Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To Associate Dean (Academic)

I am petitioning to drop MUTH 111 (History, Arts, Performance II) from the 2023 Winter Term after the withdrawal deadline.

I entered Queen's University as a first-year student in September 2022. Despite receiving accommodations through QSAS for several mental health conditions, I struggled in the Fall term to attend classes, organize my studies and complete my assignments.

The beginning of the Winter term offered me a fresh start, and I had high hopes for turning myself around. Instead, my anxiety and depression increased in severity, and I quickly fell behind in all my courses. I increasingly missed classes and began failing to submit assignments on time or at all. I tried to manage these problems on my own by doing more of my studying in the library rather than in isolation in my dorm room and by doing all-nighters to complete assignments, but these changes were of little help. My diet and personal hygiene suffered as well. Please see supporting documentation from Student Health Services (SHS).

I neglected to seek any help until mid-March, when I finally confessed my circumstances to my parents. Since then, they have been speaking with me 2-3 times a day to check my progress, help me plan my studies, and ensure that I am taking better care of myself.

My parents also recommended that I reduce my course load and dedicate the resulting time to catching up in my remaining courses. By that time, however, I had missed the course-drop deadline. This is why I am petitioning now to late-drop a course.

Although my mental-health condition has affected all my coursework, I am petitioning to late-drop MUTH 111. It is the course in which I am the farthest behind and have little chance of passing. Effectively, I have already dropped the course in that I have not done any coursework or attended any classes since mid-March. Both the academic advisor I consulted and the Student Health Services mental-health nurse who evaluated me advised me to do this so that I could focus on my other courses.

Please understand that I made that decision out of necessity, and not because I don't value the subject matter or the work of Prof. Burge.

I understand the importance of complying with the university's policies and deadlines, and I regret that I have been unable to meet them in this case. I hope you will understand that my mental-health conditions have significantly impacted my academic performance and prevented me from meeting the course-drop deadline.

I am committed to ensuring I am successful with the rest of my courses this term. The learning, prioritization, and time-management strategies I have applied in recent weeks have been working well, and I am confident I will be able to finish the term on a better note. However, I will return in September with a reduced course load (as recommended by Student Health Services) and plan to work closely with a SASS learning strategist.

Please let me know if there is any further information you need from me to support my appeal.
Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Ella Portsmouth