Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: December 12th, 2019

Dr. Jean Stephenson
Queen¿¿s University
Associate Dean of Studies

Dear Dr. Stephenson,
I am submitting this appeal to drop EMPR 220 (Fall 2019), an elective of mine. During the last week of November, I fell ill and was in bed to rest for quite some time. The specific date my symptoms began was November 24th, 2019. I felt extremely sick and as a personal precaution, I visited the CDK walk-in clinic on Princess Street after a few days of rest and no sign of symptom relief. This was on November 27th. The doctor at the clinic filled out a Queen¿¿s Verification of Personal Health Condition form stating that the anticipated full recovery time would be 1-2 weeks.

I informed my professors for the courses whose classes my condition would affect. I was granted 2 minor extensions by the courses requiring such, even so during the time of my extension, my symptoms remained. I am only requesting to appeal for the one course (EMPR 220) as it is an online course. Some more detail of my condition may shed some light on my struggle with an online course during my period of illness. In-short, being sick affected me physically but was especially difficult for my eyes which made using my computer and other screens problematic. The doctor even suggested I rest them as much as possible in-order to achieve a faster recovery. As I progressed over my week and a half recovery period, I was able to get to my on-campus classes and take notes via pen and paper but was unable to focus on my laptop screen for a while due to eye irritation. It simply made me pose the question, how am I to succeed if I am unable to learn properly.

In this specific course I was struggling early in the semester with some low grades. I was relying on the second half of the semester and the final exam to pull up my grades, but my redemption plan was brutally derailed. After falling ill and the place it set me back to, I simply feel that there is no return.

Going forward, I am willing to re-take the course either during the summer or next year. To ensure this doesn¿¿t occur again, I plan to assert myself more intensely right from the beginning of each semester so there is no redemption needed.

I appreciate the time being taken to review my case and I hope this process finds an appropriate conclusion based on your findings. If there are any further questions or concerns, I would be pleased to provide any information necessary.

Sincerely,

Alexander Leckebusch-Peters
17ATLP@queensu.ca