Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: I am appealing to drop CHEM 211 (Fall, 2014), CHEM 212 (Fall, 2014), PHAR 100 (Fall, 2014) and STAT 263 (Fall, 2014) as well as to acquire an AG standing in BIOL 205 (Fall, 2014). I have contacted my professors in advance and notified them I was making these appeals and arranged for my grades to be entered as IN. Sue Blake initially contacted them as well.

Unfortunately I became ill early on this semester and was unable to participate fully in my courses. Despite seeking healthcare attention multiple times proper diagnosis and treatment did not come until I was already too ill to leave bed or recover in time to continue my studies. Starting in September I went to the clinic for what I thought was a respiratory infection and was later prescribed antibiotics, under the assumption that I had Strep. The first round of antibiotics did not help so I returned as instructed and was prescribed a second antibiotic. At the beginning of October when my symptoms worsened while still taking the second antibiotic I returned to the clinic and was prescribed yet another antibiotic. However, antibiotics are not effective against viral infections like mononucleosis and the medications only put further stress on my body. Throughout September and October I quite often fell asleep while doing assignments and studying. I also fell asleep in many of the lectures that I was able to get myself to. This obviously affected my ability to keep on top of my course work and achieve the grades I would under normal circumstances. In mid-October I started getting migraines and severe back pain on top of the fatigue and was prescribed pain killers, which added to the tiredness and further clouded my mental process. On November 6 I was diagnosed with infectious mononucleosis and shingles and ordered to bed rest until January 4, 2015 by my physician and had to fully stop attending my labs and courses. Shortly after that I was unable to leave bed or ingest foods and more potent pain killers were prescribed to deal with the increasing amount of pain I was in. Soon after my diagnosis Queens Housing Services set my mother and I up with an apartment and I recovered until I was well enough to fly back to Alberta on the 19th of November, where I continued to rest and attend medical appointments. As a result of my bed rest I was unable to complete a midterm in CHEM 212 or attend any of my finals. Before leaving campus I met with Sue Blake, an academic adviser at the Arts and Sciences Office, to determine what my options were and come up with a course of action to put underway when I was well enough. I have been resting and recovering since.

Biology was the only course in which I had completed enough work and was structured in a way that I was able to work to get the 60 completion requirement for the AG standing. I have used what energy I have to complete and submit two more biology lab assignments that I arranged with my professor Dr. Ian Chin-Sang. This will allow me to take BIOL 206, BCHM 218 and BIOL 341. I also contacted the Chemistry department and informed them what had happened and requested that I was able to continue taking chemistry courses next semester and complete CHEM 211 and 212 at a later date. I was notified that there would be no problem in continuing taking chemistry. I plan on returning next semester to the campus and community and have a consultation appointment with my physician to determine what size of course load I should take on. My long term plan is to not put too much of a stress on my system so that I am able to recover fully from this illness and regain my former strength and energy and to take an extra semester to complete my degree. I do not want to stress my system too much as there is a possibility of a relapse occurring.