Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To Whom it may Concern,

At the strong recommendation of academic advising, I am writing to petition the physics department, and the university to drop the courses which I failed in the Fall 2023 term, and also, the courses I am likely to fail this semester and work with the accommodations office and the department faculty so that I can successfully complete a BSc Honours Physics Degree.

My university experience has not been easy for me and while I know that many of the challenges that I faced were of my own doing, I have also tried to address these challenges with professors, QSAS and others. I now find myself in this even more complicated and unfortunate position.

I have struggled with anxiety and depression for several years, and it is easy for me to feel dwarfed and overwhelmed when confronted with challenging situations. The worst thing is that this feeling builds on itself and rather than seeing support and help at the outset, I wait and wait. I think I have just hit the bottom and am coming to you now for help I should have asked for months ago.

During the 2022-23 academic year I struggled with several courses, namely PHYS 316 and PHYS 344, as well as PHYS 372 – but also very much enjoyed and did well in my other classes.

I started this 2023-24 academic year hopeful and excited about the work and committed to attending lectures and tutorials, reviewing material I found online, and staying on top of the course material. I was enrolled in PHYS 316 and PHYS 344, both of which cover complicated subjects that perhaps I was not fully prepared for given my background and knowledge. I also was not at all prepared for how the events of October 7 impacted me personally and the connected impact on my schoolwork. As a Jewish student, and the grandson of Holocaust survivors, this year has been an incredible challenge. I learned that a classmate of mine from home was killed in Israel, and I also found myself deeply troubled by the behaviours of my peers and others. I know I was not the only student to feel this way but it made focusing on my studies even more of a challenge. I was unable to sleep through the night for a very long time, which made it very difficult for me to be an effective student. By mid-October when I knew I was struggling with my studies, I reached out to my professors to try to figure out a plan to get back on track. I was told by my professors that I needed to apply for academic consideration due to the death of my classmate, which only made me more depressed and isolated. And unfortunately, that further impacted my academic performance. At that time I also met with a therapist at Student Wellness who helped me file paperwork for extenuating circumstances. By the time the extenuating circumstances paperwork had been properly processed and I was granted accommodations, the semester was basically over. I had barely completed any of the course work and again tried to reach out to my professors, with limited response. I dropped one class and ended up failing both PHYS 316 and PHYS 344. I did pass STAT 252, thanks to the instructor's consideration.

This January, for reasons that I’m not clear about, I was able to enroll in the second half of the courses that I failed in the fall. Since I did not successfully complete the first half of the course, staying on track for the second half has been incredibly challenging given that I lacked the prerequisites. Not only was it difficult for my understanding of material, it also made me feel like I did not belong and exacerbated my feelings of anxiety towards school. And then just after reading week, where I stayed in Kingston, preparing for midterms, my grandfather tragically died as a result of injuries sustained in a car accident. Before leaving Kingston to attend the funeral in New Jersey, I proactively reached out to my professors. Again, I was directed to submit an obituary and instructed to file for accommodations due to extenuating circumstances. Two of my professors still have not responded to my emails, and the professor of 344 from the fall semester is my professor for the winter 317 and he has repeatedly ignored my requests for support.

The lack of support and interest from my professors as I struggled not only academically, but personally was extremely painful and it made it hard for me to know what I had to do to succeed.

As someone with anxiety, I already have a difficult time reaching out to professors when I am struggling with academic work. When I’m also struggling with things in my personal life, like a death in the family or other external issues, it is orders of magnitude more difficult to reach out. I have immense internal pressure to succeed and I feel a lot of peer pressure when it seems that my fellow students are “getting it” more quickly than I do.

Going into the 23-24 school year, I already felt like I was running behind. Over the summer I had met with Professor Martin, the undergrad chair of the physics department, who was reassuring but also encouraged me to work hard and get myself back on track and oriented on a successful academic path. I am now at a point where I really resent and am ashamed of myself for being in this situation. I struggle with staying focused and have been diagnosed and prescribed medication to deal with generalized anxiety disorder, clinical depression, and ADHD. Even when everything in my life is going well, it is still no small task to complete what is expected of me and what I expect from myself. When multiple extenuating factors are in the mix, it becomes a vicious cycle with my anxiety and stress rising while my ability to get my work done falls.

I am writing now to ask that you please drop the courses I failed in the Fall 2023 term, and their second half from Winter 2024. My goal, beginning this summer, is to take some elective courses to further my progress on my degree, and in the fall retake PHYS 344 and PHYS 316. I want nothing more than to be a successful student, and if that means it may take more time than anticipated, so be it. I am prepared to do all that it takes to be successful.

Thank you for your consideration and support.

Maxwell Milchberg
20226085