Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom it may concern,
I am writing this appeal letter in hopes that I will be granted permission to have my GNDS 280 course dropped. I am aware that I am writing this appeal after the course dropping deadline, and I understand the consequences of doing this. I strongly believe that I should have this course dropped due to the physical and psychological challenges, and extenuating circumstances my family has faced over the last few months. To begin, I was going through serious health issues which put me in a position where my health care providers did not want me receiving the Covid-19 vaccination. I am on the Varsity Track and Field/Cross Country team at Queen??s and in August we got notice that to run or be on the team you had to be fully vaccinated. At this time I was not and was not planning on receiving the vaccine due to medication concerns and direction from my doctors to not get the vaccine, so I applied for a medical accommodation for athletics on August 22, 2021. This accommodation request along with my doctor notes were reviewed by a Queen??s Student Wellness Doctor and were approved. Then, in September, the school finally announced that all students had to be fully vaccinated to go to class. This is when I had to resubmit a medical request for academics as well as athletics because the school as a whole was putting me in a position to start back at square one. This is when I got a lawyer involved and more doctor notes. On Sept. 2nd I declared (as we all had to this) what my status for my vaccine was. I declared that I was not fully vaccinated and was not planning on being vaccinated until my health improved and doctor recommended it. This medical accommodation for academics was submitted on September 7th because it took the school a week to give me the link as to where I could upload such documents. The school then took 10 days to respond with an email saying they need more information. This is when my lawyer got heavily involved as the school was requesting VERY personal medical information that I feel was not their right to ask for. At this point on Sept.17th when that email was received, I resubmitted my old doctor notes that I previously provided. On Sept. 21, my lawyer sent the school another email with a letter as well. On Sept. 30th my medical accommodation was denied, and I was told by the school that ??After October. 15, 2021, individuals who have not received their final dose of vaccine or an approved accommodation will not be permitted to participate in in-person university activities.? At this point I was forced to receive my vaccine in order to attend classes on campus. I received my first dose on October 6th,2021 and was told I had to wait 21 days from that date to get my second shot, which was Oct. 27th. Following my second dose, I needed to wait 14 days in order to be considered fully vaccinated. This means until Nov. 10th, 2021 I was not allowed on campus according to Queen??s rules. Due to the school taking over 3 weeks to deny my accommodation, I am now in the position where I am forced to be absent in the middle of the semester. I am not being a lazy student, I am simply following the school rules. While being absent from in person classes and lectures, I had to reach out to all five of my professors to receive help and as much support as they could provide. I asked for lecture notes and/or access to the notes taken by the class ??note taker? that students with academic accommodation can receive. Responses from my professors varied and I was able to receive help in different ways. When it came to GNDS 280, there was little to no help given which put me in a position where I began struggle deeply in the course. As if all this stress and anxiety in regard to figuring out if would be able to attend class and waiting results from the school about my vaccination requirements my Grandfather back home got extremely sick and was sent to hospital for emergency surgeries and I was told by my mom on September 22nd that I needed to come home as things were not looking good. On September 23rd I went home on Via Rail back to Toronto to be with my family during this difficult time. I was in a mental state that was already overwhelmed as at the time I was still in the process of figuring out the whole vaccination situation and then was faced with the devastating and heartbreaking anxiety of possibly losing my grandfather. All in all, this put me in place where I fell behind in my classes and was struggling to get back to where I needed to be in my five courses. I struggled terribly in GNDS 280 due to not having the same resources I was given in my other courses while I was not allowed to be on campus. Once I was allowed back on campus I still found myself facing the mental battle to motivate myself to do the work for this class I was still so behind, but I thought I was able to push through which is why I am requesting to drop the course so late. I am at the point where I rather lose the money than have my GPA at risk. I hope you are able to understand that mentally I have been through a lot and not having my family with me the whole time has made things hard too.
Thank you