Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear whomever it may concern,
This is currently my second year attending Queen??s University. I am enrolled in a BAH in Philosophy, but I have decided to drop down to a BA in Religion. My first year at Queen??s COVID was still a large issue in the world, and my classes were all online (with the option to go in person). I lived in residence for nothing shy of 2 months and moved home to complete the remainder of my year online. I have been raised in a small town and my high school was made up of 10 kids per class whom I had been with since kindergarten. Moving away from home to a house of people I don??t really know and expectations of going to large classes every day and performing presentations and group work was a large change for me and a struggle greatly for my mental health. At the beginning of the year in September, I was unable to finish a course and I had dropped all of them, leaving me with 1 course that I failed due to my mental health issues that I had not yet discovered. I thought I was just sick all the time and this made me push off all my work to try and make myself feel better. The second term I told myself I was going to do better and enrolled in 4 courses which were all in person and again I was sick after the first day. I began speaking to a therapist and reaching out for help when she mentioned I might have anxiety. It was hard for me to get home and see my family doctor because of school and working a part-time job to pay my tuition and rent. I was in contact with my other two professors and told them I was struggling, and they both helped me reach out to QSAS and see what they could do to improve my everyday challenge of mental health. In the meantime, they told me not to worry and if I received the accommodation, they would have assignments for me to do to make up for my lost grades in their classes. Professor Simonds had assignments that on ONQ said they were only due April 9th but apparently were due before then. I had a very hard time submitting assignments online because even doing work at home was overwhelming and I would just avoid it to try and feel better, but it all kept piling up. I would try and attend Simonds classes, but he would begin calling people out for answers and to join the discussion and that sparked my mental health which lead to avoiding his classes and work at all cost. QSAS had given me advice and papers to get filled out from my family doctor for my mental health and once I got an appointment with my doctor (at the beginning of April) it was hard to catch up with my missing assignments. I was diagnosed with crippling anxiety, and put on meds, and my doctor had filled out forms for accommodations that have now been uploaded to VENTUS. My anxiety lead to procrastination, difficulty prioritizing tasks, vicious cycles of stress, avoidance and unable to manage my time effectively. I reached out to my professors and told them I received accommodation and most of them were extremely understanding and let me submit my missing assignments to receive passing grades in their class. Professor Simonds had taken more than 80 marks off in one of my classes with him and 60 marks off assignments in my other courses with him because they were late. It was very clear he was not willing to help me out as I received a 48 in one of his classes and a 49 in the other I believe. I would have passed his courses as all my assignments were submitted for his class but due to my mental health and confusion of what was going on, reaching out for help all term, he believed it was too late. I am currently taking summer courses to make up for my missed grades. I am looking to further my education after Queens and looking to receive a CR for these two classes as I believe my mental health does not define what I am capable of and this had greatly negatively affected my transcript and GPA.

Thank you for your time,
Klyne McDonald