Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To the office of the Associate Dean and whom it may concern,

I am appealing to waive the one term deadline for requesting to drop a course.

This first portion is supplementary information which will be included in a follow up appeal if this is granted.
I suffer from chronic migraines which effect my ability to attend certain lectures and classes, as a result of this I was unable to complete an essential assignment for SPAN 111.
These chronic migraines inhibit my ability to attend certain lectures and days of classes due to severe pain. Also attached in the files is a note from a doctor confirming this, and similar documentation directly from the physician to the Queens was also filed for residence placement. This was a group presentation which I played a significant role in writing that I was asked to leave by group through a series of vulgar and mean comments referencing how I missed class and lacked dedication. They were not aware that they were referencing a medical condition and requested I leave the group one day before the presentation. I immediately had correspondence with my instructor and requested some form of group or assignment change. I was then given 4 days to create and perform a solo Spanish presentation on an entirely different topic I had not worked on or researched and was unable to complete the assignment in time. I received a failing grade for this course following the 21-day deadline, resulting in me missing the first opportunity to appeal. I then had plans to meet with an academic advisor later in the second term as per the one term deadline. However, prior to correspondence the global pandemic began and I was requested to return to my home in Calgary Alberta. This was a tremendously stressful time of moving out of a residence room and attempting to find storage for my belongings and then travelling to Calgary which took a couple weeks. By this time the exam study period had begun and I attempted to complete my second term courses. This combination of extenuating circumstances as a result of the global pandemic and a complete shift in living situation prevented me from filing an appeal in the proper time. Following the end of the exam period I had correspondence with a close friend who helped me through the appeal process. The secondary reasoning for this appeal occurring now is that I now realize the effect that this course had on my degree planning and further studies, likely preventing me completely from entering the programs of choice despite a 3.0 GPA across all other courses. Thus this appeal is the first of two based on significant social circumstances that affected me mentally and the medical condition with associated doctors note which affected me physically and prevented me from completing the course fairly. Furthermore, this first appeal is based on the extenuating circumstances of the global pandemic which warranted a complete change in living situation and life style which prevented me from filing an appeal due to other major concerns.
I am currently seeking help for these chronic migraines through meetings with physicians and have an appointment with a migraine specialist to hopefully make this pain more controllable for my daily life. I also will be following up this appeal as mentioned before for the issues with my Spanish class and have plans to retake the course whenever my program allows an elective or perhaps the second portion of the summer 2020 semester.

Ryley Lowe