and a half months of recovery I assumed myself getting better. Unfortunately, on my first day back in Kingston to prepare for school, my Achilles tendon ruptured again on August 28th due to a faulty healing process and a non-surgical approach to this injury. This time I received surgery on August 31st and began another extensive, and carefully regimented recovery process, consisting of two physiotherapy sessions a week, and a regular monthly check up with my surgeon. The pain I have been in these past seven months has been excruciating and debilitating. I attempted to manage a full course load on crutches but the pain I was in regularly prevented me from completing what I would normally be capable of under normal circumstances.
With my previously established ADHD, this injury only further debilitated me of what I thought I was capable of this year. Additionally my minor, sociology, which I had hoped would bring up my marks, is in fact bringing me down and bringing down my GPA. I am appealing to drop the two sociology courses I am in enrolled in this semester, 275 and 387, because I simply cannot handle the workload with my leg being in as much pain as it is in regularly. I have tried to succeed in these courses, and much to my dismay, the courses have become a burden and I am not getting anywhere close to the marks I know I could have been capable of under normal circumstances.
My academic goal is to reach a post-graduate masters degree in English or to apply to law school. This academic goal of mine cannot be reached if I remain in the sociology courses that I have chosen this year simply because my GPA cannot handle it. My leg still causes me daily pain and it is November, almost seven months after the initial severing, and two and a half months into my second recovery process. Unfortunately, the courses that are bringing me down are taken concurrently and I had to wait for the results of my 275 mid-term, which I received on November 10th, before making a decision on whether to drop both courses or not. The SOCY 275 midterm was the only assignment we had in the course to date, so naturally I wanted to see if I was succeeding in the course before dropping it all together, and unfortunately the test results came back after the deadline. In the future I will watch drop dates closely and try and assess my performance in a course by that deadline. If my appeal for these courses is successful, my GPA will stabilize, and I can focus succeeding in my winter term, and getting back on track to where I¿¿m supposed to be.

Sincerely,

Fraser Grimes