Petition Letter
Dear Associate Dean,
I am writing to petition for a Credit Standing for my 2023 Winter Term PHIL 260 Introduction to Logic Course. On July 25th, 2022, I met with a Queens Academic Advisor to discuss what courses I needed to take for my Politics Philosophy Major-Medial. The discussion and advice were very beneficial to me, except for the fact that I was told I needed to take PHIL 260 Logic as a core course requirement when, in fact, I did not. PHIL 260 is only a required course for Queen's students who are enrolled as a Philosophy Major, and the course was not required for my Medial. During my discussion with the Advisor, I made an emphasis on the fact that I did not want to take any courses that required any mathematics or statistics because it is not my strong area of learning, and it is the sole reason I am enrolled in writing courses. Unfortunately, I was advised that I needed to take PHIL 260 as a requirement (core course), and the course was extremely difficult for me. On top of ongoing medical issues, which required academic consideration already, this course was most difficult and required many hours per week, which could have been allocated to other courses, and ultimately, I believe it did, in fact take time away from my other courses. I ended up receiving a D in the course after barely passing, and it was not until a discussion with another peer (this year) who is also in a Politics-Philosophy Medial that I learned PHIL 260 Logic was not a required course for students enrolled in a medial. This course was the only course drastically impacted because the nature of the course is mathematics rather than writing, and I would have undoubtedly dropped the course earlier if I knew that this was the case. I believe that I should be able to put full trust in the recommendations of Queen's academic advisors, and the grade I received is ultimately due to (or at least influenced) by the recommendations of the Academic advisor. The main issue of this problem is that I have the meeting details of the Zoom and email records, but I filled in my recommendations from the academic advisor live, and we filled in my requirements together in a bar graph on my computer. This screenshot is during the meeting when I was told to take PHIL 260, but I don't have any more information because it was during a live meeting.
My thoughts are that there was confusion as to what degree I was completing and miscommunication during the call. Along with the difficulties of this course, I also faced aggravating factors such as ongoing academic consideration for a recurring illness. Every winter term I have faced challenges with illness, and as seen in my consideration requests, they have always been the same challenges with lung issues and have been long-term requests. This illness was certainly a factor in my academic progress both this semester (2024) and Winter of 2023 when I took the logic course. I think that moving forward, I should have applied for long-term accommodations, but the problem was that I did not know when I would be facing illness.
I am writing to petition for a Credit Standing for my 2023 Winter Term PHIL 260 Introduction to Logic Course. On July 25th, 2022, I met with a Queens Academic Advisor to discuss what courses I needed to take for my Politics Philosophy Major-Medial. The discussion and advice were very beneficial to me, except for the fact that I was told I needed to take PHIL 260 Logic as a core course requirement when, in fact, I did not. PHIL 260 is only a required course for Queen's students who are enrolled as a Philosophy Major, and the course was not required for my Medial. During my discussion with the Advisor, I made an emphasis on the fact that I did not want to take any courses that required any mathematics or statistics because it is not my strong area of learning, and it is the sole reason I am enrolled in writing courses. Unfortunately, I was advised that I needed to take PHIL 260 as a requirement (core course), and the course was extremely difficult for me. On top of ongoing medical issues, which required academic consideration already, this course was most difficult and required many hours per week, which could have been allocated to other courses, and ultimately, I believe it did, in fact take time away from my other courses. I ended up receiving a D in the course after barely passing, and it was not until a discussion with another peer (this year) who is also in a Politics-Philosophy Medial that I learned PHIL 260 Logic was not a required course for students enrolled in a medial. This course was the only course drastically impacted because the nature of the course is mathematics rather than writing, and I would have undoubtedly dropped the course earlier if I knew that this was the case. I believe that I should be able to put full trust in the recommendations of Queen's academic advisors, and the grade I received is ultimately due to (or at least influenced) by the recommendations of the Academic advisor. The main issue of this problem is that I have the meeting details of the Zoom and email records, but I filled in my recommendations from the academic advisor live, and we filled in my requirements together in a bar graph on my computer. This screenshot is during the meeting when I was told to take PHIL 260, but I don't have any more information because it was during a live meeting.
My thoughts are that there was confusion as to what degree I was completing and miscommunication during the call. Along with the difficulties of this course, I also faced aggravating factors such as ongoing academic consideration for a recurring illness. Every winter term I have faced challenges with illness, and as seen in my consideration requests, they have always been the same challenges with lung issues and have been long-term requests. This illness was certainly a factor in my academic progress both this semester (2024) and Winter of 2023 when I took the logic course. I think that moving forward, I should have applied for long-term accommodations, but the problem was that I did not know when I would be facing illness.