In order for the Committee to agree to review any retroactive withdrawal request past the one-year deadline, the student will need to clearly explain and fully document why they could not comply with filing a petition within the one-year deadline. Not knowing there was a deadline or not being on campus is not a persuasive argument.
Contact the Office of Institutional Equity (OIE) at 520-621-9449, equity@arizona.edu; located at:
University Services Building (USB) Room, 203
Tucson, AZ 85721-0021
There is no set length of time. Once the petition is received in the General Petitions Office, it will be reviewed to make sure that all the necessary documentation is attached. If anything is missing the student will be contacted. Other departments or offices at the University may be contacted for additional information if the student mentions them but does not include any information for the Committee (e.g. If the student says in their statement, "My advisor told me not to drop the course during the semester", the advisor might be contacted to verify this or provide additional information.)
Once the petition seems complete, it is routed to each Committee member, individually, for their review and vote. The committee member can request additional information if they have questions. A petition needs 2 of 3 agreeing votes for there to be a final decision. Each reader takes a different amount of time depending, in part, on how many petitions they are reviewing at once, time of the semester, etc.
Students intending to submit a petition for more than one semester should provide a personal statement for each term to explain how the extenuating circumstances affected the student’s academic performance in that term. Supporting documentation should be specific to each term of the petition but if the support documentation applies to both semesters, they do not need to be duplicated.
For online medical petitions, all submissions require the submission of a personal statement and the medical provider form for each term. The medical provider form may include multiple terms, and can be used in separate petition submissions, but must include dates of treatment or onset that reflect the terms requested.
The Online Retroactive Medical Withdrawal for medical reasons (the student’s medical reasons, no one else’s) is available on UAccess Student Center.
Students can submit the Petition for Retroactive Academic Withdrawal form for sex-based harassment or discrimination by emailing a completed form to equity@arizona.edu. Students can contact the Office of Institutional Equity (OIE) at 520-621-9449
Use the General Petition form for all other requests to waive University Academic Policy.
The University of Arizona petition process is designed for students who experience serious, unexpected circumstances that prevent them from meeting University policies or deadlines.
When reviewing a petition, the Committee considers:
1. Student responsibility and timely action. Students are expected to understand and follow University policies, deadlines, and procedures, monitor their enrollment and academic records, and address concerns as soon as they become aware of them. The Committee considers the steps a student took to resolve the situation and whether circumstances prevented earlier action.
2. Opportunities to resolve the issue. The Committee considers whether the concern could have been addressed during the academic term or has already been addressed through established processes and within published deadlines. A history of repeated requests for exceptions to address issues that could have been resolved earlier may also be a factor in the Committee's review.
3. Supporting documentation. Decisions are based on the petition, the student's academic record, and the other documentation provided. There must be sufficient information to demonstrate a serious, unexpected circumstance that warrants an exception to University policy.
The General Petition Committee's decision is final.