Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean of Studies,

I am writing you to in hopes of a late appeal for an Aegrotat Grade in GPHY 351: Indigenous Geographies.

Over the Winter 2018 I was enrolled in GPHY 351: Indigenous Geographies. Despite my interest in the course I was unable to complete all of the course work and participate fully due to the extenuating circumstance of changing mental illness diagnosis. I arranged for an Incomplete over the summer months with Professor Godlewska but was still unable to complete the remaining course work as my mental health care, supports and resources were not yet developed enough to fit my new diagnosis.

As per my discussions with Professor Godlewska and my official SOLUS transcript I have completed over 60 of the coursework and finished the course with a D. I feel this low grade is a by-product of my ill health and does not accurately represent my ability if I were not facing the extenuating circumstances I experienced. I spoke with Professor Godlewska about the potential for filing an Aegrotat appeal in the Spring and again in the late Summer. She echoed her support in this measure.

My extenuating circumstances affected me in many ways. The most substantial way I was impacted was in my classroom attendance. Due to my changing diagnosis I have had to spend a lot of time working to re-calibrate my support network and health team to better reflect my needs. For much of the year, prior to and whilst working through a more appropriate diagnosis, this meant I was without appropriate care and even taking regular medicines that unknowingly had a negative impact on my wellbeing. This took not only a lot of time but also energy. Since, GPHY 351 was participation and attendance based I felt a significant barrier to my success. While I have accommodations with Student Accessibility Services my professor was limited in what she felt she could accommodate in the classroom due to the integrated and collaborative learning model she used in her teaching. I did discuss this with my professor at the beginning of term but could not accurately predict how difficult my soon to come shift in wellbeing and diagnosis would be. The importance of attendance in determining my final grade is what differentiates my performance in this class from the others I took this past Winter, as my other classes were better able to accommodate my attendance and participation needs. I will account for this when picking academic courses in the future.

As the Winter term was ending I took incompletes in most of my classes. Despite completing all of these other classes I was still unable to finish the outstanding work for GPHY 351. I attribute this disparity to the communication barrier between my GPHY 351 professor and myself, as compared to the appropriate and thorough support and modifications on assignments I received from my other professors. Their ability to work with me and my accommodations to make the assignments accessible was critical to my success. Again, throughout the summer I had to spend a considerable amount of time on my health in the form of Occupational Therapists, Counselling, General Practitioner appointments, Psychiatry, and self-led therapy workbooks. Since I was the farthest behind in GPHY 351 it was harder to get on top off amidst ill health and critical health management.

The reason why it has taken me so long to complete this Aegrotat appeal is because I have continued to struggle with developing a health team into this fall. In short, the extenuating circumstances that prevented my from completing the course tto the best of my ability have remained. It is only recently since further implementing Occupational Therapy practices that I have started to find balancing and completing school work more manageable. Things have also changed as I have began my final year in Concurrent Education and have moved into more practical and less academically demanding work that fits my learning and goals better. These changes in my health have meant I am now able to write to you regarding this appeal. Additionally, I believed since I had a Summer incomplete in the course I would be able to appeal into the Fall.

Overall, I wish I had been able to give GPHY 351: Indigenous Geographies. It is such an important course and I believe Professor Godlewska has a unique approach to the work. Unfortunately it was not the case due to my changing mental illness diagnosis and poor wellbeing. I appreciate you taking the time to read and consider my appeal. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Emma McCallum