Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Appeal Letter: Dear Board of Studies and whomever it may concern:

I am writing this letter as an appeal to drop my enrolment in CISC 203 after the drop deadline. I am requesting an appeal for this decision in part because I was unaware of the level of detail requested in my previous letter. As such, I am providing more information in this appeal.
The circumstances of my appeal are unique from a traditional request to drop from a course. On February 15th, a close mentor and friend of mine, Charles Juravinksi, passed due to poor health. I met Charles five years ago, and he became a close mentor of mine. Charles was far older than me in age, and he had reached a point in his life where he wished to donate his estate to Hamilton Health Sciences. Over the course of the last few years, Charlie gave me the opportunity to study under him and help improve his investment portfolio. In this appeal, I am submitting some of the work Charlie and I did over the last few years.

I enrolled in CISC 203 in January. When Charlie passed, I had a quiz due for CISC 203 the in two days (February 17). Due to personal stress and anxiety, I missed the quiz and had to request the professor for an extension. I hoped that this would have been the only circumstance where I would need to request for accommodation due to this incident in CISC 203.
On March 4th, it was ??the last day to drop winter term courses without academic penalty?. In my original appeal to drop CISC 203, I was informed by the Dean to keep a close watch on my academic performance and to assess whether I would need to drop a course before March 4th. I am requesting that my circumstances be accommodated because between February 17th and March 4th, CISC 203 did not have any assessments or assignments, therefore my academic performance could not be assessed. During this period, I was not able to attend class due to personal circumstances and anxiety throughout the semester. I hoped that by the time of the next assignment, I would be able to catch up. The next assignment was due after the final course drop deadline. When the next assignment came around, my anxiety and stress was amplified, and I was unable to complete further tasks. I did manage to submit the next assignment, but it was 24 hours late.

It was at this time that I knew I had to drop the course. I had never dropped from a course at Queen??s before and was unaware of the process. I emailed my Professor, who guided me to email the CISC department head. After I emailed the CISC department head, it was 7 days after I was told that I must file the first appeal. I due recognize that I could have Googled the appeal process, but I ask that the circumstances also be recognized that it is quite hard to understand the process and logistics of Queen??s after two years of virtual schooling. Hence, I emailed my professor for support.

Again, the original decision that declined my request stated that it is my responsibility to monitor my performance during the weeks before the course drop deadline. I ask that my circumstances with the course be understood as there was no assessment on the date of my friend??s passing and the date of the course drop deadline. Furthermore, up to this point, I had only received 25% of my grade, which was in generally good standing. As such, I could not have been aware of my grade standing if I should drop the course by the official deadline.

The last few months have both been emotional and a learning experience. Up to this point, I have not dropped from a course at Queen??s past the second week. This process has made me aware of the dates for specific administrative items at Queen??s and to closely monitor these dates. Moving forward, I plan to closely monitor the dates of course related actions closely and to assess my performance and mental state in each course ahead of any deadline.

I would be happy to provide additional documentation.

All the best,

Lucas Gordon