Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear A&C Appeals and whom it may concern,

I am filing to drop a course beyond the deadline for fall term of 2019-20 academic year. The course that I am attempting to drop is ARTH 225 with Professor Joanna Amos. My extenuating circumstances were caused by a variety of family issues including my fathers health and my grandfathers health, who passed recently, as well as some other personal instances. This required me to be out of Kingston for most of the semester to be present in family matters. Due to these matters, Professor Amos instructed me to obtain documentation (which I did, from a physician and trusted family member). However, due to the overwhelming number of issues I was facing, I did not submit my documentation for approval by the office until the end of the semester at which point they explained that they are not to review documentation for a prior semester. At this point I was missing a substantial portion of my grades for all of the participation marks that I had missed as well as in-class activities and assignments; due to my absences relating to my ongoing circumstances it became clear upon speaking with Prof. Amos and the university ombudsperson that my best decision would be to drop the course late.

ARTH 225 was an elective credit for me, not related to my major or my career plan. This course was severely impacted because at the time I had to prioritize my core courses that directly pertained to my degree and future. I was able to communicate with my other professors and achieve good grades in the rest of my courses, however due to the importance of participation and attendance in ARTH, I was not able to do the same with this course. Upon completing my fall semester, it became clear that much of my work was going to have to be done remotely so for this reason I took an online elective to accommodate my circumstances as well as a reduced winter-semester course load (4 instead of 5). I consulted my professors early in the semester to advise them of my situation and I ended the semester with near honours grades and a greater understanding of how to work around my individual situation and adversity in general. I am now taking a 6 credit elective over the summer to make up for the lost credit of my ARTH course, this elective is also online so I am able to balance family and work obligations easier and from the comfort of my home. I also plan on taking an extra semester at Queen's so as to take a lighter course load and complete my degree in a stress free manor so as to not exacerbate my anxiety and overall mental health.

I plan on pursuing my academic career with a masters degree at Queen's as well, dropping this course is imperative to my future academic career and I believe I have made progressive decisions so as to prevent this from happening again.