Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom it may concern,

My name is Kanisha Sritharan, and I am in my fifth year of study here at Queens in the Political Studies department and writing this petition to waive my missed deadline for my one-year withdrawal.
When I received the letter from the university I was put in a state of severe shock and as a result of my ongoing issues with PTSD, anxiety, and depression, it put me in a deep state of emotional distress. This as a result left me unable to function on a day-to-day basis as I normally would, such as lack of adequate sleep, anxiety attacks, and even relapsing into suicidal tendencies as I started to feel as if I had lost all hope in life. As a result of this ongoing state of distress that had been heightened after receiving the letter, I was physically and mentally incapable of beginning the process of submitting an appeal and facing the challenges that may lie ahead. Trying to even begin to start the appeal process caused my body to involuntarily feel sick such as dizziness and nauseous because of how severe my anxiety was; therefore, I was felt like I was left with no choice but to succumb to my depressive state leaving me extremely vulnerable for months. Moreover, I was not in an environment where family members considered mental health to not be considered even real leaving me feeling as if I was being stigmatized and shamed thereby, worsening my condition. Hence, I was not being given the required care making my condition spiral which I had little to no control over.
My mental health issues with depression, anxiety, etc. have hindered my ability to start this petition earlier. However, recently I started receiving the adequate care I required for the first time in my life, to get my life back on track including working on my thoughts of suicide. This has given me the ability to start facing the challenges in my life and I really want to be given the chance to explain my situation and difficulties that were beyond my control that have had a direct impact on my academic performance. I want to demonstrate through this letter that I want to work on myself and truly get my life back together and build a routine for myself in both my personal and academic life by starting off with this petition. I have included my diagnoses of my mental health issues and will also request for a letter from my therapist. I thank you for your consideration and I really would appreciate being given the opportunity to express my explanation and progression I have made to improve myself as a student and overall person.

Kanisha Sritharan