Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: I am writing this appeal letter in order to drop my three winter term classes. The main reason for this is the outside pressure I¿¿ve had to deal with due to Covid-19. In Fall 2020 my parents left Ontario for Newfoundland, as all of their children (four total) had finally moved out their house. The timing of the move and location choice were chosen due to Covid-19 as both of my parents are at risk due to my father¿¿s sleep apnea and my mother¿¿s cancer history. Their original plan was to stay in Ontario until everyone had graduated in order to provide a safe space and a home if needed. Due to this my sister and I decided to live together once the school year had finished, with the plan being to move in together after our exams in April. My sister held the position of Residence Life Don at Trent University in Peterborough. Throughout the year Trent University consistently put their residence employees at great health risk due to their inaction and poor communication regarding serious infractions, such as breaking public health regulations, by students living in residence. This led to my sister developing anxiety and depression with no safe space due to the nature of the job and the inability to move in with our parents . In order to help my sister as best as possible we reached out to our landlord and requested an early move-in. My sister also opted to remove herself from her Don positon and her classes in order to prioritize recovering her mental health. As her main source of support I had to plan and organize moving, insurance, internet, and furnishing as well as supporting her mental health recovery. We started the moving process on Monday, March 8th 2021 and finally finished moving in with internet and a space to work on Friday, March 26, 2021. Due to this three week gap in my ability to study, complete assignments, or watch lectures I am requesting to drop my three Winter 2021 classes with no academic penalty due to extreme mental and familial extenuating circumstances that were out of my control and consumed the bulk of my time for three weeks and severely impacted my grade potential.