Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear, Associate Dean (Academic),

I am petitioning for courses for credit standing in SOCY 122, PHGY 170 and to Late Drop COGS 100 along with ASTR 101. These courses were taken in the Winter 2025 term.
During the fall term all courses were passed in 2024 and settling into residence. Moving back in during the winter 2025 term I had started to notice bugs had started to invade my space through access to the bathroom and my canmate’s room. I brought this to the attention of my don and my academic advisor quickly after noticing it however my academic career started to take damage as I no longer felt comfortable within the room as the problem was not fixed as the first strike of the semester winter semester of 2025 began with the cleaners and the cooks going on strike allowed the problem to progressively grow without the cleaners coming through during their usual schedule. As a student with autism I find bugs extremely distressing and disruptive in my space where I am supposed to sleep. My canmate also with repeated warnings was yelling and gaming late into the night throughout the semester making sleep extremely difficult even in the first semester of fall 2024 and into the winter of 2025 not without intervention of the don as the noise would echo down the hall. It should be mentioned that my roommate refused to sign the canmate agreement form at the beginning of the fall semester. During the second strike of the winter semester of 2025 (PSAC local 901) there were no classes for SOCY 122 for six weeks which caused the exam to be removed and many important classes for the course to remain untought. All classes I am petitioning were affected by this second six week strike of TA’s and teaching fellows. Making the marking of assignments slow and even some assignment requirements dropped entirely for example the written portion of the PHGY 170 Midterm which had it’s written portion cut after the evaluation was written due to a lack of TA’s and the grades to be rebalanced. For COGS 100 it was difficult to know the marking process of the class without any TA’s to mark our assignments, only getting our midterms back a week before exams as well as the each quiz for students with accommodations in COGS 100 being sent to Michelle hall for their 5-15 minute quiz while the class is still being taught over in Stirling hall which at best is a 15 minute walk with the current construction at the time. With the 15-minute quiz and the 15 minute travel back to the classroom a half hour of class would be spent doing the quizzes while the class is being taught and the last 15 minutes reserved for the students in class to take the quiz those who have already taken the quiz would have voided academic integrity by rejoining the class at that time having already taken the quiz other students would be taking by the time they returned. With ASTR 101 I had thought my marks were very good throughout the class only to learn that I had failed the final exam and therefore would not pass the class as it only had one evaluation opportunity throughout the semester being the exam at the very end. Therefore it was hard to gauge my performance in the class with only one assessment mattering to my overall success.
Moving forward, I intend to continue my enrollment at Queen’s university and attempt online coursework from home over the summer. Have more support systems in place to assist me through my academic career. Along with remaining Connected with the 4 directions center and academic advisor and QSAS.
I intend to create an academic plan with my academic advisor which will benefit me moving forwards. Working also with 4 directions Indigenous Advisor to be connected with regular tutoring sessions. This will help with accountability and consistency with course work. Thank you for your consideration.