Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Appeal Letter: Dear Board of Studies,

I am appealing the Associate Dean??s decision to deny my appeal to drop the following courses: Winter 2019 (CISC 101 and CISC 121), Fall 2020 (PSYC 473, PHIL 343, LLCU 354, and BMED 270), and Winter 2021 (PSYC 320 and BMED 270) after the academic deadline.

As outlined in the Associate Dean??s decision letter, the Winter 2019 courses (CISC 101 and CISC 121), my grandfather on my mother??s side passed away Friday, April 19, 2019, in Poland. I found out the evening before I was to write the exams for those courses through multiple phone calls from my mother. Due to the circumstances, I am unable to attain a death certificate or obituary, however, attached are screenshots during the following days of texts messages between my mother and I providing evidence of the death and impact it had on my ability to succeed.

Additionally, as outlined in the Associate Dean??s decision letter, the Fall 2020 courses (2020 (PSYC 473, PHIL 343, LLCU 354, and BMED 270), my other grandfather, on my father??s side, passed away on Monday, November 23, 2020, in Toronto. Although my appeal to the Associate Dean including the obituary, I recognize that the year was not included and may have led to a misunderstanding. I have added additional documentation to show that the date of his passing was as stated before.

Lastly, as outlined in the Associate Dean??s decision letter, the Winter 2021 courses (PSYC 320 and BMED 270), I was unable to provide documentation related to the migraines I reported at the beginning of the semester and that this part of the appeal was denied because I still chose to write the exams rather than request a deferral. I have added the documentation from my emergency visit to the hospital. Otherwise, with reference to the exams, I did request a referral and submit a request for Academic Consideration to which I was granted a consideration on April 13, 2021. The professor for BMED 270, in an email stated after having received my request that I should consider an academic appeal rather than working with me to find a way to complete any remaining assignments I had due. Moreover, this semester was a challenging time, from the start. The timeline of that semester is as follows: extreme migraines, multiple infections on my wisdom tooth, and a wisdom teeth extraction surgery at the very end of the semester, as well as discovering infidelity in my relationship at the time. Through this, and the conversations I had with my professors, I was under the impression that in order to get a chance at succeeding I would have to write the exams regardless of the state I was in, which in retrospect was not a good idea.

Best regards,

Michelle Pakulski
20021540