Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Furaha-Safi Karubara
56 Elm Street
Kingston, Ontario, K7K 1M9

August 5th, 2025

Dr Jenn Stephenson
Associate Dean (Academic) Arts and Science
Dunning Hall
Queen’s University

Subject: Petition to Late Drop Courses

Dear Dr. Stephenson,
I hope this message finds you well. I am a first-year student with a learning disability petitioning to late drop SOCY 122, MUSC 156, and BLCK 220 from my Winter 2025 transcript, as they do not accurately reflect my abilities or commitment as a student, due to limited access to my accommodations this year. I intend to study post-undergrad; my current grades will significantly impact my GPA moving forward.

My learning disability is called dysphasia, which affects language processing in all environments, such as reading, writing, and speech. I need extra time and one-on-one counseling to digest information, develop organizational skills, and submit assignments. In high school, I had an IEP with such demands, and with a few reminders, teachers and staff who abided by the program saw positive results in my learning, being able to keep up with my class and assert myself with others, which reflected in my grades and overall average that got me into Queen's University.


I applied for accommodations on October 26th, 2024, through Ventus after waiting for an approved signature from a registered psychologist on a psychoeducational assessment. QSAS Intake rejected it on November 22nd, and after further back and forth, my application was brought up to RARC, where they responded to QSAS with a letter reviewing my documents and explaining that the psychoeducational assessment I had completed in July 2024, which I submitted, did not have the necessary information to prove a diagnosis. It was merely an analysis of my intelligence, dictating the history of my progress in school with the diagnosis I received in 2010. It was recommended that I go through another procedure that would give me an actual diagnosis to be acknowledged by the university, at a cost neither I nor my family can, to this day, afford. By the time RARC replied, it was January 13, 2025. I had received my marks for the December exams, wherein I failed two out of my four evaluations. Throughout the semester, I had struggled with completing assignments and navigating websites for temporary accommodations, and after receiving this news, I eventually stopped reaching out for support. In mid-March 2025, the strike began, ending classes in PSYC 100 and SOCY 122. Their respective professors and TAs issued explicit requests not to send emails to them, as they were overwhelmed by incoming messages and could no longer respond to provide further information for content or ongoing projects. They cancelled their classes in favor of posting diagrams and PowerPoints on onQ. These circumstances severely impacted my already poor academic performance. The last of my sources of learning was shut down weeks before exams, and the lack of accommodations on top of it made me feel even more exhausted and isolated. In addition, I did not pass BLCK 220 nor MUSC 156. This resulted in my current GPA of 0.96 and my current status as a student on academic probation.

Care Support Services has provided me with documentation to verify my situation. I am respectfully requesting either the removal of these grades from GPA calculations or a retroactive withdrawal grade, in accordance with the university’s academic policies. Currently, I am fully committed to my academic success and have taken concrete steps to ensure that I am in a better position to meet expectations moving forward. Since mid-July, I have been referred to RARC by ASUS and invited to be placed on a list of students to be assessed for my disability. I am still in contact with Care Services; we are navigating ways I can get temporary accommodations this academic year in the meantime. In addition, I will be in contact with SASS this summer to seek help with my organizational skills, time management, and reading/writing comprehension. This is in hopes of establishing a relationship with a worker that I can refer to for support this year, whether or not I receive accommodations by the fall. Finally, I have begun counseling and CBTI under SWS, as the effects of last year have severely impacted my mental health and have begun to seep into my physical state. Your consideration of my request would give me a fair opportunity to reflect my improvements to remain here at Queen’s. Please let me know if you need further information to support this appeal.

Sincerely,
Furaha-Safi Karubara
20416203