Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To Whom it may concern,


My name is Benjamin Liam Smith. I'm a 2nd year, doing a philosophy major and classics minor. I am appealing for a late course drop, of which I will further elaborate on below. For the sake of a broad overview: I have been struggling with a debilitating stomach issue ever since I returned to school in the Fall semester. In short, I was waking up with, as well as constantly experiencing, nausea, vomiting, and stomach cramps. This was a daily occurrence and one which made eating, exercise, drinking, as well as elongated forms of social interaction difficult. As a consequence of this, I developed anxiety, not only for fear of being physically ill but also for eating meals and going out for dinners. Even the thought of food was off-putting. I also, naturally, worried about falling behind in my classes and social life. After the Christmas break, I??ve been able to return to classes. However, I am still struggling with the social aspect; I have been staying home a lot instead of going out and enjoying Queen's famous social life. In fact, I just picked up my prescription for a new set of pills, but with double the dosage, to try and stem my symptoms and get properly back into it.

To provide a chronology: I went to the doctor on the 23rd of September, with a follow up appointment for the week after (30 September). I was too ill to attend the follow up appointment. On the 23rd, I was given some pills (Apo-Pantoprazole) to combat the issue. Unfortunately, they gave me little relief; my symptoms continued and I fell further behind in classes as a result. Thankfully, due to most of my classes having a significant online presence (notes in onQ, uploading assignments to onQ, online quizzes etc), I managed to stay mostly on top of them. Still though, as I wasn't going to classes, my grades dropped; I went from a 3.7 (a Dean's honour roll student) to 3.2 GPA. This was a direct result of issues directly pertaining to or as a secondary consequence of my stomach issue. I was content enough with this predicament, however; I was almost half-way through the semester by the time I stopped attending classes: I simply didn't want to lose the progress I had made. This is made even more true when considering two of my courses are 6 units, or full-year courses. It would have been too much disruption, indeed too much stress, to start it all over again. So, for most of my courses, I soldiered on. However, there was one course I couldn't keep up with. This is the course which I am appealing to drop. It is Phil 273 (Continental Philosophy) with Professor Paul Fairfield. X% of the grade was for attendance and debate participation. In fact, all the classes were just debates. Naturally, this was a problem. Since I wasn't attending, I was not getting a grade. This is unlike every other course, which I managed to complete all from home, despite being sick.

As an aside, I truly enjoyed the course; I am a big fan of Nietzsche (I had the assigned book for the course two years before joining Queens) and was curious to contextualise my knowledge through learning about Kierkegaard (especially)and Dilthey. Not being able to attend this course quite upset me as a lover of knowledge and learning. I sent Professor Fairfield an email roughly outlining the same thing. Because of this, I never thought to drop the course early. I also was filled with optimism after (and due to) seeing the appropriate medical experts; I believed I would get better before the course drop deadline (NOV 1). After all, I had almost a month to recover, and with the appropriate medication and advice to complement this: I was in good spirits. I even went so far as to organise and have a meeting with the Queen's dietician; this was productive, and helped me change my diet for the better. The point in all of this? To recover as fully and as quickly as possible. Thus, I hoped, maybe naively, that I would get better. I wanted to be able to simply pick up where I left off, with the help of online notes given to us by Professor Fairfield (on his website). Such a recovery did not happen. In fact, I have an appointment with the doctor again on January 26, in which I hope to be given something more to help this still ongoing issue.

So, to provide a summary: by the time the deadline for the late course drop was gone, I had already committed myself to not dropping the course and working hard to recover (both my grades and health). Despite my mental resilience (and indeed, the plan of recovery) my physical health had not improved in any way: I could not go back to class, and the deadline passed.

In terms of plans for the future, I have done blood work with the doctor, as well as doubling my dosage for my pills. In truth, I do not know exactly what the issue is. I haven't been given an official diagnosis, neither have I been able to surmise what it is. I've tried the simple scientific method - trial and error In other words, I have been cutting out different foods/drinks over the last 6 months to try and see any changes. I've had little success. It's hard for me, therefore, to make a concrete plan for the future. However, it is abundantly clear that I will be in focus mode this semester: I am going out less, so have more time to dedicate to work and extracurriculars.

This experience has been, and indeed, continues to be, a real struggle for me. I take pride in my level of academic achievement, and have done for years now - I entered Queens with an entrance scholarship, and as I previously mentioned, am on the Dean's honour list for the past year. This illness (and also the consequent falling of my grades) has rocked my foundations, challenged me to be both independent but also reach out to the right people for help. I hope this won't happen again, at least to the extent to which it occurred last semester. I know now who to contact, and how to stay on top of things despite not attending lectures. I've also learnt to be more diligent, instead of passively waiting for the deadline I should have been assessing options and making plans. All of this is experience for the future