Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: On January 7th I sustained a head injury. On January 10th I went to the Queen's Sports Medicine clinic to receive a concussion assessment. It was determined that the concussion was severe/serious and that I would be unable to fulfill all or most academic obligations, as outlined in one of my supporting documents. Improvement was expected within 2 weeks, however, even after visiting the clinic for therapy 1-2 times per week, improvement proved to be slow. I was told to contact QSAS to apply for accommodations due to my disability. I contacted them January 13th and received accommodations January 17th, however, was unable to meet with most professors to organize the accommodations for another 2-3 weeks. The more severe symptoms of my injury included difficulty walking, difficulty reading/looking at screens, constant migraines, brain fog, dizziness, light/noise sensitivity, difficulty remembering, speech/vision problems. Due to the symptoms being so severe for so long, I was put into contact with Dr. O'Connor for an appointment on January 31st, 2023. Dr. O'Connor determined I was still very symptomatic and that modifying/re-scheduling course requirements, seminars, assignments, tests/exams would be helpful until symptoms have abated (please see my attached documentation for proof of this). Both my concussion specialist, Lisa, and Sports Medicine Doctor, Dr. O'Conner, agreed that the best course of action would be to drop BMED 817/BMED 831, as I have been unable to attend any lectures or fulfill any course requirements for those courses during this time, due to my symptoms. I began reaching out to the head of my program, Dr. Leslie MacKenzie regarding the concussion January 10th, and followed up to discuss the best course of action January 22nd. We agreed dropping these 2 courses and extending my program 1 semester would be best. I was told to contact Ashley Sheridan, our former program assistant, in which I did January 26th. However, there was some confusion regarding who was to deal with this. For this reason, I unfortunately only received the instructions on how to appeal on February 13th from Emily O'Brien, after going through 2-3 other people. I am happy to provide proof of the time stamps of these emails if required. Due to the lengthy wait on accommodations, seeing a doctor, and receiving information on how to drop my courses, I was unable to meet the deadline for dropping courses without financial penalty, even though I have been unable to attend any lectures, labs, or complete any course content for these courses. For the reasons listed above, I am requesting to drop BMED 817/BMED 831 without financial or academic penalty, as these circumstances were beyond my control and began before the semester started. Thank you for your consideration.