Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: February 4, 2020

Dear Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies,

I am appealing to the Faculty of Arts and Science for credit standing in MATH 121 (Fall/Winter 2018/19) and PSYC 100 (Summer 2019).

During the winter semester, my grandmother became highly symptomatic with Lewy body dementia, a form of Parkinson¿¿s which affects both the brain and the body. It was at this time that she was admitted into a full-time care home (The Village of Glendale Crossing) and her health rapidly deteriorated. Her condition continued to worsen until she died on May 21, 2019. I then attended her funeral on May 28, 2019 and remained with my family for some time afterwards. I had to travel from my hometown of Port Moody BC to be with my family in London ON. While I was there I was both emotionally and physically unable to study and complete all of my homework, causing my grades to rapidly decline.

By the time my grandmother¿¿s condition became dire, it was winter semester, and MATH 121 ¿¿ being a full year course ¿¿ was unable to be dropped. In all of my courses, I stopped doing homework and readings and pretty much only attended lectures. Unfortunately, Math was an online course with no in class components; no lectures. This caused me to almost entirely neglect my studies and I ended up doing terribly on my winter semester tests. Having attended the lectures in my other courses, I was able to pass the exams with a decent grade, regrettably though, not with marks as high as I would have hoped.

In summer semester my grandmother¿¿s condition worsened again, and she ended up passing away. Looking back on it now, I should have considered dropping PSYC 100 more thoroughly. At the time, however, I was planning on taking other PSYC courses (as I did this year), which I needed PSYC 100 for. To me, it seemed like not completing PSYC 100 would have put me too many PSYC credits behind, as I am a projected BIO-PSYC major. Thinking this the best decision for me, I remained in the course but was already extremely behind and was unable to fully catch up.

The circumstance should be now resolved, and any further courses should not be affected. Having visited with my family and attended my grandmother¿¿s funeral, most of the extreme sadness is behind me and I am able to move on with my studies and focus again on school and all other aspects of my life that I put on hold.

Thank you for considering my appeal and allowing me the opportunity to explain myself and my poor academic performance. My grandmother and I had always been very close, as a kid I grew up just down the street from her. She taught me how to play piano and used to read to me every night. Loosing her was a shock, and something I could not prepare for in my studies.

Thank you again,
Denver Gray