Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Johanne Bénard,
My name is Connor Luksys and I am writing to you in order to appeal to drop the courses PHIL111, PSYC100, SOCY122, GPHY101, and FILM260 on the grounds of an ongoing extenuating circumstance which I am now accommodating.

The extenuating circumstance that I am referring to was a severe psychological challenge related to stress and anxiety. This circumstance became especially debilitating amidst, and in the aftermath of, my first year of enrollment at Queen¿¿s University, which is the timeline I will be focusing on in this letter. At the beginning of my first semester, I was enrolled in four full year courses and a half year course (COGS100). At this early point, my psychological challenge already began to debilitate me by making regular attendance and participation in my courses difficult as I went through sporadic lapses in which I would isolate myself from other people because of severe anxiety that would make even mundane living difficult. I soon dropped my half year course (COGS100) with no academic penalty in an attempt to alleviate some pressure off of myself under the faulty rationalization that what I was experiencing was merely a small adjustment period. I sought out no external help or counselling because I was unable to admit to myself, let alone another person, that I was struggling with mental illness at this time. Without proper counselling or adequate coping strategies, I continued to receive poorer and poorer grades as my stress and anxiety level increased. By the time I reached my second semester, I became to be even more frequently unable leave my on-campus residence room, attending minimal lectures, labs, or tutorials. I must point out the outlier on my transcript, FILM110, which is the only passing grade I have received from Queen¿¿s University. I attribute this abnormality to a friend of mine, whom was also taking the course. This person was very insistent that we attend our one lecture and tutorial together and would effectively pull me out of my room twice a week, allowing me to be present for the lectures and participate in the tutorials for the course. The situation for my other courses though was quite different as a more typical representation how my circumstance effected my education would be a case such as PSYC100 wherein I was only able to bring myself to the minimum level of attendance to keep myself from an automatic failure before the end of the course. By this second half to the end of the year, under the weight of all of my declining grades, my anxiety grew to the point where I was even unable to hand in any assignments that I had managed to complete through an irrational fear of being noticed which had the effect of completely inhibiting me from participating in my own education. At the beginning of the summer, after finally receiving my failing grades and a requirement to withdrawal for one year, I made the misguided choice of continuing with enrollment in an online course (FILM260) without making any adjustments in a continued repression and inability to cope with the fact that I was being severely debilitated by mental illness.

Should this appeal be granted, I intend to apply to a degree plan in Film & Media so that I may enrol in upper level courses within the Film program. As of now, I have submitted my return to studies form and will be returning to enrollment at Queen¿¿s in the Fall of 2015. I plan to participate, and succeed, in courses through personal determination and the accommodation of my ongoing extenuating circumstance by maintaining regular meetings with a personal counselor, whether it is with HCDS or my current personal counselor. These meetings will help me succeed in future studies by helping to support my mental health which in turn will prevent me from being debilitated in such a way where I am not able to participate in my education, as was the case during my first year and immediately thereafter. I am dedicated to my treatment and maintaining a mindset that will not cause a repeat of circumstance.

Thank you for your consideration and your understanding,

Connor Luksys