Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Stephenson,

My name is India Kane, and I am a 5th year Art History major. I am petitioning to add ARTH232 to my Fall 2024 schedule.

I was originally taking ARTH436. I intended to complete this class, however after our second class meeting, which was Monday afternoon, I became uncertain as to if I could do well in the course. I was still thinking it over during my evening lecture, and had basically made up my mind to swap it with ARTH232. Before I did that, I wanted to write a small letter to Professor Romba about why I was dropping the course and to thank her for all the classes I’d taken with her as I respected her too much to simply drop the class without any sort of personal notification. My evening class ended at 8pm, and by then the medication for my ADHD had completely left my system, so I decided I would write the letter in the morning when I would be more focused. I dropped ARTH436 Tuesday morning intending to replace it with ARTH232, unaware of the deadline having passed, and am now enrolled in only 3 classes rather than the 4 I need. When I realized this, I immediately went to Student Services and spoke to Sherri Fuller, who directed me to this Academic Petition.

ARTH436: Anthropological Theory and Art seemed to be a tough course to begin with, but even with my accommodations, I still didn’t feel as though I would be very successful. I’m in my 5th year at Queens to finish up my electives, and I didn’t feel comfortable taking on a class that I felt like I could easily do poorly in; something that could affect my upcoming Master’s application. For context, I gave in all my forms and documents at the beginning of my 1st year of undergrad to show that I needed accommodations, was told I’d be given them, then found out around a year to a year and a half later that I had never been granted accommodations. This was fixed quickly after it was found, but my GPA had taken a hit because of this. In the years since I’ve improved my GPA greatly (4.0 term GPA for last semester as an example), but the scars remain. I didn’t drop the course earlier because I like to give 2 classes before I make a decision. I've had classes that seemed really boring on day 1 turn into some of the best courses I’ve taken by day 2, and I also rarely drop classes - only twice before, and one was because I realized taking 5 courses at a time wasn’t sustainable for me.

If I am able to take ARTH232, I believe that I will have better learning outcomes. I’m intending to do my masters here at Queens, and because of the issues around my accommodations in my first two years of undergrad, I’m nervous to take a course that I believe I won’t do well in. I understand that it was my responsibility to know when the add/drop date was, and I acknowledge that I did drop and attempt to add late, but I would appreciate any leniency you have within you. I overstepped by only 8 hours rather than multiple days which I also hope would be taken into consideration. I have approval from the instructors of ARTH232 and the Undergraduate Chair of Art History, and I hope you will feel the same as they did. Nevertheless, I will accept whatever ruling you deem fit.

Regardless of the outcome, I would like to wish you a lovely day and a lovely school year overall. Best wishes,

India Kane