Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Hello,

My name is Marlee Kamen (student 10191840) I am appealing my final grade in PSYC100 online as a result of my final exam grade from the winter term. I am a student in the concurrent education program here at Queens, as part of the program PSYC100 is a required course to continue in the program. I have just completed my second year, I am a sociology major who has delved into the Psychology topics and done well but when it came to the introduction to Psychology I struggled with the material pertaining to certain topics. I took PSYC100 online because being a second year student I have the opportunity to pick my courses last out of all the years. When I made it to selection the only date left open with a tutorial time was Friday at 4:30. As a traditional Jewish individual I did not feel comfortable having a mandatory tutorial each Friday that would be leading into Shabbat. Having never experiencing a problem like this before I did not believe I could email someone to try and get into a closed tutorial so I instead opted to take the online form of the course.

When clicking on the online selection I realized it might be easier on myself. Last year I left school for a month to undergo spine surgery and only returned to complete my winter exams. I felt that having one course online would ease my pain as I would not have to travel as often to campus. I was given accommodations by the wellness centre for my chronic back pain in the 2015/2016 school year as well at the fall term of 2016 for my exams. When it came to renewing my application for the winter term of 2017, (my third advisor in my time here at Queens) I was made to feel that my pain was an unimportant issue that did not render me assistance when writing exams. It was difficult to keep sharing my story time and time again with all these different advisors. As a result of the insincerity I experienced, I did not renew my accommodations in December of 2016. A month later in January I slipped and fell on the ice in Kingston, resulting in a sprained ankle which has shifted all the muscles in my back, causing my pain to act up severely again. At exam time of the winter term I was having physiotherapy to try and render my back pain, something that has been unsuccessful, I am still experiencing pain in my right ankle due to the fall to this day (May 11, 2017).

On Monday May 8, 2017 I went on my OnQ page and calculated my total marks in the course which resulted as a 62.08 I was satisfied with my mark because as I said, I struggled greatly with the scientific approach that this PSYC course takes. Leaving the winter exam I felt confident that I had passed this exam, having done poorly on the midterm. When I saw my mark on the 8th I was shocked that I had failed by a mere 2.25. I went to my Solus to check on my mark and was completely shocked to see an F in the grade section. I emailed Jill Atkinson who forwarded my email to Cheryl Hamilton in which I stated that I believed my mark was a mistake. Cheryl responded saying what is written in the online PSYC100 syllabus, that if you fail the final you fail the course. This was not brought to my attention again prior to the exam because all my peers that had taken the course previously in class did not have this requirement in order to pass the course. Had I known this was a condition for the online requirement I would not have taken it online, but I felt that it was the only option for me because the time slot open did not fit with my schedule, and religious needs. I am not asking to switch into a program that would be almost impossible for me to get into. I am asking for you to take into consideration that this is one required course I need to take, and one in which I would have passed had I simply taken it in class.

If a change of the grade is not something you will grant would it be acceptable to put me in the summer online PSYC100 course so that I could get a second chance to try and do better in a course that is difficult for me. And if you allow me to enrol into the summer semester that I move the midterm as I was unaware that I would be in this situation and am out of town on the two dates that are offered for these midterm exams.

I hope that you can help me with one of these two options because I tried my best in a course that was extremely difficult for me, and had I just taken it in class I would not be in this situation.