Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean of Academics,

I am writing this Academic Appeal to petition for Credit Standings and/or Removed Grades on my transcript for the years of 2020 to 2021. The courses that I have repeated that I hope to have the first original grades received removed off my transcript are WRIT 125, ENGL 281, ENGL 259, and ENGL 200. I am petitioning to submit this appeal late as I have had several unforeseen circumstances and a lack of access to mental health resources which prevented me from acting upon these circumstances sooner.

Background information about each course:
In WRIT 125, I received a grade of F as I was not aware that we needed to submit each assignment to pass the class. I have never taken a class that had a requirement of this nature. That summer of 2020, my laptop broke due to water damage and I was unable to submit a small assignment worth ten or fifteen percent of my grade. I missed the two-week period to submit the assignment and would have gotten a zero, thus, I did not see a reason to submit that assignment at the time and carried on with the rest of the course. My cumulative grade for the class was either an A or A+ and I would have passed the course without submitting this assignment. I received an email from my professor, Dr. Prinsen and the TA, before the closure of the class. Later, when I replied asking if I could submit the assignment, I did not receive a response and received a grade of F of my transcript. I repeated the course the following summer and obtained an A.

In the winter semester of ENGL 200 in 2021, I received extenuating circumstances for a semester and requested an extension on an essay worth twenty percent. The professor did not grant the extension despite my medical documentation and my appeal for an Aegrotat standing was denied. I received a letter grade of a D. The head of the English department, Dr. McKegney offered to let me late withdraw from the class, but I did not take this option as I did not know if I would have the ability to repeat a full year course in the future and needed it for my English qualifications for my Bachelor of Education. In his ENGL 290 class, Dr. McKegney gave me several extensions which helped me pass his class that semester. Other professors, such as Dr. Shulist and Dr. Donato gave me extensions as well which helped me succeed. For the classes I did not receive accommodations, I performed significantly worse. I have completed a repeat of ENGL 200 this semester and obtained an estimated grade of an A-.

I performed significantly worse in ENGL 281 (F) and ENGL 259 (D) in the fall semester of 2020 because I failed to submit two major final assignments as well. My inability to perform academically aligns with the period in which the COVID lockdowns were the harshest and as I lived in Toronto, we had very severe restrictions. The lockdowns and my personal circumstances created an environment that was difficult to succeed in. I retook ENGL 259 and received an A+ and a B+ in ENGL 281.

Each of these courses is a required course for my teaching qualifications in English and my transcript shows a drastic inconsistency between the low grades during that period in comparison to when I no longer had to stay isolated at my home. As seen in each repeated course, I have obtained significantly higher grades. As a result, it is evident that it was my circumstances that negatively impacted my academic performance rather than my academic abilities or a lack of motivation. Although I should have attempted to appeal my grades at an earlier time, I was in a poor mental state which caused me to avoid the consequences of receiving low grades in university. Also, my focus on the events outlined below prevented me from being able to focus on both my academic success and ability to advocate for myself. I spent the summers after my second and third years working and taking online summer courses to try and repair my cGPA which allowed me to retake these courses and graduate on time. Notably, I switched from an English to an LLCU major as I struggled with English courses the most during this period.

Outlining the unforeseen circumstances that pertain to my appeal:
In my first month at Queen's University in September of 2019, I was raped by a male student in the student housing district. On October 6th of 2019, my grandmother suddenly died in Ukraine from a complication after a surgery. Following my grandmother's death, I realized I was pregnant as I was unaware that my rapist did not use protection. I had to receive a surgical abortion in October of 2019 as well. Further, I filed a complaint to my residence don and RA for an isolated incident of sexual harassment in October of 2019 that I experienced in the bathroom of my residence by a male who lived on my floor. After the complaint, I did not receive any further information regarding any actions taken to remedy the situation. I did not receive any academic accommodations as I was a first year with little knowledge of the process or criteria to obtain accommodations.

The most severe impacts of these events on my mental health happened during COVID-19, when I had to live in my home in isolation from the March of 2020 to April of 2021. I was unable to go back to Kingston that year due to financial difficulties. In Toronto, I did not have the support from friends that I relied upon and had to cope by myself during lockdown with the inability to seek help as I do not have the option of telling my family about my abortion or sexual assault experiences. As seen on my transcript, my grades are relatively consistent throughout my undergraduate degree apart from this specific time in which I suffered from post-traumatic stress, anxiety, depression, and nightmares.

In March of 2020 before the university closed, I tried to receive help from a psychiatrist at the Health and Wellness Centre at Queen's University for the trauma I experienced, to which the psychiatrist suggested Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. Unfortunately, I was unable to receive further treatment as the school closed due to COVID. Mental health facilities were closed in Toronto, and I cannot afford to pay for these services on my own as my parents have a stigma towards mental health. They are unaware of my experiences of sexual assault as they are both immigrants and have different outlooks towards these situations.

Further, in the year of 2020 which was my second year of university, my grandfather in Ukraine developed cancer and heart problems that required him to receive surgery and a pacemaker. These circumstances have put us in financial distress as my parents have to pay for his medical and personal care in Ukraine. Also, my mother got into a car accident this year which caused health complications that impacted my family. During December of 2020, I received an IUD as a preventative measure which caused several severe health complications. I filed for extenuating circumstances the following semester in 2021 and asked the doctor to label it as moderate, even though the complications heavily impacted my academics. The doctor wanted to know if I needed severe accommodations which I had said no to because I felt I only needed extensions on assignments which was outlined on the Arts and Science form for extenuating circumstances. I suffered from abdominal pain, insomnia, anemia, migraines, and reoccurring UTI's as health complications which forced me to switch IUD's the following December. These circumstances worsened my mental state which contributed to my inability to perform to my regular academic standard.

In the following third year, Ukraine went to war where my grandfather and family friends live. However, I was able to maintain my academic performance in the second semester of 2022 because some of my professors were understanding of my situation. Further, in the second semester of my fourth year, I received accommodations and treatment as I was diagnosed with ADHD in the winter. This semester, I received the highest grades for a full-time course load in my undergraduate career as I was given the tools I needed to succeed.

Along with my undiagnosed ADHD, my circumstances with my physical and mental health did not allow me to perform to my best potential throughout my undergraduate career. Despite these obstacles, I have continuously worked and been driven to do my best to succeed academically. However, my dream is to become a lawyer and I will be applying to law schools this upcoming fall. The listed courses lower my Queen's University cGPA from an estimated 3.65 after this semester to approximately a 3.2 on the law school (OLSAS) GPA scale because it incorporates the average of both the original and repeated grades. Consequently, if the original grades were replaced by a notation rather than the letter grade, it would significantly enhance my chances of receiving an acceptance to law school. My ambition towards law school stems from the experiences I outlined in this letter as I hope to one day help victims of sexual assault and those who seek refuge in Canada. I believe that I should be given a second chance to persevere, and I would be extremely grateful if I were to be given that chance to pursue my life's goals.

Unfortunately, since some of these events have happened in Ukraine, I do not have death certificates or appropriate documentation of those circumstances. However, my father can write a letter to provide validity. In terms of my health records, I was informed that it will take a few weeks for my health clinic to release them to me. I will attach documentation of those health records upon retrieval.

Please inform me if there is anything that could be done about my situation to improve my chances of attending a graduate program in law. I greatly appreciate your time in reading my appeal and thank you for your consideration.