Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: May 31, 2022
Office of the Associate Dean (Academic) Queen??s University
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
RE: Academic appeal of POLS 465 mark for Owen Stewart (student number 20106409)

Background
I have just competed my fourth year at Queen??s and will be returning next year to complete my Honour POLS degree. I am a recipient of an athletic scholarship and have been an active member of the Varsity football team for my full Queen??s career. You will notice that, with the exception of my POLS 465 course, my academic results in other courses this year been good.

Reason for appeal ?? exceptional circumstances
The reason for my appeal relates to my struggles with losing my good friend in March 2022. You may be aware that as a result of a tragic accident in March, my good friend Liam Geddes sustained a brain injury and passed away. This event had a significant impact on my mental health and caused me to disengage and I had significant challenges attending classes regularly after the event. Although I continued to complete assignments, it became difficult for me to venture far from my home and I found that I was drawn to my immediate friend and football community for comfort. Nothing else seemed to matter. It was a very difficult period for me emotionally.
I did reach out to my professors at the time, and requested extensions on my written assignments, which I was granted. However, I did not consider the significant impact non- attendance would have on my POLS 465 grade. This particular course heavily weighted attendance at 30% of the mark. As a result, the difficulties I had emotionally and my inability to attend class contributed to me losing 30% of my grade and failing the course. As I mentioned, I continued to submit and do well on written assignments but the participation in this class is the issue of concern.

Reaching out for support
I am writing to appeal a failing grade that I received this spring in POLS 465. I appreciate having the opportunity to explain the reasons for the appeal and I hope you will consider my situation with compassion. I understand that a consideration in the appeal process is whether I reached out to speak to a doctor or counselor about my emotional struggles. This was something I was very uncomfortable doing. My main source of support throughout this was my friends and football coaches, who helped me process the events. My main aversion to speaking with a doctor or counselor was that I felt I would have to justify what I was feeling, something I was not comfortable doing. If necessary, I am sure that my coach would be able to validate my information in this letter.

Specific request
In consideration of these exceptional and tragic circumstances, I would appreciate if Queen??s could consider allowing me to ??late drop? the course so it is removed from my transcript.

Concluding consideration
On a final note, I would like to share that two years ago, my father was diagnosed with esophageal cancer and as a result, he is no longer able to work. This is one reason why the athletic scholarship is very important to me and I hope not to put it at risk. If I were to lose the scholarship as a result of the low POLS 465 mark, it would have a compounding negative effect on the tragic events I experienced with the loss of my friend.

Thank you for your consideration. I hope you are able to consider my appeal within these compassionate circumstances.

Yours truly,
Owen Stewart 20106409