Petition Letter
Dear Associate Dean,
I am writing to formally petition for Credit Standing (CR) in my course PSYC 331: Introduction to Personality for the 2025 Winter semester.
The university strike significantly disrupted the semester and negatively impacted my ability to succeed in this course. 90% of the final grade I received in this course was based on the highest mark on either the midterm exam or essay. Neither of these options accurately reflect my understanding of the material due to circumstances I will describe below.
At the time of the midterm exam, I was dealing with important issues in my personal life, including my sister battling cancer, and I had made a conscious decision to limit the amount of time I put into midterm exam preparation. I made this prioritization decision after reviewing the weight of the remaining assessments, the essay and final exam, to ensure my final grade would accurately reflect my understanding of the material. I did not perform to the best of my ability on the midterm exam, largely due to the amount of preparation time, and the strike took away my opportunity to complete the remaining assessments.
I did not submit an essay for this course because of an email from the professor explicitly deferring the due date to one week after the strike's conclusion. The March 5 email stated the following:
“THE DEADLINE FOR THE PSYCHOBIOGRAPHY ESSAYS WILL BE DELAYED IN THE EVENT OF A STRIKE! Considering that the essays are due after the strike date, I am extending the deadline if a strike happens, because students will not be able to attend office hours during the week leading up to the deadline (i.e., from March 10th to 17th). The extension will be 1 week AFTER strike action concludes.”
When I received this March 5 email, I had nearly completed the essay, but I wanted to use the office hours to clarify a few key points before finalizing the essay. Had I known I would not be allowed to submit the essay after the conclusion of the strike, I would have submitted it at that time.
When the course later adopted a grading policy that would take the higher grade of either the midterm or the essay, no opportunity was provided to submit outstanding essays. Submitting outstanding essays was prohibited because the strike ended after April 23, and the “course was officially over”, even though this directly contradicted the professor's instructions in the March 5 email. The lack of transparency and changing direction in this matter led to an unfair outcome for me.
The C- grade assigned to me in this course is not representative of my academic ability. My GPA before receiving this grade was 3.94, making this a significant outlier relative to all the other grades on my transcript. If left to stand as-is, it may impact my ability to pursue post-graduate studies and may negatively impact my long-term career ambitions.
Given the disruption caused by the strike, the inconsistent communication, and the unexpected grading policy change, I respectfully request that a Credit Standing (CR) be granted for PSYC 331 instead of a letter grade. This is a fair and appropriate resolution that accounts for the unique challenges that prevented me from demonstrating my full understanding of the course material.
Thank you for your time and consideration. I am happy to provide any further documentation or clarification if needed.
Sincerely,
Christine Teshima (20315075)
I am writing to formally petition for Credit Standing (CR) in my course PSYC 331: Introduction to Personality for the 2025 Winter semester.
The university strike significantly disrupted the semester and negatively impacted my ability to succeed in this course. 90% of the final grade I received in this course was based on the highest mark on either the midterm exam or essay. Neither of these options accurately reflect my understanding of the material due to circumstances I will describe below.
At the time of the midterm exam, I was dealing with important issues in my personal life, including my sister battling cancer, and I had made a conscious decision to limit the amount of time I put into midterm exam preparation. I made this prioritization decision after reviewing the weight of the remaining assessments, the essay and final exam, to ensure my final grade would accurately reflect my understanding of the material. I did not perform to the best of my ability on the midterm exam, largely due to the amount of preparation time, and the strike took away my opportunity to complete the remaining assessments.
I did not submit an essay for this course because of an email from the professor explicitly deferring the due date to one week after the strike's conclusion. The March 5 email stated the following:
“THE DEADLINE FOR THE PSYCHOBIOGRAPHY ESSAYS WILL BE DELAYED IN THE EVENT OF A STRIKE! Considering that the essays are due after the strike date, I am extending the deadline if a strike happens, because students will not be able to attend office hours during the week leading up to the deadline (i.e., from March 10th to 17th). The extension will be 1 week AFTER strike action concludes.”
When I received this March 5 email, I had nearly completed the essay, but I wanted to use the office hours to clarify a few key points before finalizing the essay. Had I known I would not be allowed to submit the essay after the conclusion of the strike, I would have submitted it at that time.
When the course later adopted a grading policy that would take the higher grade of either the midterm or the essay, no opportunity was provided to submit outstanding essays. Submitting outstanding essays was prohibited because the strike ended after April 23, and the “course was officially over”, even though this directly contradicted the professor's instructions in the March 5 email. The lack of transparency and changing direction in this matter led to an unfair outcome for me.
The C- grade assigned to me in this course is not representative of my academic ability. My GPA before receiving this grade was 3.94, making this a significant outlier relative to all the other grades on my transcript. If left to stand as-is, it may impact my ability to pursue post-graduate studies and may negatively impact my long-term career ambitions.
Given the disruption caused by the strike, the inconsistent communication, and the unexpected grading policy change, I respectfully request that a Credit Standing (CR) be granted for PSYC 331 instead of a letter grade. This is a fair and appropriate resolution that accounts for the unique challenges that prevented me from demonstrating my full understanding of the course material.
Thank you for your time and consideration. I am happy to provide any further documentation or clarification if needed.
Sincerely,
Christine Teshima (20315075)