Manage Appeals
Petition Type: New
ID: 6932
Submitted: September 9, 2020 at 9:45:34 AM
First Name: Anna
Last Name: Anbalagan
Student Number: 20033758
Email: 16asa@queensu.ca
Degree Program: BAH
Plan: Medial in ENVS and GNDS
Level of Study: 4
Petition Categories
Petition Categories: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Appeal Category Detail: Late Withdrawal
Code: ENSC 502
Term: Fall/Winter
Year: 2020
Petition Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Petition Letter
Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean (Academic),
The Request:
I am writing to appeal for a late withdrawal from ENSC 502/12.0 (Fall 2019/Winter 2020; hereon ¿¿undergraduate thesis¿) without academic penalty. I had requested an ¿¿Incomplete¿ (IN) in order to complete course requirements over the Summer 2020 term, but as a result of new extenuating circumstances that have exacerbated ongoing/existing ones, I can no longer fulfil the requirements for this course.
Explanation of Extenuating Circumstances:
My extenuating circumstances began in late October 2019 and affected my capacity to complete work on time. These circumstances included ongoing domestic/family problems (which I had been seeking counselling for at Student Wellness since February 2019) and delays/changes in the research project my undergraduate thesis was attached to. Due to unforeseen delays in the research project¿¿s ethics review process, I was expected to change topic/scope multiple times, which affected my ability to make progress on course requirements. While the research project officially launched in late September 2019 and had GREB approval, the research team also sought approval from the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centre¿¿s (OFIFC) Research Ethics Committee. This was a relatively new and involved process that our research team had no previous experience with. Seeking OFIFC approval made it such that the research project was only likely to move forward in February 2020. Eventually, the OFIFC Research Ethics Committee conditionally approved the project at the end of March 2020.
On top of ongoing family/domestic problems, this ¿¿unusual academic event¿ outside both mine and my supervisor¿¿s control led me to have periodic episodes where I was unable to care for my basic needs and meet academic responsibilities throughout the end of the Fall 2019 term and into the Winter 2020 term. Due to these circumstances¿¿ impacts on my well-being and academic progress, with my supervisor¿¿s full support and permission of my course instructor, I was granted deadline extensions for my undergraduate thesis¿¿s Fall 2019 course requirements into the following Winter 2020 term. At that time (late November), I also asked for and was granted deadline extensions for three other courses to complete their remaining requirements.
As the delays/changes to the overarching research project that my undergraduate thesis was attached to continued into the Winter 2020 term, with my supervisor¿¿s full support and permission of my course instructor, I requested an ¿¿Incomplete¿ (IN) to complete my undergraduate thesis during the Summer 2020 term. This decision was made before COVID-19 public health safety measures were put in place in Ontario and at Queen¿¿s in mid-March 2020. At that time (early March), my supervisor and I agreed that I ought to focus on my two other courses and return to working on my thesis after completing their requirements.
In light of COVID-19, my two other courses¿¿ remaining requirements were largely unaffected, and I was able to complete them with the help of deadline extensions (an option provided by the course instructors to all students in light of COVID-19). However, COVID-19 served as another ¿¿unusual academic event¿ for my undergraduate thesis since the research project I was working under had to be paused to comply with public health safety measures. I was switched over to a related yet different research project and had to rework my thesis topic once again.
On top of that, new circumstances/issues related to gender identity that began in May 2020 exacerbated existing/ongoing circumstances related to family/domestic problems, and also made the research personally triggering given that its focus is gender-based issues. Lacking the capacity to deal with the onset of these new issues on top of the existing/ongoing ones that it exacerbated, as well as COVID-19 exacerbating existing/ongoing issues relating to family/domestic problems, academic progress, financial security, and feelings of isolation, I was severely mentally and physically unwell for the majority of the Summer 2020 term. From June to August 2020, I was out of communication with friends/family, my thesis supervisor and lab, and my counsellor due to how severely these issues affected my ability to take care of my basic needs.
In early August, due to wellness checks by my supervisor, the Faculty of Arts and Science, and Student Affairs, I began to get in touch with an academic advisor and counsellors at Student Wellness (both my ongoing one and a new one) to begin to manage my circumstances. With their help, I am currently making personal adjustments and alternate arrangements to complete my degree requirements. Please see these outlined in my ¿¿Academic Plan.¿ As a student with a track-record of high academic performance at Queen¿¿s, I believe that the personal adjustments and alternate arrangements I am making will allow me to achieve my academic goal of graduating by Spring 2021.
Sincerely,
Anna Anbalagan
The Request:
I am writing to appeal for a late withdrawal from ENSC 502/12.0 (Fall 2019/Winter 2020; hereon ¿¿undergraduate thesis¿) without academic penalty. I had requested an ¿¿Incomplete¿ (IN) in order to complete course requirements over the Summer 2020 term, but as a result of new extenuating circumstances that have exacerbated ongoing/existing ones, I can no longer fulfil the requirements for this course.
Explanation of Extenuating Circumstances:
My extenuating circumstances began in late October 2019 and affected my capacity to complete work on time. These circumstances included ongoing domestic/family problems (which I had been seeking counselling for at Student Wellness since February 2019) and delays/changes in the research project my undergraduate thesis was attached to. Due to unforeseen delays in the research project¿¿s ethics review process, I was expected to change topic/scope multiple times, which affected my ability to make progress on course requirements. While the research project officially launched in late September 2019 and had GREB approval, the research team also sought approval from the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centre¿¿s (OFIFC) Research Ethics Committee. This was a relatively new and involved process that our research team had no previous experience with. Seeking OFIFC approval made it such that the research project was only likely to move forward in February 2020. Eventually, the OFIFC Research Ethics Committee conditionally approved the project at the end of March 2020.
On top of ongoing family/domestic problems, this ¿¿unusual academic event¿ outside both mine and my supervisor¿¿s control led me to have periodic episodes where I was unable to care for my basic needs and meet academic responsibilities throughout the end of the Fall 2019 term and into the Winter 2020 term. Due to these circumstances¿¿ impacts on my well-being and academic progress, with my supervisor¿¿s full support and permission of my course instructor, I was granted deadline extensions for my undergraduate thesis¿¿s Fall 2019 course requirements into the following Winter 2020 term. At that time (late November), I also asked for and was granted deadline extensions for three other courses to complete their remaining requirements.
As the delays/changes to the overarching research project that my undergraduate thesis was attached to continued into the Winter 2020 term, with my supervisor¿¿s full support and permission of my course instructor, I requested an ¿¿Incomplete¿ (IN) to complete my undergraduate thesis during the Summer 2020 term. This decision was made before COVID-19 public health safety measures were put in place in Ontario and at Queen¿¿s in mid-March 2020. At that time (early March), my supervisor and I agreed that I ought to focus on my two other courses and return to working on my thesis after completing their requirements.
In light of COVID-19, my two other courses¿¿ remaining requirements were largely unaffected, and I was able to complete them with the help of deadline extensions (an option provided by the course instructors to all students in light of COVID-19). However, COVID-19 served as another ¿¿unusual academic event¿ for my undergraduate thesis since the research project I was working under had to be paused to comply with public health safety measures. I was switched over to a related yet different research project and had to rework my thesis topic once again.
On top of that, new circumstances/issues related to gender identity that began in May 2020 exacerbated existing/ongoing circumstances related to family/domestic problems, and also made the research personally triggering given that its focus is gender-based issues. Lacking the capacity to deal with the onset of these new issues on top of the existing/ongoing ones that it exacerbated, as well as COVID-19 exacerbating existing/ongoing issues relating to family/domestic problems, academic progress, financial security, and feelings of isolation, I was severely mentally and physically unwell for the majority of the Summer 2020 term. From June to August 2020, I was out of communication with friends/family, my thesis supervisor and lab, and my counsellor due to how severely these issues affected my ability to take care of my basic needs.
In early August, due to wellness checks by my supervisor, the Faculty of Arts and Science, and Student Affairs, I began to get in touch with an academic advisor and counsellors at Student Wellness (both my ongoing one and a new one) to begin to manage my circumstances. With their help, I am currently making personal adjustments and alternate arrangements to complete my degree requirements. Please see these outlined in my ¿¿Academic Plan.¿ As a student with a track-record of high academic performance at Queen¿¿s, I believe that the personal adjustments and alternate arrangements I am making will allow me to achieve my academic goal of graduating by Spring 2021.
Sincerely,
Anna Anbalagan
Academic Plan
Academic Plan: My academic plan involves making alternative arrangements to complete my degree requirements in order to graduate by Spring 2021. This includes weighing three options: (1) Taking ENSC 430/6.0, (2) Taking two 400-level ENSC seminar courses, or (3) Taking ENSC 501/6.0 wherein I would adopt research work I had done for ENSC 502 to a report rather than a thesis (as permitted by my Department Chair) which has far fewer requirements. I intend to continue communication with my Department, Faculty, academic advisor, personal counsellors, and supervisor to consider which of these three options would best ensure that I can complete the credits needed to graduate by Spring 2021 as well as best support my current/future academic goals (all while keeping the add/drop deadlines for the Fall 2020 term in mind).
I am also making multiple personal adjustments to help me make academic progress and follow-through on coursework. I am meeting with two counsellors on a weekly/bi-weekly basis to cope with, manage, and resolve my different extenuating circumstances. With their help, I am actively seeking out additional local and remote mental health and medical resources to assist with managing my new circumstance and the ways in which it exacerbates existing/ongoing ones. They are also helping me carefully consider whether starting fresh with either ENSC 430 or ENSC seminar courses, or continuing working on my research topic in the format of an ESNC 501 report as opposed to an undergraduate thesis would be manageable for me. If I were to go with the latter option, we are considering strategies for coping with potentially personally triggering content. As the research project I am now associated with and the thesis topic I¿¿ve been tasked with do not risk delays/changes due to COVID-19, I will be better able to mitigate any extenuating circumstances related to that if I were to go with the ENSC 501 option. I have also asked my personal support system to help keep me accountable in completing my degree requirements while I cope with, manage, and resolve my circumstances with professional support. Finally, I will be studying on a part-time basis and intend to only take courses that apply towards my degree requirements to allow me to better maximize my time spent on them.
I am also making multiple personal adjustments to help me make academic progress and follow-through on coursework. I am meeting with two counsellors on a weekly/bi-weekly basis to cope with, manage, and resolve my different extenuating circumstances. With their help, I am actively seeking out additional local and remote mental health and medical resources to assist with managing my new circumstance and the ways in which it exacerbates existing/ongoing ones. They are also helping me carefully consider whether starting fresh with either ENSC 430 or ENSC seminar courses, or continuing working on my research topic in the format of an ESNC 501 report as opposed to an undergraduate thesis would be manageable for me. If I were to go with the latter option, we are considering strategies for coping with potentially personally triggering content. As the research project I am now associated with and the thesis topic I¿¿ve been tasked with do not risk delays/changes due to COVID-19, I will be better able to mitigate any extenuating circumstances related to that if I were to go with the ENSC 501 option. I have also asked my personal support system to help keep me accountable in completing my degree requirements while I cope with, manage, and resolve my circumstances with professional support. Finally, I will be studying on a part-time basis and intend to only take courses that apply towards my degree requirements to allow me to better maximize my time spent on them.
Documentation
Professional Letter Detail: A letter from Dr. Arunima Khanna will be provided as supporting documentation after September 10th, 2020.