Petition Letter
April 25th, 2021 (Please note this letter was completed prior to meeting with my healthcare provider, which delayed the submission process. I have made the decision to preserve the dates as presented here.)
Dear Dr. Jenn Stephenson (Associate Dean, Academic),
I hope you are well. My name is Pascale Mettrick and I am a graduating senior majoring in the English Language & Literature department. I am writing to apply for aegrotat standing in ARTH391 (Winter, 2021), taught by Dr. Dawn Cunningham. I have completed 65 of the course content with one outstanding paper worth 35 of my grade. I have achieved a passing grade from the first 65 of the course. I have discussed my circumstances with both my instructor and the Undergraduate Chair of my department, the latter of whom recommended I pursue aegrotat standing. My instructor is likewise supportive of this appeal.
I have been registered with QSAS since the late fall of 2019 for a specific disability that, when worse, impairs my functioning. I have recently (in the past week) received a second, separate diagnosis which likewise impairs functioning. The impact of both of these disabilities, known and unknown, has significantly increased in recent weeks. I would date an increase in impairment from mid to late March. This is around the course drop deadline. I did not drop any of my courses because I underestimated the severity of my condition at the time; I had also still hoped to graduate on time, and knew dropping a course would prevent me from doing so. My condition had been slowly worsening for a couple of months prior, but it was at this point that completing school work began to transition from being more difficult than usual, to being nearly impossible. My functioning has most dramatically declined in the past two weeks, which is why this final assignment in ARTH391 is particularly impacted. It seems that the known disability was previously compensating for the unknown disability. As the known disability has worsened, I am now facing impairment from two directions. My condition has not yet improved at the time of writing, though my healthcare provider and I have recently initiated an appropriate treatment plan. I understand that the aegrotat process is generally applied in circumstances where extenuating circumstances will be resolved, so as to ensure future academic performance will not be impacted. This does not apply in my case because I am graduating this spring. While I am anticipating that the end of the school year will afford me the necessary time and resources to pursue recovery, part of the reason my instructor and I both believe aegrotat standing would be desirable is in case I do not sufficiently recover within the time frame laid out for an Incomplete grading process or similar.
The relevant impairments which relate to academic performance are as follows: sleep problems (primarily insomnia and unintentionally erratic sleep schedule), impacted executive functioning processes, difficulty retaining information and forming short-term memories, immense difficulty concentrating and processing information. I have attached a note from my healthcare provider, Dr. Jishelle Chakkalackal, which details her understanding of my condition.
I understand that the aegrotat process is not intended to address the extenuating circumstance of an accommodated chronic disability. If you are able to access my transcript, you will note that my academic performance improved considerably after I registered with QSAS (if you are unable to access my transcript: my grades in the past two years, the period for which I have been accommodated, have never dipped below an A-). This indicates that my accommodations adequately address the limitations of my disability when I am in stable condition. My current circumstances are caused by symptoms far exceeding my normal degree of impairment.
My worsening condition has impacted all of my courses, but I only require additional measures in ARTH391. Of my five courses this semester, I have successfully completed two, have taken a provisional grade in a third and fourth, and am, of course, seeking aegrotat standing in the fifth. In terms of the two courses I am taking provisional grades in: one is my thesis project, which I will be spending the summer slowly working on as I recover. My advisor provided a provisional grade based on the work completed so far with the understanding that I would be submitting a full-length essay by a specified date. The nature of a thesis course is that the entire grade is based on the final project, and thus it must be completed. Should I fail to recover and complete the work in the specified timeline (which spans multiple months), I will have to accept the provisional grade; I have no other option in that instance. The second is a course in which the final assignment is worth 50 of the grade, and thus does not qualify for aegrotat standing. I had completed the majority of the coursework for the two courses I have successfully completed prior to this most extreme decrease in functioning. My existing accommodations allowed me to patch together enough extensions to get through the end of the semester in those courses. I have positive relationships with all my current instructors, and their compassionate support has enabled my successes, however few, in recent weeks. As mentioned, my functioning has most dramatically declined in the past two weeks, and an extension was not useful in the case of ARTH391 since the due date for the outstanding work was already so near the end of the exam period. This is why I am only pursuing aegrotat standing in one course.
I hope this is a sufficient explanation of my circumstances. Thank you for considering my appeal.
Respectfully,
Pascale Mettrick
She/Her
20060918
Dear Dr. Jenn Stephenson (Associate Dean, Academic),
I hope you are well. My name is Pascale Mettrick and I am a graduating senior majoring in the English Language & Literature department. I am writing to apply for aegrotat standing in ARTH391 (Winter, 2021), taught by Dr. Dawn Cunningham. I have completed 65 of the course content with one outstanding paper worth 35 of my grade. I have achieved a passing grade from the first 65 of the course. I have discussed my circumstances with both my instructor and the Undergraduate Chair of my department, the latter of whom recommended I pursue aegrotat standing. My instructor is likewise supportive of this appeal.
I have been registered with QSAS since the late fall of 2019 for a specific disability that, when worse, impairs my functioning. I have recently (in the past week) received a second, separate diagnosis which likewise impairs functioning. The impact of both of these disabilities, known and unknown, has significantly increased in recent weeks. I would date an increase in impairment from mid to late March. This is around the course drop deadline. I did not drop any of my courses because I underestimated the severity of my condition at the time; I had also still hoped to graduate on time, and knew dropping a course would prevent me from doing so. My condition had been slowly worsening for a couple of months prior, but it was at this point that completing school work began to transition from being more difficult than usual, to being nearly impossible. My functioning has most dramatically declined in the past two weeks, which is why this final assignment in ARTH391 is particularly impacted. It seems that the known disability was previously compensating for the unknown disability. As the known disability has worsened, I am now facing impairment from two directions. My condition has not yet improved at the time of writing, though my healthcare provider and I have recently initiated an appropriate treatment plan. I understand that the aegrotat process is generally applied in circumstances where extenuating circumstances will be resolved, so as to ensure future academic performance will not be impacted. This does not apply in my case because I am graduating this spring. While I am anticipating that the end of the school year will afford me the necessary time and resources to pursue recovery, part of the reason my instructor and I both believe aegrotat standing would be desirable is in case I do not sufficiently recover within the time frame laid out for an Incomplete grading process or similar.
The relevant impairments which relate to academic performance are as follows: sleep problems (primarily insomnia and unintentionally erratic sleep schedule), impacted executive functioning processes, difficulty retaining information and forming short-term memories, immense difficulty concentrating and processing information. I have attached a note from my healthcare provider, Dr. Jishelle Chakkalackal, which details her understanding of my condition.
I understand that the aegrotat process is not intended to address the extenuating circumstance of an accommodated chronic disability. If you are able to access my transcript, you will note that my academic performance improved considerably after I registered with QSAS (if you are unable to access my transcript: my grades in the past two years, the period for which I have been accommodated, have never dipped below an A-). This indicates that my accommodations adequately address the limitations of my disability when I am in stable condition. My current circumstances are caused by symptoms far exceeding my normal degree of impairment.
My worsening condition has impacted all of my courses, but I only require additional measures in ARTH391. Of my five courses this semester, I have successfully completed two, have taken a provisional grade in a third and fourth, and am, of course, seeking aegrotat standing in the fifth. In terms of the two courses I am taking provisional grades in: one is my thesis project, which I will be spending the summer slowly working on as I recover. My advisor provided a provisional grade based on the work completed so far with the understanding that I would be submitting a full-length essay by a specified date. The nature of a thesis course is that the entire grade is based on the final project, and thus it must be completed. Should I fail to recover and complete the work in the specified timeline (which spans multiple months), I will have to accept the provisional grade; I have no other option in that instance. The second is a course in which the final assignment is worth 50 of the grade, and thus does not qualify for aegrotat standing. I had completed the majority of the coursework for the two courses I have successfully completed prior to this most extreme decrease in functioning. My existing accommodations allowed me to patch together enough extensions to get through the end of the semester in those courses. I have positive relationships with all my current instructors, and their compassionate support has enabled my successes, however few, in recent weeks. As mentioned, my functioning has most dramatically declined in the past two weeks, and an extension was not useful in the case of ARTH391 since the due date for the outstanding work was already so near the end of the exam period. This is why I am only pursuing aegrotat standing in one course.
I hope this is a sufficient explanation of my circumstances. Thank you for considering my appeal.
Respectfully,
Pascale Mettrick
She/Her
20060918