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Petition Letter: Academic appeal



I am appealing my professor's decision to penalize my assignments with late penalties and ignore the guidelines from my Dr's note, and academic accommodations. Throughout the course, I have been impacted by domestic issues that have impacted my health and safety. During this pandemic, it has been extremely challenging to complete course work due to constantly having an inconsistent home., and constantly being out of the house for my safety, and well being. My psychologist, who has been in contact with Queen's has been aware of these issues and provided them extenuating circumstances form that indicates that the duration of my impact will be from July 26th to August 9th. Within this duration, I have been impacted with highly stressful environmental circumstances that have made it extremely difficult to complete my course work, let alone with the accommodation. I let my professor know, and she replied with the following response (see below).
Hi Stefan,

Thanks for your patience. I've received your academic consideration from Commerce and I'm happy to move forward on this.

I want to clarify something - as per your consideration letter, you are being granted not a blanket extension on all course work for the full 2 weeks affected, but accommodations reflecting your reduced ability to engage in course work, which is to be negotiated with the instructor. Because of the fast pace of a course like COGS 100 and the need to return marks and feedback to students promptly, it is not possible to extend assignments for more than a certain period of time.

I have granted you an extension on Challenge 5, the Mind Map, and the Prolog assignment until 3:30 pm EST on August 7th, but please note that they cannot be extended further.

Apart from that, the course timeline page contains all the information about what is due when. If you need extensions or waivings of late penalties on any other assignment that was due during the affected period, I will need you to name the specific assignments and the amount of extension you need in order to finish them.

Best,



I responded to the Professor noting that this deadline was very tight for me to complete, and I needed the accommodations as listed by my Dr to effectively complete my work. See my response below.

Hi Professor,

Thank you for further clarification. Would you be able to kindly allow me to submit my work by 8PM today(August the 7th) I have a lot of stuff going on, and I don't think I'd be able to get everything in before 3:30 today. Would that be okay


My professor responded that if I were to submit my work before 8 PM on August 7th, and if my TA's review it on time she would not count late marks. Otherwise, if they cannot mark it, my work would be counted late. Due to the high amounts of stress that I have been living with, I went ahead and rushed to complete my assignments. I was able to get all my prior work prior to 8 PM. I shortly then replied a couple of days later that I would appreciate if late marks were not counted, as my accommodation later was overlooked due to not following the required dates for my unavailability for my Dr's note.

What is even more frustrating is that despite having to rush to get my work in prior to the 8PM deadline on August 7th because the TA's were required to finish marking by the end of the day on August the 7th, I did not receive my grades for those assignments until August 11th, and the 12th. This is frustrating because my friend who is in this class had also received his grades for the following assignments I have listed on those dates, meanwhile, he submitted those assignments on time, and way before the deadline. So, therefore, I had been put in an unfair position to rush to complete my assignments in a time frame that goes against my accommodation letter which notes that I am impacted with my eventuating circumstances within that time frame just so the TA's could finish the marking by the end of that night on August the 7th (as they were instructed to do so). Meanwhile, I had not received the grades for my assignments on August the 7th which was the expected time for the work to be finished marking. I had eventually received my grades for the assignments at the same time as my other classmates who submitted their assignments on time, which was August the 11th, and 12th. However, I was impacted by the late penalties.

Moreover, it is unfair that despite my documentation indicating that I was facing extenuating circumstances from July 26th till August 9th, these circumstances were not taken seriously. These circumstances have had serious repercussions on my mental well being and domestic safety. In addition, it is upsetting to see that I was essentially forced to submit my work on the 7th with the understanding that everything would be marked and submitted within that day. Meanwhile, I had received my grades for my work at the exact same time as my classmates who submitted their work on time (the original deadline). I believe I should not be penalized with late deductions, and my academic accommodations noting my extenuating circumstances be taken with the consideration that my Dr had requested on my behalf.


Within appeal form, you will find the original copy of my form indicating extenuating circumstances. I look forward to hearing from you throughout this process. See below the copy and pasted email from Queen's indicating the dates of my extenuating circumstances.

Commerce AACC commerce.aacc@queensu.ca
Tue 2020-08-04 3:31 PM


To: Stefan Evreniadis

Good afternoon,

The Commerce Office has been informed that student Stefan Evreniadis (20026072) is experiencing extenuating circumstances. Their performance is affected starting July 26, 2020, and their anticipated duration of the impairment is 1-2 weeks (August 9, 2020).

The student¿¿s condition is mild/moderate - unable to fulfill some academic obligations. Specifically, their health condition may require occasional absences from class, additional time to complete assignments, and the rescheduling of timed evaluations (i.e., tests, quizzes, midterms, and final exams). Consideration may also be required for in-class participation and group work. Consideration in regards to course deliverables during this time is appreciated.

It is the student¿¿s responsibility to work with each professor to determine academic consideration for any missed or affected deliverables during this time.

Thank you and please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

Commerce Office
Smith School of Business, Queen¿¿s University
Room 130, Goodes Hall
Commerce.AACC@queensu.ca