Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Appeal Letter: Dear Board of Studies,

I am appealing the Associate Dean??s decision to deny my appeal (7438) for Credit Standing in BCHM 310 (FW 2018/2019).

Firstly, please consider the following explanation regarding why I was unable to appeal to the Board of Studies by the 21-day deadline. I received my first level appeal decision on April 5th, 2021 and my secondary appeal deadline was April 26th, 2021. While working with my health care provider for documentation to support my secondary appeal I unfortunately experienced severe degeneration of my physical health. This resulted in a severe recurrence and exacerbation of my previous psychological illness as described in my original appeal letter. Unfortunately, at that time my degeneration in health resulted in severe personal injury involving multiple fractures that took place in mid-April, which eventually necessitated hospital admission. This injury is well documented with my family physician and an off-campus physician's note will be provided in support of this. Furthermore, I am now re-devoted to addressing my secondary appeal and providing my letter with the necessary additional information and documentation.

My decision letter states that in order to have received a Credit Standing in BCHM 310 I must have received a grade substantially lower than what I might have received due to extenuating circumstances that are well documented. In addition to providing additional supporting documentation, in this secondary appeal, I hope to elaborate on and clarify the extenuating circumstances I experienced around the time of writing the final exam for this course in fall 2020. At the time of fall 2020, I was coming off a recovery period following severe physical and mental illness experienced earlier in 2020. Unfortunately, the resumption of a full academic schedule on top of preparing for the final exam for BCHM 310 was premature and resulted in a reoccurrence of illness as experienced earlier in the year. My decision letter states that I was accommodated appropriately during the regular session of the course, however, I believe the major interruptions I experienced leading up to and during the final exam on October 7th significantly affected the overall outcome of the course. Unfortunately, leading up to the exam around October 4th I became progressively ill and at the time of completing the exam, I was acutely ill. I did not have the option to defer it further, as communicated to me by the course organizers. This resulted in me needing to leave the exam to go to the restroom due to illness which resulted in me not being able to complete the exam. This had detrimental effects on my exam mark and dropped my grade meaningfully in the course. These events are supported by my current counsellor Dr. Khanna, whom I was in communicating with at the time, with documentation.

Moreover, I believe that the circumstances under which I took the exam prevented me from performing according to the trends I displayed through the 2018/2019 term, resulting in a meaningfully reduced grade. Due to the high weight of BCHM 310 (9.0) this also has a major impact on my overall academic standing. I am appealing to the Board of Studies to consider the extenuating circumstances that have caused this major upset. I look forward to the chance to further discussing my circumstance with the Board.

Thank you for taking the time to address my letter.

Best regards,

Osarumwense Brenda Omoruna