Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr.Stephenson,

I am appealing to drop the course Vector Calculus (MATH 221) that I am currently taking during Fall 2022 without academic penalty.

Over the ongoing term, I have fallen ill from a bad case of the flu (high fever of around 102F, headache, persistent productive cough, constant sneezing, nausea) and COVID (high fever of about 103F, headache, brain fog, persistent productive cough, nausea, diarrhea) on separate occasions; the former lasting for 2.5 weeks and the latter for 2 weeks. In both instances, I booked a doctor's appointment and had them complete the Verification of Personal Health Condition form after my checkup. In both cases, they filled out the anticipated duration of impairment as 1-2 weeks and stated that I might require timed evaluations to be rescheduled and extra time on assignments. My academic consideration request was approved both times (Severe/Serious from Period 1: September 26, 2022 - October 10, 2022, and Mild/Moderate from October 11 - 17, 2022 and Period 2: Mild/Moderate from October 24, 2022 - November 09, 2022. During both these periods of illness, I found it very difficult to study and catch up on missed assignments/quizzes due to my high fever and headache, making it impossible to work for lengthy periods of time, and my other symptoms aided in inconveniencing me. Additionally, the short gap between the culmination of my first illness (October 14, 2022) and the start of my subsequent illness (October 24, 2022) meant that I had little time to catch up on previously missed quizzes and assignments.

During the totality of these two periods, I missed three assessments in MATH 221 (Quiz 1, Quiz 2 and the Midterm totalling 50% of my overall grade). I requested Professor Harun Kir (of MATH 221) to take these assessments at a later date when I am feeling well; however, unlike my other professors, he elected to evaluate me based on the last three evaluations of the year (Quiz 3, Quiz 4 and the Final Exam). Due to the short time between the ending of my COVID symptoms (November 14, 2022), as well as catching up on numerous missed and upcoming assessments, and Quiz 3 (November 22, 2022), as well as the fact that understanding the concepts and doing the questions on Quiz 3 required an in-depth understanding of the content and performing practice questions from the first week onwards, rather than it being confined to the weeks tested for the quiz I emailed the professor requesting to take the quiz at a later date, as I did not have enough time to prepare for it. He suggested that I take the necessary steps to drop the course, as he believed that a math course in which both theoretical and conceptual concepts are being introduced requires time to learn, and it would not be possible to ready myself for the final exam in such a short time even if I am able to take the upcoming quizzes.

Ultimately, I believe that due to my two untimely illnesses in succession and the time involved in catching up on all the missed content and assessments, it is infeasible for me to learn all the content and perform the remaining assessments for MATH 221. I want to thank you for taking the time to read my petition, and I hope that I am able to drop the course without academic penalty.

Sincerely,
Anirudh Tiku (20224698)