Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Deans of Arts and Sciences Dr Jill Atkinson and Dr Johana Bernard,

My name is Mansour Matta and I am writing for an appeal to drop my class late and for a possible tuition refund. I was assigned to PSYC 100 for the summer 2018 term. I have had some issues in the past and therefor have returned to school in attempt to get my degree and in hopes of furthering my education with medical school and in hopes of becoming a psychiatrist. I took this class in effort to prepare me for that route. Unfortunately, I have previously suffered from a significant car accident and secondary to that have sustained some PTSD. I have also developed some significant anxiety and depression secondary to this. I have started seeing a psychiatrist again and this was something that came about during the summer term. I had to travel to Montreal to see a psychiatrist and it took some time to go back and forth for appointments. I unfortunately missed a few deadlines and had less time to study then I needed. I have started on new medications that help with that and while I thought it was helping it seemed that it was too late in the semester for me to correct what had happened in the beginning. I have since continued with my therapist and have made significant improvement in the emotional issues that I was having. I have also had issues with ADHD. Again, this is something that I have been seeing physicians about and have been started on medications for. It has now allowed me to have a significant improvement in studying and creating and following a plan to make sure that the assignments are completed. This was an issue during the exams in the PSYC 100 class because I had a hard time getting through all the material and answering all the short answer questions in a manner that was conducive to complete the exam. I have been working on ways to help and have discussed with the professor's ways that would help me move forward on future endeavors. I attempted to make it through the semester. I went over my exams with the professors and tried to understand where my issues were coming from. I was able to work with them in a way to make sure that the material I was reading was understood and I could show that I had a grasp on what was being taught. I did discuss with the professor and she recommended consulting QSAS for assistance and seeing if accommodations could be made when it came to extra time on assignments and exams. I discussed with Professor Norris and had approved the late drop because of the extenuating circumstances.

The other issue that I had, and I am bringing to the college for consideration is the significant financial issues that I was under. I was previously working for AirCanada unfortunately with the accident I have not been able to work. I have been doing some travel arrangements for private clients to try and continue to have some cash flow to continue to come in so that I could fund my education and my future. Between the appointments and traveling back and forth to see the specialists I had some significant medical bills. I ask for a potential credit to the account so that I may be able to take the class again without having an overwhelming financial burden. I had talked to Professor Norris about this as well and had been told that it was approved as a possible solution.

It has been my lifelong dream to become a psychiatrist and to be able to help other people that ended up in similar situations as myself. I ask the College of Arts and Sciences to assist in the matter and see that I am so passionate about what I want to accomplish. I hope that you are able to understand what happened in the summer semester and see that I continue to try an improve what I am doing to accomplish my goals and would consider the late drop and the financial assistance. Thank you so much for your help in the matter.

Thank you,

Mansour Matta