Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Carter B. Smith
69 Saint Edmunds Drive
Toronto, ON M4N 2P8

September 3, 2019

Associate Dean (Studies)
94 University Avenue
Kingston, ON K7L 3N6

Dear Associate Dean,

I am writing you this letter to appeal to drop two courses (MUSC 171 and FILM 260) after the academic deadline. These courses took place over the July-August Session of the 2019 Summer Term. In this letter, I aim to provide an accurate account of extenuating circumstances I experienced over the relevant time period and how these circumstances affected my ability to reasonably meet the deadline to drop the courses.

I have a mental health disability that affects every aspect of my life and necessitates that I work a lot harder than I otherwise would to achieve my goals. Despite these challenges, I am dedicated to furthering my personal development. I am proud to say that I am close to completing my undergraduate degree (approximately 6.0 units away). This is a process which has taken me more than six-years, at two different universities.

In June of 2019, in an attempt to fulfill half of the remaining 6.0 units of electives required to complete my degree, I decided I would attempt to enroll in a course over the summer term. I only intended to enroll in one course. I was hoping to enroll in FILM 260, a course I was very interested in. Unfortunately, at this point, the course was completely full, and the waitlist was also full. I contacted the instructor and was told that when the course actually started in July, there would likely be movement on the waitlist. At some point, I guess I also had attempted to enroll in a second course, MUSC 171, but this was intended to be a backup in case I didn't get into FILM 260.

I ended up getting into FILM 260 off the waitlist at the end of the second week of the course. By this time there was already a lot to catch up on but at this time I felt this would be possible. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that I had also been enrolled in MUSC 171, I had forgotten about it, something that can occasionally happen as a result of my mental health disability. I did eventually realize that I was enrolled in two courses not one and believe with the benefit of hindsight that this was within 24-hours of the deadline to drop without an academic penalty. However, at this point, in part due to stress-related to my situation, I started to experience an episode of issues related to my mental health disability. These complications prevented me from thinking clearly about my situation and I became very anxious and made decisions that did not make sense and were not in my best interest. I had thought that if I applied for a Personal Interest Credit (PIC) for MUSC 171, I might be able to catch up and at least get a passing grade. This would have been impossible at this point. Similarly, this same episode of issues related to my mental health disability prevented me from staying on top of and completing coursework in both courses. Over a period of a few weeks, I lost motivation and was very overwhelmed. I had a very hard time prioritizing and figuring out what to do. I realize now, with the benefit of hindsight, that I should have dropped both courses at the first sign I was struggling. This was just not something that was clear to me at that time.

Ultimately, I completed none of the coursework in MUSC 171. I did complete the majority of the coursework in FILM 260, however, the final assignments contributed a lot to the final grade in this course and so I did not pass.

Enclosed with my appeal is supporting documentation from a medical professional that corroborates the authenticity of these extenuating circumstances. This specific documentation was requested in relation to a different appeal concerning a different period of time, so it may not specifically the time period relevant to this appeal in sufficient detail. However, given the nature of these particular extenuating circumstances, the documentation makes it clear that this is an issue that is episodic and recurring. I am in the process of obtaining additional documentation that verifies that these extenuating circumstances recur episodically up to and including the period in which I was enrolled in the courses in this appeal. I will provide this documentation to your office as soon as possible.

I acknowledge that the appeal system is not designed to compensate for chronic or ongoing circumstances. I understand the reasons for that policy. However, in my experience, academic accommodations cannot always equitably accommodate for disabilities that while chronic, are also episodic and can be suddenly much more detrimental to performance in an academic environment.

I am committed to fully utilizing all available resources to ensure I am successful in completing the remaining units of my degree. This experience has made me better equipped to deal with the challenges of being a student while also managing my mental health. I am becoming better at identifying when I am struggling and need help now. I plan to complete the units of my degree online this summer which also means I can be at home where I am able to be supported by my family. I also plan to speak to Student Wellness Services about adjusting my academic accommodations as my needs have changed since my accommodations were originally put into place.

Thank you for your consideration.

Carter Smith