Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean (Academic),

I am petitioning to have my credit for CHEE 302 (Technical Entrepreneurship) recognized as an Arts and Sciences elective class so that I may fulfill the ‘Maximum of 6.0 units from other Faculties & Schools’ requirement to graduate in May and keep my job offer.

I have signed a contract for full-time employment starting on May 6th, a requirement of my employment is that I complete all of my schooling and degree programs.

Taking a class that does not meet my degree requirements was a decision made in error. Confusion relating to this decision was a result of misunderstanding the requirements, significant difficulties getting academic advice on achieving my degree requirements, and my own oversight.

This past September I completed course selection and attempted to receive a degree audit. Unfortunately, it was very difficult to get a degree audit. As my submitted evidence shows, I reached out for a degree audit three times.

This generally would not have been a problem because degree requirements are available on SOLUS, however, as a dual degree student, interpreting the information on SOLUS is more difficult. In one instance, I was told by academic advisors as a dual degree student, the degree requirements outlined on SOLUS were incorrect (in-person conversation). After enough persistence, I was given a degree audit due to the unique circumstance of being a dual degree student.

The result of my degree audit was that based on the classes I was enrolled in, I was on track to graduate in May. However, after first semester, I decided to change my second semester elective. After looking around at many different entrepreneurship electives, I felt that the ENIN courses which I was eligible to take were not advanced enough given my business background.

I decided to request to have some pre-requisites waived for ENIN 400 (an arts and sciences class), however, as shown in my evidence, I was denied. Instead, I decided to reach out to Professor James McLellan about CHEE 302 where he explained “You would be most eligible for the course.”(see attached email). Given the course really interested me and was very relevant to my degree, I enrolled.

Unfortunately, I neglected to reach out for another degree audit after my previous experience. I overlooked the ‘Maximum of 6.0 units from other Faculties & Schools’ and simply thought “I need an elective, this is a great elective”.

I only realized my error last week, at this point, it’s far too late to enroll in another course. Having already signed a job offer which stipulates I must finish my studies; this petition is my only chance of starting the job that I worked so hard to get.

I have reached out to advisors in the Arts and Sciences and Computing departments and after over a week, I’ve received no replies. If this petition were granted, I would be able to start my job which is at a technology start-up. This offer of employment demonstrates the value in taking a class like Technical Entrepreneurship, as a dual degree Commerce and Computing student, I feel this class is most relevant to my degree and am very upset at the prospect of getting no credit for it, losing my job offer, and graduating late.

I ask for any leniency you can offer as I try to remedy my mistake.

Thank you for your time and service.

Best,
Cormac Doyle
BCOMM ’23
BCOMP ’24 Candidate