Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To The Associate Dean (Academic),

I am petitioning the Faculty of Arts decision requiring me to withdraw from my studies at Queen??s for one year.

My time at Queen??s University began in September of 2020, right in the middle of a global pandemic. As a student with a permanent disability this was a difficult transition, but one I was willing to work through as this school was a dream of mine. During my first year, I was met with many roadblocks that had mostly to do with accommodations. It took two months to receive accommodations in the first place, with my first appointment not being until October- by which point I was already behind in most of my courses. Once I received them, the advisor I was assigned to left the university but I was not notified. For a few months, I emailed this woman about some concerns with no response. Eventually, after feeling fed up, I found time to email the intake office asking if there was something I was doing wrong and why I was being ignored. It was only then, I was told she no longer worked for Queen??s. At this point, I began failing and dropping out of classes. I was unaware who my new Accommodations Advisor was, until May of 2021, when I had a conflict with a Professor. They reached out to my new advisor, who reached out to me to explain my own accommodation to me. Not only did I feel deeply disrespected, this also caused me to drop out of the course, which was supposed to help me catch up on credits lost during the first year.

Second year was much more difficult. Not only was I dealing with poor mental health, but I was also struggling with some courses. During the first and second years of my Music degree I struggled a lot with music theory (MUSC 191) and in second year we figured out why. I had gone to the Professor and asked about an accommodation, as it was not a lack of understanding that was the cause of the struggle, but an undiagnosed disability. My professor referred me to my Advisor and I hesitantly reached out. I asked for the three of us to meet, as I was the linking piece between them- but they had the meeting without me. I was told there was nothing they could do, and that I had to drop the class and attempt for a third time the following year. Music Theory, however, affects more then just one class. It affects Sight singing (MUSC 127) and Keyboard (MUSC 129) not only because of content but also my mental capacity for failure. I fell into a rather difficult cycle of depressive episodes, and was burnt out completely by January 2022. Due to poor accommodation and communication by Queen??s University, I was forced out of my Music Degree, and as a result, my Education Degree as well as I couldn??t keep up with everything anymore.

By third year I was feeling completely lost and discouraged as the decade-long dream of graduating from Queen??s Con-ed with a music degree, had been stripped from me. For more mental health-related issues I began to fail out of my third consecutive fall semester. I was tired of just letting go of things I wanted to achieve because of QSAS??s ignorance to my pleading for help. For a time, I blamed COVID as it threw a wrench in everyone??s plans, however, that should not have cost me thousands of dollars on nothing but failed courses due to lack of communication and support from Queen??s. Many of the issues I had I ??simply resolved? by changing my educational and career path; what my second teachable would be, then to not teaching at all, being in Honours and then dropping to a general degree. I have experienced about every personal issue during my time at Queen??s with the biggest struggle being denied support for mental health, and a disability. Last fall I reached out to Alan Jeans at QSAS for assistance and finally received some sort of help, but it is unacceptable and unfair to require a student, who has shown Queen??s nothing but flexibility and resilience, to take a year off- a leave which I may decide to make permanent. Many of the issues I have encountered at Queens have been out of my personal control, and therefore my low GPA is not a true reflection of my academic potential. There are also some grades from last term I have yet to finish, as well as a few classes I need to late drop from my first semester- something I was not aware I could even do until December/January of this past school year. Queen??s is supposed to be an accommodating school, but I have yet to feel any real level of help or support.

I wish to finish out my last year at Queen??s in 2024, with no more hiccups, and wish to be released from this required year off.


Thank you,
Sari Cole-Burgess
20229099