Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean,

(a) The Request:

I am writing to appeal an instructor's decision regarding the grading of term work in the course PHYS 453 (Winter, 2021). There has been a 50 penalty applied to two lab reports that I submitted late due to extenuating circumstances. This has resulted in a deduction of 21.26 from my percentage grade, resulting in a final letter grade of C+. I am requesting to have the application of the lab report late penalty reviewed. Should such a review extend beyond the scope of this appeal, I request that the application of a Credit Standing status be considered for this course.

(b) Explanation of Extenuating Circumstances:

The extenuating circumstance in question is a chronic mental health illness for which I have been registered with Queen's Student Accessibility Services (QSAS) since 2017. This illness is typically manageable; however, it became a serious issue in mid-January of 2021. My techniques for maintaining my mental health have been taxed since the onset of Covid-19 lockdowns starting March 2020. Therefore, I attribute my decline in ability to manage my mental well-being to the stress and fatigue associated with this lifestyle change compounding with my illness. In other words, the situation became too much for me and my support systems to handle. Additionally, the Covid-19 pandemic has directly limited the use of the previously successful methods of maintaining my mental health. This period of severe mental illness continued throughout the Winter semester, and, now in May, my situation is slowly beginning to improve.

This significant decline in my mental health caused disruptions in my eating, sleep schedule, and ability to concentrate. Furthermore, the amount of time I dedicated to managing my mental health increased, all the while the amount of effort required to do so increased. Overall, these effects reduced my ability to complete course work.

I have taken the following steps to deal with this situation: (1) discussing this issue with several of my instructors as the need for extensions became apparent; (2) reaching out to friends and family for guidance and support; and (3) consulting with my family physician to ensure things do not become totally incapacitating.

I have discussed my accommodations and the late penalty with the course instructor, Professor Kenneth Clark, and we have agreed that the appeals process is the most appropriate manner of resolving this issue. However, during our discussions in April, there was some miscommunication about my accommodations. I provided Professor Clark with my Letter of Accommodation (LoA) from QSAS on April 15th, but there were some misunderstandings regarding my accommodations and health situation that arose from this late LoA that resulted in the application of the penalty. Additionally, issues with the QSAS software caused the delivery of my Letter of Accommodation to be delayed by over a week.

In the past, I have appealed to drop several courses due to of my mental health circumstances. Due to this, I have developed many helpful techniques using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), and have established supports from friends and family, to ensure my academic success. These measures have proven to be very successful. Since establishing these measures, I have achieved very high marks and accepted an offer for graduate studies in physics at Queen's University. This situation is unique in that the current Covid-19 situation has applied an excessive load on my supportive measures, which notably helped me during the Fall 2020 semester. I believe the failure of these supports in the Winter semester is due to the lengthy amount of time that they were excessively stressed.

(c) Future Plan:

I currently have an excellent set of methods to manage my chronic mental health issue. The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted these methods. Therefore, my return to academic success will be possible by continuing to use the techniques of CBT and support groups I have developed over the years. Nevertheless, I will take additional measures to ensure my academic success if a similar situation arises. I plan to begin each semester of my graduate studies by providing my instructors with a copy of my LoA, whether or not I believe it will be needed. This should make things much more manageable in pursuit of my academic studies.

Sincerely,

Jeremy Favaro