Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: I am appealing for a credit standing grade in Canadian Tax Policy (ECON 240) and Introduction to Statistics (STAT 263) from the Winter 2020 term. In this letter, I will detail a timeline of my extenuating circumstances that provide reason for this appeal.

Both Professor Stewart of Canadian Tax Policy and Professor Molson of Introduction to Statistics offered me an Incomplete (IN) grade and the opportunity to complete the final examination before August 31st, 2020. I was unable to attend the examination in April, and it was necessary to defer these final examinations rather than apply a Pass (P) grade as each final examination accounted for more than 50 of my final grade.

The pandemic forced me to relocate to my family home from March to August of 2020. This situation was unforeseen and could not be prevented. During this time, my familial relations caused me significant distress. During the period of this examination, I suffered psychological abuse from members of my family and had to provide care for those that were additionally involved. The nature of this abuse did not enable me to collect significant documentation from professionals, however I have documentation of some related events and a letter from a friend who was aware of the situation. In June, a request to the justice of the peace was made to detain a family member that was a risk to¿them self or others. In August, I left home and have a lease agreement to substantiate this. I will continue to search for other possible documentation and will confirm by email when all documentation that is accessible to me is submitted. This circumstance impacted my academic performance through an inability to concentrate, memory loss, behavioural issues, and worsening of an existing medical condition. Management of the circumstance additionally necessitated a significant amount of my time and energy.

I communicated general information about this event and concerns about my accommodations under QSAS to my Accommodations Advisor, Meg Hall. Again, on August 11th, I inquired that although the circumstances that I was experiencing had intensified some of symptoms of a chronic condition, the extenuating circumstance was not a chronic condition and was not caused by one. I was instructed to not submit a request for Academic Consideration and to continue to communicate with my professors for accommodations under my QSAS Accommodation Letter. For this reason, I was only being accommodated to the extent that this circumstance intensified symptoms of depression. Academic Consideration would not remove the necessity to complete the final examination, though I am unsure whether other examination formats would have been available to me under this. It is important to note that my ability to determine alternative academic plans was further impacted by this trauma.

My circumstance continues to be managed on an ongoing basis so that it does not impede my academic performance. Most importantly, I do not reside or communicate with the abusive members of my family. I am committed to weekly sessions with a psychologist to manage my mental health, and I continue to work with Queen¿¿s Student Accessibility Services to support my wellbeing. I have demonstrated an increased capacity to complete academic responsibilities as I have completed all outstanding course work from HIST 260, HIST 270, and MATH 225 of the Summer 2020 term and my assessments are currently being graded. In addition to this, my academic performance in the Winter 2020 term allowed me to complete all of my assigned course work, with the exception of a final examination in ECON351 and ECON232 that will alternatively be completed in the beginning of January.