Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Xavier McMaster ¿¿ Hubner
January 3rd 2018
To the Associate Dean of Studies:

I am appealing my grade in MATH 231 (Fall) 2018 to be changed to a grade of credit standing. I believe that I have had circumstances which caused me to obtain a significantly lower grade in the course than what I otherwise would have achieved.
I have had life-threatening allergies since I was a toddler. I have had to work to make sure I am not ingesting anything that could harm me and make sure that it does not affect my day-to-day life. My pediatric allergist in Winnipeg, MB, since childhood has been Dr. Tom Gerstner. However, over the last 3 or 4 years I have had unusual reactions to food products which give me spasms in my upper back, tighten my chest, make me somewhat lightheaded and cause me extreme discomfort for a few hours. I first had an event such as this in 2015 with repeated events in the years after that. I went to a hospital two times in Inverness Nova Scotia, due to these events, and later saw an allergist Doctor Wade Watson in Halifax, NS, twice in 2015-2016 when I lived in Nova Scotia about these events. It may be that these events are related to my allergies since they only occur when I eat foods. I had an event earlier in the year, during June 2018, and another one in November 2018, which prompted a visit to Student Wellness Services at Queen¿¿s University. These events cause extreme discomfort and make it difficult to concentrate or do any work. The day of my MATH 231 examination, approximately 2 hours before the exam started, I experienced these symptoms from what I may have eaten right before which continued into during the exam. These symptoms made it almost impossible to write the exam at the level at which I believe that I could have, and I believe is the reason I did poorly and achieved the mark I did in the class. After the exam, it was too late that same day to see a doctor and I had to study for my next exam. These events did not affect any other classes since they are limited in time and I was able to recover to study for my only other exam after the event. To me studying was the most important thing I could do since I already had reported these events to Student Wellness Services and was in the process of getting a referral to an allergist.
My plan for academic success to ensure this does not happen again was already in place before this event occurred. I had an appointment with a medical resident at Student Health Services on November 28th where I described these symptoms to a professional who referred me to a local adult allergist, Dr. E. Tsai in Kingston ON. Student Wellness Services said the appointment would occur sometime early in the New Year. I believe my problems regarding allergies, with help from an allergist in Kingston, Ontario, can be determined and help mitigate the issues by clarifying which foods cause the problems and therefore prevent events like this from ever occurring again. I propose to use this support to make sure that my academic goals are unhindered by my medical condition and I can move forward and have success in all my studies.
Sincerely,
Xavier McMaster ¿¿ Hubner
¿¿ Contact Information: Dr. Gerstner: Telephone: (204) 255-7650 Dr. Wade Watson: Telephone: 902-470-6554 Dr. Ellie Tsai: Telephone: 613-546-6673