The University has made changes to the applicability of the ACORN Absence Declaration Tool. As of the Fall 2023 term, the Absence Declaration Tool will no longer be considered as supporting documentation for petition requests.
Most petition decisions are emailed to students within days of the petition being received by the petitions unit. However, the complexity of your request and the need to consult other parties might impact the response time. The petitions unit is committed to providing you with a decision within five weeks of receiving your petition from your College Registrar's Office.
See below for descriptions of the possible petition outcomes. A petition can often contain more than one individual request. For example, a petition may contain one request for a Term Work Extension and a second request for a Late Withdrawal Without Academic Penalty. The petitions unit will review each request and provide you with an outcome for each request. If anything is unclear regarding your petition outcome, seek academic advising from your College Registrar’s Office.
Granted
Absolute Grant
An absolute grant means your request has been approved. For example, if your term work extension request to submit an essay late and beyond the end of a term received an absolute grant, this means that the Committee on Standing has permitted you to hand in the work on a specific date in the future. The decision email for an absolute grant does not contain any information beyond the decision.
Grant with Recommendations or Conditions
A request may be granted with recommendations, which means that in addition to it being approved, the decision email also contains specific recommendations for you to consider. These recommendations are strongly encouraged, and it is your responsibility to complete them. Alternatively, a request granted with conditions means that there are mandatory conditions outlined in the decision email which you have to complete.
Examples of recommendations or conditions that may be included in a petition decision include:
- Reducing your course load
- Avoiding taking courses in a particular session/term
- Restriction from enrolling in courses in a particular session
In the case of a mandatory condition, your College Registrar’s Office will monitor your academic record to ensure that you are adhering to the condition. Failure to comply with the condition could impact the petition outcome.
Grant with Advising
A petition decision might recommend academic advising. This type of recommendation may be included in a granted petition result when the Committee on Standing wants to ensure that you have the best possible supports in place to be successful. This is particularly important if you were permitted to return early from a suspension.
Refused
Refused with Recommendations
A refused request means that your request has been denied.
A refusal decision may include recommendations for you to consider. For example, if your term work extension request is refused in a course where you have done very little work, the decision might include a recommendation to consider other petition types, such as a petition for late withdrawal without academic penalty. In most cases, a refusal with recommendations will also encourage you to seek academic advising from your College Registrar’s Office.
Refused with Advising
A request that has been refused with an advising recommendation means that the Committee on Standing wants you to discuss the outcome with your College Registrar’s Office. You are encouraged to get support from an academic advisor at your college, especially if you have new information and want to submit an appeal. Sometimes the decision may recommend specific resources for further support or advice based on the circumstances described by the student in their personal statement or shown in their supporting documentation.
Not Considered
If you received a decision which indicates the request was not considered, it means that the request was not within the purview of the Committee on Standing.
An example is a request for an instructor to waive a late penalty or reweigh term work within a course. To learn more about requests that do not fall within the purview of the Committee on Standing, see the Special Consideration Requests to Academic Department(s) section of the Academic Calendar.
If you are unclear whether the policy or deadline that you are seeking an exception from falls under the purview of Committee on Standing, be sure to consult with your College Registrar’s Office.
Cancelled
In most cases, a request to cancel a petition is initiated by the student if they no longer wish to have their request reviewed. For example, if a student was granted a deferred exam because of a scheduled surgery, and that surgery is cancelled, the student would contact their College Registrar’s Office to cancel the petition because they are now able to write the scheduled exam.