Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean (Studies),

I am writing as an appeal to drop PHIL 259 (Fall 2017). The course instructor, Dr. Salay, has been kind enough to provide a letter in support of this appeal.

Before the academic deadline (but after the financial deadline) to drop, I made the decision that I needed to lighten my course load. I am working near-full-time hours as a Junior Policy Analyst with the Government of Canada's Accessibility Secretariat - the team that is developing the new federal accessibility legislation - and on top of work demands, I was dealing with some distressing family matters. Although I had genuinely enjoyed PHIL 259 thus far, and had been doing well, I made the decision to drop the course. I've successfully dropped courses before, so I can't speak to what exactly went wrong, but I believed I had successfully dropped PHIL 259. Though I saw the course on OnQ, I didn't think anything of it because courses often continue to be visible after dropping or completion. On November 29th, I went on to Solus to check my schedule for the next term (I work at Queen's Campus Security as an Emergency Report Centre Operator and they required my work availability for when I return to campus next semester) and noticed that PHIL 259 was still on my current schedule. I attempted to go through the drop process again for the course in case its continued appearance on my schedule was just a glitch - of course, this was unsuccessful. As I was under the impression that the course was dropped, I did not participate in any graded assessments since.

In the past two days, I have spoken with the registrar's office and an academic advisor, all of whom informed me that my only option at this point is to submit an appeal. I have also since spoken with Dr. Nancy Salay, the course instructor, who is an incredibly understanding and generous person; she has written the attached email in support of my appeal.

As PHIL 259 is an elective and not a requirement to graduate as part of my plan, I will not be needing to re-take this course. I have fulfilled most of my plan requirements, with the exception of two PSYC credits, which I am enrolled in for next semester. I plan to graduate in June 2018. I have applied to law school for Fall 2018 and also have an offer of full-time employment following graduation, so I am currently considering weighing options for my future. If this appeal is denied, I am essentially guaranteed to fail PHIL 259, which would seriously compromise my GPA and future prospects.

Thank you, sincerely, for your time and consideration.

Regards,
Ramisa (Rhemi) Huq