Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: I am asking to drop CHEM 281 and ENGL 290 from the 2019 fall term. In September I discovered that I would not be covered by OSAP for my living expenses (food, etc.) so I went days without eating and my priority was to figure out how to cover my necessities. I also received an eviction notice (in September) and couldn't pay my rent. I managed to connect with the Swipe It Forward Program but the stress this caused, induced my seizure disorder. The seizures were worse this time - I would get multiple seizures in a day and I would have to be admitted to the hospital which would sometimes take 4 days to recover. Sometimes my seizures would last 21-26 hours and I would have to check what day is was. As a result, I ended up missing 2 weeks from school because I was hospitalized and my doctor told me to take a break from school from November 11 to 25. Essays and quizzes were all pushed back and this didn't leave me enough time to get the work done and prepare for exams.

During the CHEM midterm, I had a seizure and the proctor transcribed my answers on the scantron sheet. I could not check to make sure the answers were transcribes properly so I couldn't confirm my answers before the paper was submitted. As a result, I failed this class. I could not speak with my CHEM instructor (John Carran) because I was worried that I would have a seizure, due the stress these interactions caused, I was not comfortable asking him about my accommodation needs and felt that he was annoyed and frustrated with me and I caused him a problem by being in the class. I didn't feel that I could ask him for help and receive any help. I didn't feel comfortable working with my QSAS advisor either. It felt like she gave up on me. In terms of my ENGL classes, I fell behind in those classes because I was trying to stay caught up in CHEM and deal with food insecurity. My phone and internet were cut off so I couldn't work from home and I couldn't contact anyone for support so I had to rely on using the library when it was open.

I found out my exam dates only on the day before the exams so I didn't have time to properly prepare. I thought that I couldn't write until my OSAP was cleared so I wasn't sure when I was allowed to write them. My QSAS Advisor emailed me with incorrect dates so I wasn't clear on the dates.

I am not asking to drop ENGL 284 because I am hoping to complete this class. The same day I was to write this exam, I heard from my ENGL 290 professor who told me he had to assign me a failing exam grade in ENGL 290. My CHEM 281 exam was worth 100 of my final mark, which also stressed me out. I attempted to write the ENGL 284 exam but I couldn't because I was distracted and felt hopeless by that point. My mind went blank so I went to the proctor and she knew that something was wrong. The Proctors called Lindsay Winger and Campus Security and they helped me to make the decision to not continue writing the exam and I went to KGH and was admitted.