Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: During the past academic year, I was faced with great difficulties (like other students this year) while trying to continue my degree. I am writing this appeal to hopefully justify some of the additional hardships I have endured this year beginning with and mainly caused by the malfunction and subsequent month (30 days) spent without my computer. During this period, finding a temporary replacement computer had proven to be very difficult especially as the timing was peak semester and the workload was quickly increasing. I was originally told there would be computers available on campus such as at Smith School of Business and Stauffer library. However, when the time came I was unable to use any computers due to Covid-19 regulations. I was thus forced to use the computers of friends and housemates during off-hours which would usually start around 10 pm -2 am. Trying to stay on top of my workload in this fashion was simply unsustainable and would not work in the long term or for the extent of the computer repairs. Nearing the end of the period without a computer, I was able to keep up with most of the content but was having great difficulty outputting the information in the form of assignments, projects and quizzes. When the period ended and my laptop was repaired I had found myself falling behind in school not only as a consequence of my time spent without a laptop but also on account of receiving consideration for the time spent without a laptop and not for the time it would take me to catch up in all classes. Therefore even after the consideration period had ended I was still behind and now faced with the exam period.

Additionally, I found myself in constant communication with the QSAS office as many of my accommodations were being disputed with the argument that online classes follow a universal timeline or that extra time would just ?not be fair to the other students??. Living and learning with severe learning disabilities is already a difficult task in itself; inducing anxiety and depression which are both very hindering in an academic setting. With the removal of in-person appointments with the professors, help centers and a computer, in this case, I felt hopeless, as if I would never catch up in the classes especially since these services are the supporting resources that were so integral in previous years on campus. Since the age of nine, I knew about my learning disabilities and I like to believe I understand the strengths, weaknesses, learning, and accommodation needs. It is quite a stressful and time-consuming task advocating and even debating my appointed accommodations with professors. I do not believe accommodations for disabilities is a subject that should be up for debate or even subject to denial. Luckily QSAS was very helpful and helped advocate in the worst of times. However, it was very common to wait over a month for an appointment with QSAS which by that time the issue being experienced at the time has already past and new issues are on the rise. After this eye-opening cycle of advocation and rejection the stress of the situation, along with other major life stressors, threw my mental health into a downward spiral being diagnosed and medicated for severe Anxiety and Depression.

As mental health disorders and learning disabilities can be very hindering in a learning environment so can cardiac conditions. In addition to the above-mentioned impediments experienced in the 2020-2021 school year, I was also suffering from a condition called POTS where the necessary medication works to slow the rate of my heart down. Subsequently, this medication induces tiredness and the feeling of everyday tasks being harder than they should be. Because the heart is working twice as hard to complete these tasks it is common to fiant daily usually at the most stressful of times. This tends to be very unnerving and overwhelming therefore, in the summer of 2020 I had surgery that cauterized the area of my heart that was producing too many electrical signals. The surgery was unsuccessful so I returned for another surgery this past summer which was successful and my health has improved significantly.

It is clear there have been serious issues this past year which can explain how some grades have slipped. I would like to appeal two classes being ENSC 290 Intro into Ecological Economics in which I received a failing mark and GPHY 102 Physical Geography where I received a D. With the technicalities of this appeal I would like to include that if this appeal were to be approved and processed it seems appropriate to add a passing grade to the classes (being a P as marked on the transcript) or a credit grade meaning no grades are visible but I do receive a credit for each class.