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What is a petition

A petition is a written request by a student which outlines exceptional circumstances they have faced which warrant consideration to be exempt from or have waived a Lassonde School of Engineering rule or regulation.  Submitting a petition is not always the best solution to an academic problem.  There may be alternative options available to remediate your situation, connect with an academic advisor as soon as possible to ensure you understand your options. 

Petitions must be submitted online, so prepare to scan and upload all of your petition documents when making your submission. Continue reading to learn more about required documentation.

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What can and can’t be petitioned?

Faculty rules can often be petitioned (e.g., drop deadline date or required withdrawal). Departmental rules (e.g., prerequisites and enrolment policies) and accreditation rules for professional programs cannot be altered via a petition.

What documents are required for a petition?

All petitions require a personal letter. Your personal letter must explain in detail all the exceptional circumstances you encountered that and why they warrant a rule or regulation being waived or altered for you. Your personal letter should be as long as necessary to outline your exceptional circumstances.  Include any and all relevant information you wish to have considered on your behalf. If your petition is being submitted beyond the deadlines, you must explain the lateness of the submission.

Additional documentation is also required based on each petition type. Please see below for more details. If the forms you submit are incomplete, you will need to explain their incompleteness and/or provide proof of your attempts to have them completed (i.e. emails sent to your instructors and/or the department requesting the forms be completed).

Note:

• Petitions may be denied solely due to lateness.
• An explanation is required for all late petitions.
• If you have encountered something exceptional in your life that has disrupted your studies, connect with an academic advisor as soon as possible to ensure you understand your options.

For detailed information on how to submit a petition, please review our video outlining the petition process.

Types of Petitions

• Personal Statement to help explain the exceptional challenges you encountered that impacted your studies and/or prevented you from dropping the course or withdrawing from the course via the online add/drop system. (If you are petitioning on medical grounds, you should include a completed Attending Physician’s Statement (APS) Note: An APS must include a stamp/licence number AND signature from the physician. APS forms without signatures & stamps from the physician will not be considered.)

• Completed Course Performance Summary Form *per course* (please note that petitions to drop courses which are submitted without the course performance summary form will be cancelled). If the forms you submit are incomplete, you will need to explain their incompleteness and/or provide proof of your attempts to have them completed (i.e. emails sent to your instructors and/or the department requesting the forms be completed).

• Submission Deadline: 2 months from the last day of classes of the relevant course(s). Petitions may be considered for up to a year after the last day of classes of the relevant course(s) only under exceptional circumstances.
For more information regarding this type of petition, feel free to review the Senate policy on Withdrawing from a course.

NOTE:

• If you are petitioning for late withdrawal from some but not all courses in a given term (e.g. 3 of the 5 courses you took in Fall 2018), be sure to address the selectivity of your request. Explain how your exceptional circumstances impacted only select courses, as opposed to all courses you were registered in. Petitions can be denied due to selectivity, so be sure to explain why you are being selective.

•  If exceptional circumstances aren’t present, recommended remediation is for students to repeat the course, which will replace the grade of record for the course in OCGPA calculations. 
Personal Statement to help explain the exceptional challenges you encountered that prevented you from adding the course via the online add/drop system

• Completed Petition to Enrol Late form (requires Course Director and Departmental signatures)
Completed Course Performance Summary Form recommended, if available via the Course Director

• If the forms you submit are incomplete, you will need to explain their incompleteness and/or provide proof of your attempts to have them completed (i.e. emails sent to your instructors and/or the department requesting the forms be completed).

NOTE: Departmental rules (e.g., the 4.5 EECS GPA pre-requisite) and accreditation rules for professional programs (e.g., E or Z section requirements for Engineering students) cannot be altered via a petition.
• Personal Statement to help explain the exceptional challenges you encountered that impacted your studies

• Explanation as to how those exceptional challenges have since been resolved or are in the process of resolution

• Plan of action for how you will succeed in the future (e.g., course enrolment plans, screenshots of your usage of the online GPA calculator, etc.)
• Personal Statement to help explain the exceptional challenges you encountered that impacted your studies

• Explanation as to how those exceptional challenges have since been resolved or are in the process of resolution

• Plan of action for how you will succeed in the future (e.g., course enrolment plans, screenshots of your usage of the online GPA calculator, etc.)
Students are encouraged to email their professor(s) to request a Deferred Standing Agreement (DSA). In the email, please note why the original exam was missed and provide supporting documentation, if available.

If the course instructor does not approve the Deferred Standing Agreement, a petition can be submitted. In addition to the DSA, kindly include the email exchange between yourself and the course instructor in your petition package. 

• Completed Course Performance Summary Form

• Denied Final Exam/Assignment Deferred Standing Agreement Form (must include date that DSA was denied)

• If the forms you submit are incomplete, you will need to explain their incompleteness and/or provide proof of your attempts to have them completed (i.e. emails sent to your instructors and/or the department requesting the forms be completed).

 Personal Statement to help explain the exceptional challenges you encountered surrounding the time of the original examination date and/or final assignment submission deadline

• If you are petitioning on medical grounds, you should include a completed Attending Physician’s Statement (APS) Note: An APS must include a stamp/licence number AND signature from the physician. APS forms without signatures & stamps from the physician will not be considered.

Submission Deadline:
2 weeks from the date of the missed final exam/final assignment due date
Students are encouraged to email their professor(s) to request an Extension of Deferred Standing Agreement. In the email, please note why the original exam and the deferred exam was missed and provide supporting documentation, if available.

If the course instructor does not approve the Extension Deferred Standing Agreement, a petition can be submitted. In addition to the DSA, kindly include the email exchange between yourself and the course instructor in your petition package. 

• Documentation substantiating that you did not complete the final exam/final assignment and were granted deferred standing. This documentation must clearly indicate the date of the original deferred exam.

• Personal Statement to help explain the exceptional challenges you encountered surrounding the time of the deferred exam or deferred final assignment submission deadline

• If you are petitioning on medical grounds, you should include a completed Attending Physician’s Statement (APS) Note: An APS must include a stamp/licence number AND signature from the physician. APS forms without signatures & stamps from the physician will not be considered.

Submission Deadline:
2 weeks from the date of the missed deferred exam/deferred final assignment due date
Personal statement that explains the exceptional reasons why the degree requirement(s) should be waived or altered in your case

• Speak with the Lassonde Petition Officer before submitting a petition of this sort, as some degree requirements are not petitionable
• Copy of current course timetable – clearly indicated on your timetable where the specific course will fit in your schedule

• Copy of scheduling details corresponding to the course(s) you wish to add, with explanation as to how you will manage your time to accommodate the overload

• Personal statement that explains the exceptional reasons you require a course overload (e.g., offer of employment, approaching graduation, etc.)
• Link to Policy on Repeating Passed or Failed Courses for Academic Credit

• Personal Statement to help explain the exceptional challenges you encountered that impacted your studies

• Completed Course Performance Summary form *per attempt*. If the forms you submit are incomplete, you will need to explain their incompleteness and/or provide proof of your attempts to have them completed (i.e. emails sent to your instructors and/or the department requesting the forms be completed).
• Personal Statement to help explain the exceptional challenges you encountered that impacted your studies

• Explanation as to how those exceptional challenges have since been resolved or are in the process of resolution

• An academic plan and an explanation as to how grades will be improved with realistic expectations

• Your plan of action for how you will improve in the future to reach and/or maintain minimum GPA requirements should include specific course enrolment plans and screenshots of your usage of the online GPA calculator

If you have taken fewer credits than outlined, please review the Honours Waiver Request page.
• Personal Statement to help explain the exceptional reasons why the co-op/internship requirement(s) should be waived or altered in your case

• Plan of action for how you will reach and/or maintain the minimum requirements (e.g. course enrolment and work term plans, screenshots of your usage of the online GPA calculator, etc.)

• A detailed timeline including all required courses as well as a planned work term(s). You should be able to demonstrate that you can complete a minimum total of 12 months of work terms, broken up by academic terms, with enough credits to complete at least one full time academic term before graduating.

• If you are petitioning to waive the 90 credit limit because you were unable to find employment in your initial Co-op job search, you should include proof of your job search (eg. screenshots of the Co-op job search website)

• If you have transfer credit from other institutions, a copy of your transfer credit statement

• Speak with a Lassonde Co-op/Internship Coordinator before submitting a petition of this sort, as some co-op/internship requirements are not petitionable
If you wish to enrol at another university (host) and have those undergraduate credits transferred toward your York degree/certificate, you must first apply and be granted a Letter of Permission (LOP) by the Office of the University Registrar. Please refer to the Registrar’s Office Letter of Permission (LOP) website.

Your petition may involve a request to waive or alter one of the following LOP policies:

1. Permission to request LOP while not in good academic standing (eg. while on an academic warning)
2. Permission to submit an LOP past the deadline
Retroactive LOP – receive credit for courses taken elsewhere without an LOP
3. Permission to exceed the maximum credits allowed on LOP
Required Documentation:
Personal letter
4. Personal statement/evidence to help explain why you could not follow the policies and procedures as stated on the LOP website

Required Documentation:

• Personal letter

• Supporting documentation/evidence to help explain why you could not follow the policies and procedures as stated on the LOP website
Ensure that you have read the Principles Regarding Grade Reappraisals and reviewed the LE Grade Reappraisal Procedures flowchart. You may also speak with the Lassonde Petition Officer before submitting a petition of this sort.

Please note that this type of petition will only be considered on the grounds of procedural irregularity at the departmental level.

A petition to Appeal a Departmental Grade Reappraisal Decision can only be submitted once you have exhausted all stages of grade reappraisal at the departmental level:

• ​Review the issue with your instructor and/or course director first. If you are unsatisfied,

• Escalate the request to the undergraduate program director. If you are still unsatisfied,

• Contact the Department Chair. If you are still unsatisfied,
Speak with the department to determine if they have a departmental committee established to review grade reappraisals.

Required Documentation:

• Personal letter

• Communication(s) from your instructor and/or course director

• Official communication(s) from the department that clearly state(s) their decision

• Supporting documentation that provides evidence of procedural irregularity at the departmental level.

Submission Deadlines:

• February 15 for Fall term grades

• June 15 for Year and Winter term grades

• September 30 for Summer term grades

• Or a minimum of 21 days from the release of grades (whichever is later)
Lassonde students enrolled in LAW 3591M may submit a request for an extension of the deadline to submit coursework to the Lassonde Petition Officer, Caitlin Hicks – caitlin.hicks@lassonde.yorku.ca.

Your request must include the following:

• Personal statement explaining the exceptional challenges you encountered that impacted your ability to submit the coursework by the assigned deadline

• Supporting documentation in reference to the challenges outlined in your personal statement. If you do not have supporting documentation, please make sure to address the lack of documentation in your personal statement
 
Please note this process should only be used to request coursework deadline extensions. Lassonde students looking to enrol in this course for the BEST Certificate should refer to the BEST website for instructions on how to request enrolment permission.
Students looking at a laptop

How to submit your petition

  • All petitions must be submitted online.We do not accept hard copy petition packages.
  • Incomplete packages may be denied due to insufficient evidence or not reviewed at all.  Please ensure you are submitting a complete package required as outlined for the petition type.
  • You will need to scan and upload all of your petition documents. If you have multiple files, please combine them as one .pdf file and upload to your submission
  • You will receive an email receipt upon submission.  Please keep a copy for your records.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

If you are submitting a petition between Nov. 30 2023 – Dec. 8 2023 then it will be reviewed in early January 2024.

Due to the Winter closure period any petitions/appeals submitted after December 8th, 2023, will not be reviewed until late January 2024 or early February 2024.

Decisions are normally available within 6 to 8 weeks of submission to Lassonde via our online form. During peak periods such as the summer months (i.e., May to August), it may take between 8 to 10 weeks to review and render a decision. Some petitions may take longer or shorter, depending on the circumstances or volume.
 
If your personal letter references a “documentable” event of any kind (e.g., illness, travel, loss of a close friend/family member, etc.), include the supporting documentation (e.g., Attending Physician’s Statement (APS), travel itinerary, notice of loss of a close friend/family member, etc.) in your package. Petitions can be denied due to lack of supporting documentation.
Any Lassonde School of Engineering student who has legitimate grounds for requesting an exception to a rule can submit a petition to the Lassonde School of Engineering.
Non Lassonde students may submit a petition to the Lassonde School of Engineering only if they are petitioning for grade reappraisal in a Lassonde (LE) course.
Every student is different. Many students encounter personal, family, or medical issues, unexpected travel, and so on. Life is complex so if you believe you have encountered exceptional circumstances, consider an academic petition.
The most up to date versions of forms (e.g., Course Performance Summary, Attending Physician’s Statement, Counsellor Statement, etc.) can be found on the Manage My Academic Record website. You will need Adobe Acrobat software.
Petitions are only granted under exceptional circumstances. Petitions may be granted, partially granted, or denied. Make sure you have a plan of action if your petition is granted, partially granted, or denied. Denied petitions will include a rationale and instructions on how to appeal for re-consideration.
If your petition has been denied, you may or may not have grounds to submit an appeal for reconsideration. Learn more about the Appeals process now.

Feel free to follow-up with the Lassonde Student Welcome and Support Centre after the 6, 8, or 10-week mark for an update on the status of your petition, including finding out the decision. We can communicate decisions verbally while students await the written decision.


Contact Us

ask@lassonde.yorku.ca
416.650.8215
Lassonde Student Welcome and Support Centre – 105 Bergeron Centre for Engineering Excellence

If you have questions about the petitions process, connect with an Academic Advisor.

IMPORTANT: The information on this page is intended to be a helpful guide for students.  The official rules and regulations governing academic standards and degree requirements can be found on the Academic Calendars website.