Skip to main content Skip to local navigation
Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change
Home » Current Students » Academic Advising » Petitions and Appeals

Petitions and Appeals

If you need more information about putting together a petition or appeal, please book an appointment with your Academic Advisor as they can provide insight into the particular process you will need to follow given your unique circumstance.

Two sites that we encourage students to be mindful of are Important Dates which provides students information about term start and end dates, deadlines to add or drop courses without penalty. The Refund Tables found on the Student Financial Service page, will outline the amount of refund you are eligible for based on the drop date of your course. Depending on the petition or appeal you are submitting, you may need to visit these sites to provide additional information.

A table with EUC tablecloth

Petitions

Submitting a petition is when a student is requesting for an academic rule or regulation to be altered or exempt. When a student is encouraged to submit a petition, they will need to provide a compelling reason to request an exemption from the academic rule or regulation created by the Faculty of EUC. Submitting a petition needs to be taken seriously and professionally as students should only undergo this process under extremely compelling circumstances.

When a petition is submitted, a panel of faculty members will review the information provided by the student, and decide whether to grant or deny the student’s request. If you have been working with you Academic Advisor to submit a petition, please note that it can take 4-6 weeks to hear the result.

Each petition needs to be submitted in a timely fashion. Please be mindful of the deadlines as they may change depending on the petition you are submitting. To learn about all of the petitions that can be submitted, please go to Manage my Academic Record to learn more.

Types of Petitions

A petition is a written request for the waiver of a Faculty’s academic regulation or deadline. Before initiating a petition, you are advised to
review University and Faculty rules and regulations in the Undergraduate Calendars and Financial Petition.

If you have experienced an extremely difficult circumstances (e.g. death of an immediate family member or serious documented medical issues), which lead you to drop your courses after a refund deadline, you may request a credit/refund of your course fees. You will need to complete a Financial Petition which are adjudicated by Student Financial Services, not by Faculty petitions committees.

The following is a list of commonly petitioned rules and regulations that are adjudicated within the Faculty of EUC:

A petition to withdraw a course can only be considered if the student has received a final grade of either an E (which is a failing grade marginally under 50%) or an F (which is a failing grade under 50%). A petition to withdraw cannot be used on a passing grade (D or above).
Students meeting these requirements are encouraged to follow these steps:

  • Please fill out the Course Performance Summary form (CPS) 
    • If there are multiple courses to drop, then there must be a Course Performance Summary for each course.
    • Once filled out, the form will automatically be sent to the professor(s). Please ensure that the CPS form is FULLY completed, before submitting it.
    • Please note that your professor will either accept or reject the information, so ensure that the information is accurate or it will be rejected.
  • Send both pages to the professor of that course
  • When you receive it back completed then put the package together
  • Print/fill out the Undergraduate Academic Petition Form and complete it in full.  The regulation you are petitioning is to drop courses late.
  • Type up a letter with your name, student number and the full course code and title of the course(s) you wish to drop, along with an explanation of why you failed the course(s).
  • Please put the completed forms for your petition together in one PDF document is this order. The Academic Advisor will have access to the CPS form(s) that were filled out and will include them with the petition.
    • Undergrad Academic Petition Form
    • Rationale letter

What to include in your Rationale Letter

When writing your rationale letter please use a similar format to a cover letter. In your first section or paragraph, include your full name, student number, and the full course(s) information that is being petitioned. For Example: EU-ENVS 1010 3.00 Fall 2024 Introduction to Environmental Documentaries.

The second section should include the reason(s) why you failed the course(s). Please limit your answer to a max of 5 sentences or 2 paragraphs. Your third section can describe what you plan to do differently so you don’t fail another course in the future. Please limit this section to 2-3 sentences. Lastly, thank the committee for considering your petition and sign and date the letter.

Students must pay specific attention to the exam schedule provided by the University. Each student is responsible to attend their specific exam dates as they cannot be altered. If you have experienced a severe illness or mental illness close to or on the day of the exam and it has been documented by a physician, you may qualify for an exam deferral. Please note that coughs or colds are not considered to be a severe illness. Please first reach out to your professor immediately after the exam, ensure that you have any medical documentation on hand as it may be requested. The professor of the course is the only person who can grant or deny a deferred standing. If your request is denied, you may file a petition.

As a student approaches completion of 90 credits with a GPA between 4 and 5, they are expected to have satisfied degree requirements for a Bachelors degree and to graduate when they reach 90 credits. If 90 credits are reached and the GPA is less than 4 the student may take a further 12 credits (i.e. up to 102 credits) to try to raise their GPA so they can graduate. To take more than 102 credits requires a petition. Generally, successful grounds rest on the feasibility of achieving the required GPA after taking a few additional credits.


The Faculty of EUC has a progressive system of warnings that are applied to the students records and accounts if their GPA falls under the requirement to stay in the program. As the student has received these prior warnings, if they may not be surprised when receiving the decision which requires them to withdraw from their studies for a year or be debarred for two years. This process provides the student with enough time to address the underlying issues during the lengthy period of warnings. Grounds for continuing without interruption following such a decision rests on how close the student is to the required GPA, their recent pattern of academic performance, and a Petition Letter describing the strategies that will be implemented to meet the conditions of debarment warning or probation. Please reach out to your Academic Advisor if this pertains to you.

Contact Us

EUC Student Success & Academic Advisors

Pip Horne | Denise McLeod

Student Success & Academic Advisor

EUCAdvise@yorku.ca

Book 1:1 Appointments (coming soon)