Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean (Academic),

The Request:
I am writing to appeal the final grade for POLS 483 (Winter, 2021).

Explanation of Extenuating Circumstances:
Due to extenuating circumstances which became impactful this semester, for reasons I do not wish to disclose, my organization skills suffered resulting in my failure of a course, despite proving I had learned a sufficient amount of the required course material. Part of my submitted work was not marked as it appears that submitting it in the original assignment dropbox was not sufficient. The assignment has been on onQ since before the deadline for marking had occurred and while there may have been a reminder communicated to submit in more than one area, due to my circumstances I was unaware of this, and as such the assignment was marked as a 0. Further, I missed a live component of the course and reached out regarding the situation and was told I would have the chance to make up this missing grade. While I should have followed up on this and will take full responsibility for this mishap, the course instructor had been made aware at multiple points that I had been involved in a difficult situation and that I had academic accommodations to ease such burdens. I have reached out to the instructor for this course regarding this matter and she recommended that I appeal it and has let me know that she is available to provide assistance if need be.
I spoke with professors directly as well as dealt with a personal counsellor for a number of weeks to attempt to prevent the circumstance from hindering any of my grades. As such, this is the only course I am appealing because the course components I had completed were more straight forward to submit and assignments I could not complete in a live setting were reweighted accordingly. Further, I have been in contact with Barb Lotan throughout the semester seeking advice and resources to be able to continue with my studies as planned. As the circumstance escalated this March, I did not have accommodations prior to this and submitted assignments as I was required. In no way did this event become an issue this semester, but it became an issue I had taken steps to deal with in a meaningful way and as such from March 2021 onwards my academic requirements became much more difficult to meet. The nature of some activities occurring synchronously made it more difficult to achieve academic success as my mental health had suffered and my anxiety had become debilitating, resulting in the inability to follow any specific schedule.
Now that the situation has become more resolved and I am in a place where I can take more steps on my own to prevent the circumstance from further interfering in my life, I would appreciate the consideration for this appeal to be granted so that I can graduate and continue with my post grad as planned. The situation nearly derailed my undergraduate journey on more than one occasion, and because I have submitted 75 of the course weighting, as well as provided reasoning on the missed assignment, I would be grateful to have the failing grade reconsidered in hopes of moving past this difficult situation.

Thank you for your consideration,

Sinead Duignan