Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Good afternoon Dr. Jenn Stephenson,

I am appealing the academic drop date without financial penalty for PSYC 100 (Summer 2021). As I am sure you are aware, the COVID-19 pandemic has made essentially every aspect of life more difficult for students and teaching staff. Over this past summer I was enrolled in PSYC 100 which I was thoroughly enjoying. The course content was engaging and meaningful to me despite the disadvantages of a fully remote delivery. Additionally, my interest was reflected in the academic success I was finding in the course. I am hoping these facts highlight that dropping the course was by no means the course of action I wanted to pursue.

Unfortunately, I received an email from the coordinator on June 30th, which was two days before the deadline for dropping the course without academic penalty, stating that the short answer portion of my midterm would not be marked. Since the midterm was worth 40%, this would effectively mean 27% off my final grade in the course if I scored perfect on the multiple-choice section. The reason given for the decision was that I had submitted the short answer portion outside of the time frame based on the document properties. I was taken aback because I had undertaken the exam with the belief that the given time frame was a window to enter the exam. I had read a midterm announcement that stated entry to the exam was available at 9:00AM-12:00PM and the exam itself stated ??Available on Jun 24, 2021 9:00 AM until Jun 24, 2021 12:00 PM?, so I understood that to mean that was the window of entry as every other course I had taken in my first year of university adhered to that practice. I started the exam at 10:00AM rather than 9:00AM, completing it within the required 3-hour time limit and was able to prove that fact through the document properties of my submission. After receiving this notice on June 30 at 2:11PM, I attempted to convey the miscommunication to the professor but was unable to because the faculty was closed and not responding to emails starting 4:00PM June 30th and ending July 2nd 8:30AM. I was not even able to call anyone to discuss this urgent matter because the phone lines were not operational due to COVID-19, and I was working as a lifeguard at a beach without access to WiFi or service on July 2nd. Needless to say, that experience was unbelievably stressful as I had to hope the instructor saw my email and responded when the office opened on July 2nd. When I received a response, I was told that despite the honest miscommunication my work would not be marked because it was submitted after 12:00PM, but I would have the instructor??s support in applying for a late drop.

While I understand and accept my responsibility in this situation, it is difficult to seek clarification on an issue like this because I thought I understood the protocol from past experience. As a first-year student I was not aware exams could be offered synchronously online because no course I had taken up to that point had taken that approach. I also understand the reason this protocol is in place is to prevent departures of academic integrity. However, not only was my multiple-choice section marked but due to remote learning I had not made a single friend at Queens, so I could not have participated in any such departure of academic integrity. It was a purely honest mistake which would not have happened if the pandemic had not necessitated remote learning or if it was not the first year of my university experience. In a world without COVID-19 I would have been studying on-campus with other students and there would not have been the opportunity for this kind of miscommunication to take place. Having had to drop the course, all the work I had put in did not culminate to anything simply because of a miscommunication that caused me to complete the exam an hour later. Accordingly, I believe these circumstances along with the support of my professor provide ample justification to support voiding the financial penalty of dropping the course when I had to.

Yours sincerely,
Simon