Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Appeal Letter: Good afternoon,

I'm reaching out in hopes that this appeal does not fall past the 21-day deadline--unfortunately, I was out of town for much of the 21 days and did not have access to a computer. During the days in which I was present, I was both 1) in the process of trying to contact Dr. Jill Atkinson to discuss her decision-making rationale and to further speak towards my appeal, as she had felt that some information was still missing that I was more than happy to provide. My efforts were met with a suggestion to appeal further. 2) I was in the process of preparing the strongest argument for this level of appeal, which meant booking counseling appointments and academic advisement, which aren't always free even first thing in the morning. These factors created delays in submitting this appeal as soon as I had wished to. I'm hoping that this appeal will be accepted.

My goal with this appeal is to be granted an IN grade for the following courses: PHIL 318, PHIL 330, PHIL 256, and PHIL 410. This is so that I can submit my outstanding coursework, so that I may meet my requirements to graduate with Honours. To reiterate the circumstances laid out in my previous letter of appeal, I was diagnosed with IBS-D in the Summer of 2019. The nature of my disability, unmitigated, is that I experience intense periods of intestinal discomfort, always accompanied by frequent bouts of diarrhea, averaging around three to eight lengthy and deeply uncomfortable bowel movements on a daily basis. The presence of such a constant and painful disability had cascading effects on my mental health. I experience anxiety during flare-ups, which intensify in circumstances where I am separated from a bathroom for extended periods of time, or during periods of elevated stress levels. The IBS medication I was provided with had only worsened my symptoms such that I was frequently unable to control the occurrences of my bowel movements, and I eventually stopped taking the prescribed medication with my gastroenterologist's approval because of this. As a result of my frequent and failed attempts to overcome my disability, combined with feelings of burnout as I would overexert myself beyond what was healthy and manageable, I began to experience intense depression, resignation, and periods of avoidance from Fall 2019 until the end of Winter 2021.

I will now describe the manner in which these extenuating circumstances negatively affected my ability to meet academic requirements. It was difficult to regularly attend lectures and seminars, either on time or at all, and I would need to step away from many of the lectures and seminars that I had managed to attend. I would have issues focusing whenever experiencing a flare-up, and would often find myself experiencing flare-ups when working on an assignment or leading up to a test or exam. I would often become avoidant of these sources of stress as they would often worsen already unbearable symptoms, for example: if I have too many bowel movements in a day, the area becomes very sensitive to bleeding, and as a result, infection. This was a daily occurrence when I was dealing with unmitigated IBS during a full course-load term--but I had (and still have) ambitions to attend law school, so I would push through whenever I could, despite the mental and physical anguish I would experience. This interplay played a large part in the aforementioned cascading effects on my mental health, only accelerating feelings of burnout, and during periods of great resistance, depression.

I sought help and accommodation throughout this process, by interacting with my GI doctor as much as I could (which wasn't very often, due to the beginning of the pandemic), and by keeping in touch with a counselor at Student Wellness Services (Hannah Peck at the time, but since she left, Solida Hoogendam). On top of this, I had also sometimes attended academic advising, where I was recommended to sign up with QSAS (which I did, later) and to submit a request for Academic Consideration, which was granted. The academic consideration was to submit the outstanding coursework for PHIL318, 330, 410, and 256. I was unable to meet these arrangements in part due to my overexertion during the Winter 2020 term and the ensuing burnout it caused, the beginning of the pandemic, as well as feelings of depression, resignation, intense anxiousness, and avoidance. I didn't drop these courses because it was very important to me to complete that year, as it had all the courses I needed to graduate. It wasn't an option, especially when I had come so close to completing it despite my disability existing entirely unmitigated. I still believed until the day I saw the IN switch to F that I was still going to submit those outstanding assignments. I still intend to, should this appeal be granted.

The reason why I feel so strongly that this time is different is that I've made incredibly reassuring progress towards managing my IBS, and it's done wonders for my mental health to now have strategies and established routines that can reduce the frequency and intensity of my flare-ups. I can't understate how deeply liberating it feels, after years of depression and feeling as though I'd been locked away from my dreams and aspirations because of my disability. To paraphrase my gastroenterologist during our last check-up, I've 99% cured my IBS by myself. I've done so through the careful avoidance of foods that cause flare-ups, through the daily consumption of raw psyllium fiber husks and probiotic supplements. As a result, I may experience one flare-up a week, and it's maybe limited to one or two bowel movements within that day. It's been sincerely exhilarating to feel healthy, consistently, since April 2021. I look back to my experience of my unmitigated IBS symptoms with regret and sadness. I want to make good on the arrangements I had made, so that I can still graduate with Honours.

I was surprised to find that my appeal to the associate dean was denied, apart from one course, which was granted on the basis of the generosity of that course instructor. I had wished to speak to her personally to determine whether that meant that the other course instructors expressed an unwillingness to accept the coursework. I had received an email during the appeal process (prior to the decision) from Dr. Lisa Guenther, the course instructor for a course that was denied in the appeal, expressing her willingness to accept the remaining assignment. I was confused as it seemed as though there was a discrepancy in why some courses were declined while Practical Ethics, instructed by Dr. Meena Krishnamurthy, was granted. Beyond the issue of generosity, I presented my case in the hopes that the clear presentation of extenuating circumstances--corroborated by my history of counseling appointments with Hannah Peck, Solida Hoogendam and her letter of support--affected my ability to meet academic requirements to the extent that would constitute more than enough to grant this appeal.

I apologize for the length of the appeal letter, I was unsure on whether I should reiterate what was covered in the initial appeal letter.