Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Jenn Stephenson - Associate Dean (Academic),


I am appealing to drop SPAN 111 and PHAR 100 due to numerous circumstances. My reasons for appealing to drop SPAN 111 is because I originally was supposed to be in FREN 118 but ended up being enrolled in SPAN 111. Unfortunately when I was enrolled into SPAN 111 I was already behind on 2 weeks of course material. I ended up trying to succeed in SPAN 111, but being behind in a language-based course with no background knowledge in Spanish made it impossible for me to catch up. I ended up having a meeting with my Prof about having extra time on course work I was behind on, I was given one week to work on 5 weeks of missed assignments and course work activities plus the work that was due during that week as well as an assignment that was due the week after. I feel that this arrangement did not provide opportunity for me to be successful due to the amount of work I would have needed to complete in one week. I was doing good but then I ended up not being able to finish all of the work on time because I wasn¿¿t understanding anything I was learning. It got to the point where my anxiety was affecting my capability of doing the work because I was very overwhelmed and I did not understand anything when putting my full effort in.

My reasoning for appealing to drop PHAR 100 is that I originally took this course last year but ended up failing the course so I wanted to try and take it again this year. With putting my full effort in this course I still wasn¿¿t able to understand all course material and when doing all assignments to my full potential I wasn¿¿t able to achieve good grades. I am also very new to university and being a second year student I was unaware of the drop deadlines and I would have dropped the course if I received feedback from my profs that I was not succeeding in this course and knew I had to drop by a specific date. It got to the point that I was feeling really overwhelmed with both these courses which caused very heightened anxiety which eventually led me to contact Lisa Doxtator (Cultural Counsellor at Four Directions Indigenous Student Centre). After meeting with Lisa Doxtator, she had then introduced me to Jessica Parks (Indigenous Advisor) who introduced me to Haley Everson (Academic Advisor) to receive support and learn about my options moving forward, at which time Haley recommended I write an academic appeal to drop these two courses.

Moving forward, I took Haley Everson¿¿s advice of enrolling in social sciences for my winter term because we both felt that these courses would best fit my learning. I also discussed with Lisa Doxtator that we will be having regular counselling appointments to keep my anxiety under control next term as well as regular advising appointments with Jessica Parks for time management and planning to also help with my next term. I will also be meeting with Haley Everson and Jessica Parks at the end of February to see how all my courses are going next term and I will be getting a tutor to help maintain my sociology course and I will be seeking other tutors for my upcoming new courses if needed thank you for your time and consideration.
Thank you,
Amanda Maracle