Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Hello,

Before I detail my experience with the BIOL 403 course and the instructors, I'd like to clarify that the reason this appeal wasn't submitted earlier this month is because I did not want it to impact my performance in other courses more than it already has. Also, I have been trying to see a psychologist to get further documentation regarding the anxiety and stress this course has provided me. I was able to see a medical profession on April 20th, 2022. With that being said, I made the decision that this appeal is absolutely necessary for me and my academic career after repeated displays of unprofessionalism and unprovoked belittling by the instructor, Laurent Seroude, and his teaching assistant.

The reason I found myself stuck with this course and it's instructors is because the course didn't start until February 28th, one week before the deadline to drop. The course is an in-person lab course. I enrolled in the course late, shortly after the start of the winter semester and prior to the last to date to add courses. I was expecting to find course information and material on OnQ, which I thought was standard practice for all Queen's undergrad courses. However, BIOL 403 did not have an OnQ page and there was no way to reach the teaching team. From what I heard, Seroude emailed all the students who were enrolled on the first day of the semester with instructions for how to access the course material from his own website as well as a link to a Zoom chat. Since I joined late, I was not given access to the Zoom link or course URL. I went to Queen's biology website to try and find some information. I was able to see that there was a link. However, when I clicked the link, my anti-virus software prohibited me from accessing it due the site being an unsecured private connection. Being unfamiliar with this situation, I figured that the link located in the biology department's website under BIOL 403 was not working.

Seroude eventually provided me with the course information via email on March 8th, 4 days after the last date to drop courses.

When I went to see him in-person for the first time, I was immediately caught off-guard by how rude he was to me. The first thing he said to me is why are you here/what are you doing with a very uninviting tone/body language. Because the course website has very minimal information for how to conduct the labs, I asked him about some the calculations and he replied, this math is for kindergarteners, I cannot help you with math this easy and walked away. Not even 30 minutes later, he proceeds to help one of my peers with the same exact calculations I asked for help with. This is what made me to believe he had a problem with me for some unknown reason. I always show respect to my professors, so I know I did not give him any reasons to resent me.

After not receiving any guidance with calculations on where I can find information on how to do them, I was noticeably struggling with the calculations test. Seroude walked up to my desk and asked, are you struggling with the test? I replied yes and then he proceeded to rip the test away from desk and say get out of the lab in front of several peers. This experience was humiliating, embarrassing, and extremely unnecessary.

I left the lab with a strong feeling of anxiety, frustration, and confusion. From that moment on, I experienced anxiety whenever I thought about the course or Seroude, especially during the days leading up to a scheduled lab, I would not sleep or eat well, and my hands would begin to tremble.

During my last encounter with Seroude, I went into the lab (I scheduled this lab several days prior during a time when no one else had scheduled) and there was another student doing their lab at my assigned bench. Seroude saw me walk in and then shouted across the lab room ??Faruqi, get out No lab for you today.? Again, this made me feel belittled, embarrassed, and frustrated especially because I made sure to schedule during a time no-one else had. It seemed as if Seroude and the T.A. did this to me on purpose. When I asked the T.A. if I can complete the lab at any other station (all of which were empty) she said ??absolutely not.? I then asked her how is this possible and how come I have to be punished for their scheduling error. She immediately got angry and yelled, ??If I were you, I would not push your luck with me. We have accommodated you plenty.? To my understanding, that is an open-ended threat. I was worried that both of them would grade me unfairly or harass me more. I wasn't sure. I am sure that this sort of behavior from a teaching team doesn't belong at a prestigious university like Queen's in 2022.
My father is a professor at McGill's medical school. He was shocked and disgusted when I explained my experiences. He said that if an instructor acted like this at McGill, they would be reprimanded almost immediately.
Overall, my relationship with Seroude and his T.A. were rapidly deteriorating with unprovoked belittling. After the open-ended threat, I made the decision to never come in contact with those two again over fear this might permanently affect my academic and professional career. If I had a chance to meet the teaching team when the semester started like almost every other course, there is no doubt that I would have 100% dropped this course and added a different 400-level biology course. This course continues to impact my mental wellbeing since I would have to take it again and face the two instructors who brought me this stress next semester if I cannot drop it.

Regards,
Alex
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My supporting documentation:
-Screenshot of email inbox showing first communication between professor and I on March 8
-Screenshot showing the contents of the first email. Note that the professor says he only communicates through Zoom and has no email communication. I never had the opportunity to meet with him before deadline. Also take note to how Professor Seroude included everyone's names in the email to be visible. Another form of embarrassment in front of my peers. He should've BCC'd everyone rather than having our names visible to one another.
-Screenshot showing how the professor's course website is not easily accessible. (Private & unsecure)
-Screenshot showing the link from the Queen's Biology department regarding Biol 403 is not working.
-My father insisted or writing a note since he was in close contact with me during these challenging times.
-A note from Dr. Al Sawaf.