Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Hello Associate Dean, thank you for considering my academic appeal.

I am writing this because I missed the drop deadline on November 1st for PHIL 390 with Professor Kerah Gordon-Solmon and would still like to drop it. Here is the timeline of what happened:

Mon 09-19: Jen McLaren from undergrad philosophy officially enrolled me in PHIL 390 for the year.

Tue 09-20 1:14 pm: I inform Professor Gordon-Solmon that I am unlikely to attend her class today at 6:30 pm because I am feeling ill. For whatever reason, I was having migraines on that day on top of feeling congested as I had been the last two days. I have always been prone to migraines (see documentation).

2:08 pm: Professor Gordon-Solmon tells me that I should put in a short-term academic consideration if I want to avoid the (smallish) penalty for missing her class. Provided I did this, I would be able to do a makeup assignment. I attempted to do this too late.

6:30 pm: I do not attend Professor Gordon-Solmon's class. I did not realize that the class would concern the specific material for the first reconstruction. At this point in the submission timeline, I had to write about this piece of work.

Fri 09-30 2:20 pm: I received my first argument reconstruction back from Professor Gordon-Solmon and received a 4.5 out of 10. In her feedback, she indicates that it was my responsibility to catch up on the course material through another student that actually attended the class. I did not do this because I didn't realize the importance of the class I missed.

2:50 pm: Wanting to do better next time with several questions, I request that Professor Gordon-Solmon and I meet to discuss where I went wrong and how I can do better in the rewrite for this assignment (with added critique).

2:56 pm: Professor Gordon-Solmon tells me that she'll meet with me after class next Friday. Here, she indicates that the next deadline isn't until after break week, so I'll have plenty of time to rewrite.

Fri 10-7: We have our meeting and Professor Gordon-Solmon answers many of my questions after class. I feel ready to rewrite the assignment.

Mon 10-17: I do not submit the rewrite assignment due today by 5:59 pm (as indicated on the class syllabus only). At this time, I am under the assumption that I will be able to submit it the following Monday. Specifically, I believed I still had a lot of time and got confused by the interruption of reading week in our weekly schedule. I thought that reading week did not count in the sequential timeline for submitting these assignments.

Fri 10-21 12:12 pm: I realise that I have missed the deadline for the rewrite of the Williams reconstruction. I also realise that I have missed another class. This was because the line at the Metro took 30 minutes (groceries). At this point, I realise that I have found the semester overwhelming, and wonder if I would be better off with only the four classes (in which I am getting higher grades). Before making the choice to drop the course, I emailed Professor Gordon-Solmon about whether it would be wise to leave her class.

12:51 pm: Sympathetically, professor Gordon-Solmon says that she thinks cutting back on my course load would make good sense. From there, she says that PHIL 390 would be the one to drop, letting me know that I am not on a trajectory to pass the course.

Fri 10-21: Sometime shortly after Professor Gordon-Solmon sends her response, I attempt to drop the course in Solus. I do not remember seeing any kind of error message after doing this and return to the home page on Solus. Happy that the issue is resolved, I try my best to clear it from my mind. This was an embarrassing experience for me, I really wanted to do well and impress, but I completely failed at that.

10-21 to 11-8: During this time, I was under the impression that I had left the course. PHIL 390 is in a different section on ONQ than all of my other classes, and I thought I didn't need to go look at that other section. I also received no messages or notifications of any kind from the course during this time. It was only on the 9th that I realized the drop didn't work, and I attempted to drop it again.

Several things hindered my ability to do well in PHIL 390. (1) All of the reconstructions did not have any options for ONQ reminders, and that would have saved me a lot of confusion. (2) I take Sertraline for generalized anxiety disorder, and my mind tends to get overwhelmed when I am not entirely sure of what needs doing at a given time. I am very forgetful and my mind wanders because of this. (3) I entered PHIL 390 late and missed one or two introductory classes that may have helped to clarify things for me.

I am trying my best now in less overwhelming conditions to keep up with my assignments and submit things on time. I am using a physical calendar and phone reminders to help me keep track of things. Furthermore, I am trying to pay closer attention to course requirements and deadlines in ONQ. If I have any doubts, I email my Professors and TAs.