Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To:
The Associate Dean (Studies)
94 University Avenue
Queen's University
Kingston, ON Canada
K7L 3N6

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing this letter because I am appealing to drop PHGY 214.
This is my first year at Queen¿¿s. Since the beginning of the school year, I have been moving into three different places. The first one was between September to November, where I was not allowed to cook I had conflict with the host. I ended up spending so much time looking for new place as well as seeking help from the Housing office to deal with the contract issue. This distracted me from reading course materials for the class on a regular bases. Additionally, I am a second language student and I found myself always require more time to read textbook than the majority of students from class. I was already behind close to the first midterm. The end of November, I moved out by myself and my friend¿¿s help. The second place was between the ends of November to February. I lived alone in December and I found out the people live upstairs of downstairs smoked pods. Occasionally, I heard crying and yelling. It terrified me horribly and I was so scared to walk out of my door. I felt extremely insecure and unsafe and I couldn¿¿t concentrate on my readings. Early February, my host emailed me asking me to leave because I spent too much on heating although we have previously signed a twelve months lease. I was in the situation looking for new place and prepare for the incoming midterm. I moved again in mid-February.
My mom and I are new immigrants to Canada, and my mom lives in Markham. My mom does not speak well English so I always helped her with house insurance, phone payments, and any other things require to read letters and make phone calls. There was a flood in our house early last term. I travelled a lot during that period of time until now I still travel back and forth frequently. I have been busy with the house, the insurance and the repair part. This gives the biggest impact on my Physiology learning, because I don¿¿t have time to review and read the course materials, as I personally require long time on it.
The moving issue and the home problem did not create big impact on Chem112, BIOL205 and STAT263 were because these courses for me are totally different from PHGY214, where PHGY214 has heavy course load and it requires constant reading, review and memorization for all the materials. Moreover, as a second language student, I do need more time on this course than my friends who are also taking the course. The reason I did not drop it prior to the deadline is because the first midterm of the second semester was held a day before the deadline and hence I believed I did decent, but I didn¿¿t because of the moving and my personal issue. Also, one of the concern for me was PHGY 214 is a core course for my program, but I am failing the course. I have calculated my grade as I have now, I would have to get 80s in both my second midterm and the final to get 60.
Hence, I am wishing for an opportunity and I am planning to take PHGY210 that is the equivalent to PHGY214 in the summer at home in Markham, so I have more time concentrating on the course as well as getting a decent grade on it. The place I just moved in is very quiet and people here are very nice so I am not likely to move again. As for the home problem, the repair part will end next month. I have also talked to my mom and she might move to Kingston next year if she could find a job here.
I am attaching my two contracts from my first and second places I lived. I have yet received my current contract with my current host. I am also attaching a screen shot of the email that my last host asked me to terminate the lease early.

Sincerely,

Niki Ziqing Cai (10085514)