Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean (Academic),

I am appealing to drop WRIT 125 (Winter, 2022).

On March 27th, I was a victim of a criminal offence that resulted in my laptop and my wallet being stolen. I had an assignment for this course due around that time and I contacted Professor Prinsen the day after the event regarding my situation; she was kind enough to grant me an extension so that I could obtain a computer and complete my assignment. Unfortunately, I was unaware that my debit card was stolen until fraudulent charges were made a few days after the event. These transactions significantly depleted my funds and I did not have enough money for a computer. By this time, a discussion post worth a large portion of my grade was closed and a due date for another assignment was getting near. My time was consumed by the emotional and physical stress of having to deal with the aftermath of the event as well as communicating with the police and with my bank to try and recoup my funds.

I am taking three other courses this semester and the reason why those courses were not affected much was that the due dates of their respective assignments did not intersect with the event, which was not the case for WRIT 125. Also, the nature of the assignments of the other courses at the time was not as time-consuming. I am fortunate enough to have friends that lent me their computer to complete those assignments, however, I could not ask to use their computer for the assignments of WRIT 125 as they had their own school work to do during this time. This was when I decided to consolidate my efforts in the three other courses I knew were not affected as much.

The timing of this event was unfortunate as it was near the end of the semester and there were other lengthy steps that I had to complete such as communicating with the police, attempting to recoup my funds, and gaining access to a computer. I have an email chain with Professor Prinsen regarding the extension for the first assignment that I mentioned as well as an email chain with my TA discussing my options which included applying for an academic appeal to drop this course. I also have the incident number for my police report, however, it is still an ongoing investigation.

Should my appeal be granted, I will look at potentially retaking this course in the future as it is an area where I can see improvement for myself.

Sincerely,

Jay Hyuk Cho