Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom it may concern,
In February of 2022, I had surgery for a torn ACL as well as torn lateral and medial meniscuses. To address the academic obstacles caused by the injury as well as its complicated recovery, I had developed a plan of action with the help of the student academic advisory office. Part of this strategy included dropping certain classes that I had been taking at the time with the intention of using this school year to replace that, as I had initially been told I??d be able to return with no issues by the end of last summer. I found out during the fall semester, however, that some complications from this initial surgery had resulted in the need for a second surgery, which I had during this past fall semester.
As a result of this second surgery, I again discussed an academic strategy with the advisory office, and dropping some courses again was suggested. I eventually decided to drop one of my full-year courses, but (due to the amount of credit that would have been left to catch up) I was concerned about dropping multiple courses and wanted to still try my best in the remaining. Unfortunately, the surgery had a larger impact than I??d hoped, negatively affecting my work, particularly in regard to HIST 228 and MATH 126. Being in Applied Economics, MATH 126/121 in particular is a key course in my program, and after having to drop it due to the first surgery, I was particularly averse to dropping it in the fall semester. I spoke to the academic advisory office, developing a plan that included 1) continuing with the MATH 126 at the time, hoping that the requirements of recovery and impact of the surgery would ease, and that I??d be able to make up enough during the winter semester to offset the impact on my grades and catching up of course material; 2) petitioning to drop MATH 126 and take MATH 121 in the summer semester, should it become evident that the impact would prevent 1 from being possible (it was confirmed by the advisory office that these are valid extenuating circumstances that would justify dropping these courses and mitigate them having an unfairly negative effect on my GPA/academic standing). Evidently, the negative academic effect of the whole process regarding surgery and recovery did end up preventing that from being possible, hence this letter and why I am additionally petitioning to enroll in MATH 121.
When it became evident that I would need to take MATH 121 in the summer, I had aimed to be proactive and keep to the academic plan, attempting to enroll in the course in March. I wasn??t able to do this however, and was informed that I could only enroll in the course after May 1st since it is an online course and I am an in-person student. Initially, this did not pose a problem, as I was going to simply enroll after this date. Sadly, around the end of April (approximately the last 2 weeks of April and first 2 weeks of May), I became sick, which ended up getting worse between the last week of April and first week of May and forced me to get academic consideration and reschedule finals. This time period also overlapped with the short window during which I would??ve been able to register for MATH 121 (which does currently have open seats). I did still try to register during these extenuating circumstances, around May 3rd, however I seem to have done it incorrectly on the Solus system, and I was not successfully enrolled in the course. Regrettably, due to distraction/impact of being sick as well as traveling back to America to see my doctor (where I live when not in Kingston for Queen??s), I did not become aware that it had not gone through for a couple days, at which point I promptly attempted to again enroll in the course, but as it was May 6th/7th, this was not possible, and resulted in the need for petition. (I did call to speak with someone at the office about this, and she speculated that whether because of user error that was unnoticed having been sick and using the new Solus system, or a technical problem itself, it may have been placed into my shopping cart but not enrolled, since Solus did not log a successful or unsuccessful enrollment attempt on the 3rd but did register the attempt in March and later in May).
I am currently taking some summer courses this year as part of my plan, having solely dedicated my summer to getting back on track with schoolwork now that I am finally done with most serious portions of recovery from my knee injuries through physical therapy, etc. After taking the prescribed medication given by my doctor, I am no longer sick, my summer coursework has been going well, and I am prepared to be successful in MATH 121. I have additionally spoken with the professor of the course and received his approval to join the class, and being aware that summer term courses move at an accelerated pace, I have additionally found a tutor to make sure that I do not fall behind, as the course is a cornerstone of my program. I am confident that the coursework itself will not be a problem, and I sincerely hope that you will approve my petition and give me the opportunity to take the course.
Thank you for your help and understanding,
Siddith