Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean,

I am appealing to receive an aegroat grade for my ENGL 100 course. I have talked to my instructor, Professor Pierce, in this course over my potential options moving forward, whose suggestion it was that I pursue this end.

Unfortunately towards the end of the Winter semester I had several major issues with my back and neck. Around 6 years ago I fractured my C5 and C7 vertebrae in a skiing accident and have since suffered from various neurological issues as a result of nerve damage. Although these problems persisted, they were generally manageable and nothing of any serious note occurred until on the 3rd April, whereupon while walking to the washroom in Victoria Hall in the morning, I collapsed and was unable to stand back up, necessitating paramedics having to come into the hall and carry me on a stretcher to an ambulance. A similar scenario occurred again on the 15th April where an ambulance was also called, one day before my POLS 110 exam and two before my ENGL 100 exam. I was told by the doctor that with a recurring injury like this it was critical that I see a physio consistently over a prolonged period of time, with rest over the next few days and potentially over the long term naturally very important. I re-arranged my politics exam over to the Tuesday and took my economics exam on the Monday. However, having been talking to my English Professor throughout, I explained to him that as a result of my neck injury I was prone to brutal and overwhelming headaches. This did not prove a problem with the Economics paper which, consisting solely of multiple-choice questions, was not in practise a particularly long exam. However, despite being able to stand up and move around during the Politics paper, a benefit of taking it by myself, I really struggled to focus for long periods of time under the pain and I believe that my exam result suffered as a result; a B- compared to the B in the previous term paper. My English Professor suggested at this time, with the English exam an hour longer than the Politics, that an aegrotat would be my best option, taking into account that I had completed all the required work up until this point and that it seemed very unlikely that I would be able to complete the paper, let alone to my best ability.

Looking forward, I have already undergone a GP assessment in the UK (my country of residence) and having had physio in the Queen¿¿s Recreation Centre facilities several times since the 15th April and now have plans for frequent sessions throughout the summer to address the issues with the intention of returning to Kingston fully fit and ready for the fall semester.