Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Deans,

I am appealing to receive aegrotat standing in the following courses for the winter semester of 2015: POLS384, POLS364, and POLS212. I have completed course work excluding exams for all three courses, which has amounted to at least 60. Unfortunately, my extenuating circumstances for this appeal regard arthroscopic hip surgery. The surgery will take place on March 31, 2015 in Toronto, Ontario at Women¿¿s College Hospital due to a torn labrum and femoroacetabular impingement. This will be my second hip surgery within a span of eight months, which has provided me with the experience to recognize I will not be able to write my upcoming exams, as the attached note from my surgeon Lucas Murnaghan will justify.
Post-surgery requires a rigorous six-month recovery with daily physical activity to regain the ability to walk, run, and strengthen the hip. Before this, I am limited to bed-rest for a month, and will be consuming anti-inflammatories as well as pain relievers, such as oxycodone upwards to two weeks making it near impossible to study during this time. Based on my last surgery, the aforementioned medication makes it extremely difficult to concentrate and delivers side effects, which include: nausea, vomiting, constipation, lightheadedness, dizziness, and drowsiness. In addition to these side effects, the surgery itself provides significant pain to my hip and limits almost all movement. This two-week span also puts me in the midst of my exams as I write on April 10, 17, and 21st.
During recovery from my first surgery I started feeling symptoms of a torn labrum in my other hip. The symptoms escalated early in the semester, which resulted in my choice to drop POLS331 in order to lighten workload as I saw a potential surgery in the horizon. In regards to my future plans at Queen¿¿s, this surgery will put me behind my projected goal of graduating with my Political Honors degree after four years. Every summer I have taken electives in order to maintain sights on this goal as being a member of the Queen¿¿s Men¿¿s Basketball team makes it difficult to be enrolled in five courses per semester due to time commitments and traveling. However, this summer I will not be able to enroll in summer courses and these will have to be made up in a semester after my fourth year.
It would be greatly appreciated if this appeal is strongly considered for aegrotat standing. If declined, the deferral of my exams to September will further place stress on my academics for the upcoming year.

Thank you,
Sukhpreet Singh