Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean (Academic),

I am appealing to drop a course I took in the winter semester of 2020 past the deadline of May 20th, as outlined in the academic adjustments made in response to COVID-19. This course is POLS 280: Introduction to Women, Gender, and Politics. The reason behind my failure to drop this course prior to the deadline date is due to complete misunderstanding on my part. I had read back in March of 2020 that there were two options that students could take, request a pass/fail, or drop a course. In April after receiving marks on the last assignments, I knew that I was struggling in POLS 280 and had not done as well on these last two assignments as I had hoped for. The fact that I was under strict lockdown at home with my family, was under a lot of stress as cases in St.Kitts were rising with worry about my loved ones, and had no access to a library where I focus best, greatly impacted the strength of my focus and work ethic. However, I still had hope that I would pass the course regardless of the low marks received on these last two assignments and wanted to wait until final marks were released on SOLUS before I made a decision on whether or not it was the right choice to drop the course.
Final marks were released on SOLUS after the deadline on the 20th of May, and I soon realized that I had made the regretful mistake of remaining determined to wait until the release of final marks on SOLUS before making any decision on dropping the course. This decision unfortunately led me to miss the deadline to drop the course. I recognize that it is entirely my own mistake for not double-checking the information provided in the outlined academic adjustments and the deadlines that applied. I was under the impression that the deadline to drop a course was after the final release of marks on SOLUS. Failing this course has been an extreme disappointment and source of stress to me as I have tried much harder this past academic year to put more effort into my course work in order to achieve the higher marks that I aim for in my academic career. The mark I have received in POLS 280 contrasts greatly from the marks I have received in the other four courses I have taken in the winter semester of 2020 and was not what I expected after the hard work and time I applied to the assignments I completed. Although I have mistakenly missed the deadline to drop this course on the 20th of May, my wish to drop this course in order to prevent damage to my overall GPA remains strong. Therefore, based on these circumstances, I wish to request the late drop of POLS 280 past the academic deadline.