Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: My name is Omar Maliyar and I am writing this with regards to 2 matters. The first being an option suggested by professor Ian Cromb for my ECON 255 (Winter 2019) class to be given a CR standing. The second being my unfamiliarity with the appeal process in my second year, where I was forced to suffer from extenuating circumstances beyond my control which affected my academics without knowing such alternatives existed. In seeking such justice, I ask that my grades from second year of second semester (Winter 2018) be removed from my transcript. The matter involving my Winter 2018 grades is not something new I am discussing but is in relation to evidence that was well-documented by the university, and had already been approved by the university in relation to another student¿¿s successful appeal that I was a part of.
With regards to my first concern, at the start of this Winter 2019 semester, a traumatizing event occurred where I severely dislocated my shoulder in a rock-climbing accident. I had full grip of a rock on my right arm as I lost grip of both my legs in mid-air, pressing the bone farther and farther out of my socket like no other shoulder dislocation. Unlike most dislocations, I was given narcotics due to the level of its severity where relocation of the shoulder almost never would entail such treatment. I was told to wear a sling for up to 4 weeks given the circumstance of the injury and since it was my dominant writing hand, this greatly affected my academics. This happened at the very end of week one as I was enrolled in ECON 351, ECON 255, ECON 332, ECON 348, and ENIN 140. Unfortunately, none of the classes were able to provide a volunteer note-taker but my ECON 255 and ECON 348 professors were the most helpful. ECON 332, ECON 348, and ENIN 140 relied more so on listening to what the professor had to say and simply involved reading (which was fine with me). However, ECON 351 and ECON 255 heavily relied on solving practice problems in the textbooks and writing solutions to the practice problems to develop a better understanding of the math by repeated practice. This was the academic area I was not able to catch-up in as I was not able to write for almost a month. I really tried to rely on just reading the lecture slides and assume I developed an understanding of the concepts by doing this. But when the problems were similar to those in the textbook, I was unable to solve them due to the fact that I was unable to practice the questions by simply basing it off intuition from the classes¿¿ slides. This put me at a disadvantage compared to other students that were able to practice the textbook questions and practice problems outside of the classroom which constituted much of what was on the midterm for ECON 255. It was for this reason that I would have ideally wanted to drop both ECON 255 and ECON 351 but was forced to drop only one at the least (ECON 351) as I needed to ensure I meet the credits for my degree plan in time. Otherwise I would have opted to not take ECON 255 this semester as I knew it would put me at a disadvantage with the amount of practice that would be involved. It was only at the end of week five where I slowly started writing again, but this only gave me less than 2 weeks to practice all those textbook questions in time for the midterm while preparing for 3 other midterms at the same time. For the first 2 assignments in the course, my friend was kind enough to write down the solutions I would tell him. I only started writing once the third assignment was due. The assignments were relatively the same as the material from the slides, but the material on the midterm was more challenging for someone who could not practice the textbook questions. This explained how I did better on assignments but substantially worse on the midterm. With my midterm mark being the reason I was significantly brought down and placed at a disadvantage relative to my other classes and my peers. In terms of the final, I will admit that it was more challenging even though that was expected to be the case and I¿¿m sure many other students also found it difficult. I studied much more holistically for it, but my performance on the final is something I would take the fault for, but the result I obtained on the midterm of 39 where the class average was an 80 is extremely unfair for what I had to cope with. Given that I did still passed the class, all I ask is that I be given a CR credit standing in my ECON 255 class as a result of my extenuating circumstances that caused this disadvantage. For the purposes of proof, I am more than glad to provide medical documentation of my injury with this letter.
My second concern stems from an incident that received approval for Adam Hassan¿¿s appeal last year which came from the struggles I endured as well. Although the topic of discussion was over Adam Hassan being readmitted into Queens¿¿ University, I followed through by also stating the truth which was that one of our housemates, Usaid Razakazee, was losing his mental state and wanted to harm us. Following up with the letter I sent the University to back Adam¿¿s claim last year, I also went through the paranoia of living with an individual who had more hatred and aggression towards me than Adam. Usaid stated that he wanted to kill me on multiple occasions and that he hated who I was, so having to live with someone like that who was just across from your room had a very severe impact on my education. For weeks I would sleep at my girlfriend¿¿s home as a result of this paranoia and feared that something worse would happen to me if I went to my classes, so any class that I shared with Usaid I really tried to avoid for my own sake. In fact on January 10th of 2018, I had to visit KGH Hospital because of the severe stress I was dealing with in regards to this matter and it was noted on medical records that I had poor blood circulation. I was losing hair and I was eating less food given my mental state and sense of isolation in this matter. This was not a matter I could bring to the police as there was no proof or anything they could do if I did, nor could I tell my parents about it and make them even more concerned about a matter they were so far away they could not do anything about. So I want you to know this was something I had to deal with on my own and it¿¿s extremely unfair that it had to be reflected on my GPA. I¿¿m not an individual who enjoys to play the victim and have to mention this all, but for the sake of my GPA and for the paranoia I endured, I think its only fair that my second semester marks of second year (Winter 2018) be removed. All of these events were fully documented when the Kingston Police arrested Usaid when he was calling people to say ¿¿you are going to die¿ while at midnight by the lake and the students receiving the calls called the Kingston Police. This was also followed up by the Kingston Police taking him to Kingston General Hospital where it was proven that Usaid was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder and his chronic use of marijuana was stated to drive his aggression further. Marijuana was also the lowest of the drugs he was taking, he took many others throughout his second semester which we could not control. These were honestly the worse days of my life as there were no options for me to take and I lived in a state of perpetual fear. I would constantly try to focus on my academics but I never could because I grew more and more paranoid by the day which reflected on my academic performance. Proof of Usaid¿¿s mental state is available with the Kingston police and KGH Hospital if you choose to look into this ¿¿ just as I suggested last year which led you granting Adam Hassan¿¿s appeal. These were the same grounds which got Adam Hassan back into Queens University and although I will say I was affected more, I will also attach a copy of the letter the university approved in Adam¿¿s appeal to which I wrote explaining all this. I was originally unaware that there was an option to have my grades for that semester removed until I spoke to an academic advisor recently. I think it would have been initially fair if the University had responded back to me about this stating options that would have been available with regards to these extenuating circumstances affecting my academic performance, but that never happened. Not until I had spoken to an academic advisor about the matter and how I am stuck with those grades being reflected on my transcript. I would not be bringing this matter to you unless I felt extremely robbed of my mental state at a time where I needed mental clarity the most to excel in my classes. Had I been familiar with the appeal process at the time this all unfolded, I would have certainly done so then but I thought that this was something I would be stuck with. This also is not new information I¿¿m bringing up out of nowhere although it is a matter from less than a year ago, but is a solution I am presenting which is justified and equitable where the University should have stepped in to discuss the well-being of the other parties involved, but chose to turn a blind eye at the time these letters were received. Instead just granting the appeal of Adam Hassan and moving on as so, being more convenient for the school. This is in part actively choosing to disregard the mental well-being of myself although I explained in detail the paranoia I was going through in that semester. Although it would have been better for me to drop all my classes and take the time to be on my own and away from Kingston, the fear of not getting out of academic probation was worse. I would have wanted to get out of academic probation if anything and then try to transfer to a different university back in Toronto where my family resides. Even if I was not going to be living with Usaid the year after, even knowing he¿¿d still be studying in the same library as me and living in the same city where I would run into him, that my paranoid fears would only continue. Which was the only reason I was forced to follow through with all this. Luckily when I was put back on good academic standing at the end of the year, Usaid¿¿s parents reassured me that he would be leaving Kingston for good and not returning. Which is what kept me inclined to stay at Queens University and follow through with the degree I dreamed on completing when I came here in the first place. All I ask is that my grades from second year second semester (Winter 2018) just be removed from my transcript as they were not a reflection of my normal state of mind. Except for MATH 126 which I severely need the credentials for in order to take the rest of my ECON requirements. I do not think that anyone would have been able to cope with what I was forced under with no one to help, so I hope you can sympathize with these unfortunate circumstances. The letter I am attaching I wrote from last year is the same letter that is already in your archives when this problem was originally brought up in case you think any of it was altered.