Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Board of Studies,

I would like to request a revision of my first appeal.

In my first appeal, I stated that the 2020-2021 school year was very hard for me both mentally and physically as no doctors were able to diagnose me with what I later came to understand was mononucleosis. In my first appeal, I requested that my grades from the winter term be changed to CR as they negatively impacted my GPA and do not accurately demonstrate where I stand academically. That semester I had to drop a class (something I had never done before) and got several B, B- and even a C. Those are to date the lost grades I have gotten while attending Queen??s University.

I explained that the professor who gave me the C grade was not understanding of my situation; she had no desire to see any doctor??s note and did not allow me to write my exam at a later date even though other students were allowed to do so. And, while my position for that specific grade was heard, meaning that the grade was changed to CR, I believe that the other grades that term should have also been changed to CR. I was so weak that I often fell asleep on my computer despite having slept a full 8hours the night before, and found it extremely hard to focus as a result. Had I been given a diagnosis earlier on I would have taken the semester off and rested, but the semester had already started and I had no answers and no diagnosis to grant me time off.

I am now in my last year at Queen??s University with only two courses left to complete in my degree, and so I am thinking about the future and the possibility of going to grad school in the coming years. That being said, in order to do so and have a competitive GPA that reflects where I stand I would need to retake those courses. I would completely understand retaking a course that I believe I could have perhaps done better in if I was not sick, but I was sick and weak and so the decision to keep those grades as they are simply does not sit right with me. The fact that I will have to redo classes that I already had to push myself to complete when I was at my lowest, otherwise they will remain on my transcript as an inaccurate reflection of where I stand academically, just seems unfair.

The reason I am revising my first appeal at this time is because I was unaware that I could appeal the decision of the Associate Deans. That being said, I feel that my position deserves to be heard.

I am proud to be a Queen??s student and look forward to being a Queen??s Allum soon, where I can say that Queen??s University prepared me and supported me in preparation for my next academic chapter.

Sincerely,

Julia Johnson
20147365