Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean,

I am appealing to receive Credit Standing (CR) in my COMM 322 (Fall 2015) and ECON 255 (Winter 2015) classes. In April 2013, I was diagnosed with a condition that required me to receive substantial medical treatment that I continue to this day. When I returned to school after transferring to Queen's in January 2015, the symptoms had relatively subsided and I was able to be successful in my classes. However, during my COMM 322 final exam my symptoms had returned. More specifically, I was experiencing difficulty breathing, nausea, dizziness and could not remain calm. Immediately I spoke with the proctor and was asked if I would like to use the washroom, which I did to try and collect myself. Unfortunately the symptoms did not subside. I further tried to explain to the proctor's what was happening but I still attempted to finish the exam, as I was fearful of failing or getting a zero. In my COMM 322 class, the professor had allowed me to differ my mid-term exam due to summer recruiting conflicts and because the Professor was having trouble meeting my accommodation granted by Accessibility Services. Following the final, I contacted the professor seeking advice and to see if there was something that could be done. After more follow up emails and dropping by his office, I still had not received a response. After attempting to go to his office for a few more days, I finally was able to speak with the Professor. Again, I was told nothing could be done. When I wrote my other exams without any symptoms I was able to do well in my classes and with the symptoms I did significantly worse and ultimately received a grade that I do not normally attain. Due to the reoccurrence of my symptoms, I contacted my physician in order to tackle the issues at hand and was advised to continue on with the medication that was prescribed. I am confident that the symptoms I was experiencing was detrimental to my grade as I took two finance courses last semester - COMM 323 & COMM 322. COMM 323 is considered the most challenging course in Finance, while COMM 322 is considered the easiest. I attained a B- in COMM 323 and wrote the exams symptom free. When I had written COMM 322 with my symptoms I attained a final grade of D as the exam consisted of 60 of the final grade. In order to make sure this does not happen again I have gone to Accessibility Services to learn about the required protocol if symptoms do occur during testing. In addition I have begun to schedule check ins with my doctor to ensure symptoms do not reoccur in a debilitating way as they have in the past. Thank you for your time and consideration in reviewing my appeal.

Sincerely,
Adam Kadoch
Student ID: 10022274