Manage Appeals
Petition Type: New
ID: 13879
Submitted: January 15, 2026 at 9:06:26 AM
First Name: Shayaan
Last Name: Saleem
Pronoun: He/Him
Preferred Name: Shayaan
Student Number: 20553076
Email: 25tk8@queensu.ca
Degree Program: BCMPH
Plan: COMP
Level of Study: 1
Petition Categories
Petition Categories: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Code: MATH 112
Term: Fall
Year: 2025
Petition Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Code: CISC 102
Term: Fall
Year: 2025
Petition Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Code: ECON 111
Term: Fall
Year: 2025
Petition Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Petition Letter
Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean (Academic),
I am writing to request consideration for a late drop of courses MATH 112, CISC 102, and ECON 111 for the Fall 2025 term. This request is based on personal and academic circumstances that significantly interfered with my ability to succeed in these courses.
During sometime in late September 2025, my personal computer (my only device at the time) began experiencing persistent technical issues related to its display drivers. Each time the computer was powered on, the monitor would turn completely black as Windows began booting, rendering the device unusable. After approximately a week of troubleshooting, I temporarily resolved the issue by uninstalling and reinstalling the latest display drivers, but the issue returned soon after with the previous fix not applying. From that point forward, my computer was largely unusable and significantly hindered my ability to complete academic work.
Despite this setback, I continued attending classes and made efforts to stay engaged. I took handwritten notes as normal, occasionally borrowed my roommate’s laptop for longer term assignments, and used my phone for required daily/ weekly check-ins like my CISC 121 daily surveys. While I was able to submit assignments that were not time-sensitive, though often late and with difficulty, I lacked consistent access to a device for short-term, time-contained assessments like quizzes, tests, and exams. Additionally, the lack of sustained access to a device made it extremely difficult to study effectively for these assessments.
As a result, I performed poorly on early quizzes, including my first attended MATH 112 quiz and my first two CISC 121 quizzes. In some other cases, I made the difficult decision to forgo certain assessments to avoid negatively impacting my grades further, such as opting out of quizzes in CISC 102, where quiz weight is transferred to the final exam. At the time, I didn’t fully understand the cumulative impact this situation would have academically.
Throughout this whole time period, I spent considerable time attempting to resolve the issue independently and through external technical support. I participated in live support chats and calls with Intel, including remote troubleshooting sessions, but no solution was identified. Based on these events, I considered the possibility that the issue was hardware-related, because I had previously used a different display before moving to Kingston, and didn’t experience the issue then.
Unfortunately, my next opportunity to return home and replace the monitor was during winter break, so in the meantime, I continued troubleshooting and opened a second support ticket with Intel (driver manufacturers) with hopes of getting more in-depth, personalized help. I was informed that replicating and resolving the issue could take until very early December, so I was hoping they would be able to find a solution before my first exam on December 8th and I would still be able to study sufficiently for it in time. However, on December 11, I was informed that the issue could not be replicated and that no viable solution had been identified. At that point, the drop deadline had been passed, and replacing the monitor during the break became the only way to restore functionality.
These circumstances disproportionately affected MATH 112, CISC 102, and ECON 111, as the grading schemes for these courses rely heavily on short-term and time-constrained assessments like quizzes and exams. On the other hand, courses such as CISC 121, which emphasized longer-term assignments, were less impacted. I did not drop these courses earlier because I genuinely expected the technical issue to be resolved within the term, and had planned on just dealing with higher-weighted exams, but by the time it became clear the solution wouldn’t be found in time, the deadline had already been passed.
To ensure this situation doesn’t re-occur, I replaced the faulty monitor with a new one that is functioning properly, and brought a laptop from home to serve as a secondary device. To make up for the credits and academic progress affected by dropping these courses, I intend to retake required courses during the winter term and complete electives required to catch up on credits during summer.
Thank you for your time and consideration of this request,
Sincerely,
Shayaan Saleem
I am writing to request consideration for a late drop of courses MATH 112, CISC 102, and ECON 111 for the Fall 2025 term. This request is based on personal and academic circumstances that significantly interfered with my ability to succeed in these courses.
During sometime in late September 2025, my personal computer (my only device at the time) began experiencing persistent technical issues related to its display drivers. Each time the computer was powered on, the monitor would turn completely black as Windows began booting, rendering the device unusable. After approximately a week of troubleshooting, I temporarily resolved the issue by uninstalling and reinstalling the latest display drivers, but the issue returned soon after with the previous fix not applying. From that point forward, my computer was largely unusable and significantly hindered my ability to complete academic work.
Despite this setback, I continued attending classes and made efforts to stay engaged. I took handwritten notes as normal, occasionally borrowed my roommate’s laptop for longer term assignments, and used my phone for required daily/ weekly check-ins like my CISC 121 daily surveys. While I was able to submit assignments that were not time-sensitive, though often late and with difficulty, I lacked consistent access to a device for short-term, time-contained assessments like quizzes, tests, and exams. Additionally, the lack of sustained access to a device made it extremely difficult to study effectively for these assessments.
As a result, I performed poorly on early quizzes, including my first attended MATH 112 quiz and my first two CISC 121 quizzes. In some other cases, I made the difficult decision to forgo certain assessments to avoid negatively impacting my grades further, such as opting out of quizzes in CISC 102, where quiz weight is transferred to the final exam. At the time, I didn’t fully understand the cumulative impact this situation would have academically.
Throughout this whole time period, I spent considerable time attempting to resolve the issue independently and through external technical support. I participated in live support chats and calls with Intel, including remote troubleshooting sessions, but no solution was identified. Based on these events, I considered the possibility that the issue was hardware-related, because I had previously used a different display before moving to Kingston, and didn’t experience the issue then.
Unfortunately, my next opportunity to return home and replace the monitor was during winter break, so in the meantime, I continued troubleshooting and opened a second support ticket with Intel (driver manufacturers) with hopes of getting more in-depth, personalized help. I was informed that replicating and resolving the issue could take until very early December, so I was hoping they would be able to find a solution before my first exam on December 8th and I would still be able to study sufficiently for it in time. However, on December 11, I was informed that the issue could not be replicated and that no viable solution had been identified. At that point, the drop deadline had been passed, and replacing the monitor during the break became the only way to restore functionality.
These circumstances disproportionately affected MATH 112, CISC 102, and ECON 111, as the grading schemes for these courses rely heavily on short-term and time-constrained assessments like quizzes and exams. On the other hand, courses such as CISC 121, which emphasized longer-term assignments, were less impacted. I did not drop these courses earlier because I genuinely expected the technical issue to be resolved within the term, and had planned on just dealing with higher-weighted exams, but by the time it became clear the solution wouldn’t be found in time, the deadline had already been passed.
To ensure this situation doesn’t re-occur, I replaced the faulty monitor with a new one that is functioning properly, and brought a laptop from home to serve as a secondary device. To make up for the credits and academic progress affected by dropping these courses, I intend to retake required courses during the winter term and complete electives required to catch up on credits during summer.
Thank you for your time and consideration of this request,
Sincerely,
Shayaan Saleem
Documentation
Professional Letter: Screenshot 2026-01-15 090054.png
Document: Screenshot 2026-01-15 090239.png
Documentation Detail: Attached screenshot is proof of DDU (display driver uninstaller) usage and driver downloading (in attempts to troubleshoot) ranging back to late-September of winter term.