Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom it may concern,

I am petitioning to drop HIST 109, ENGL 100B, and POLS 110B due to extenuating circumstances. My reasoning for this begins with the upset caused after Bader College's closure earlier this year, as I was a Bader student in first semester. The program's closure affected my learning during the rushed transition to main campus as I felt little support was offered to me, leading to me feeling lost socially as I was suddenly thrust onto a very large campus, as well as lost academically as I felt a lot of the material I was expected to know was not what we had studied yet at Bader. Furthermore, I was dealing with mental health struggles throughout the term which were brought on after Bader College's closure. I struggle with diagnosed OCD and anxiety and do not adapt well with sudden changes. It is because of this that my first few months in Kingston led me to deal with unaccommodated needs, such as periods of depression and frequent anxiety attacks. This affected my ability to participate in or even attend lectures and tutorials, as well as hindered my ability to focus on the coursework and complete assignments. This is reflected in the decline of my academic progress as my grade point average of first semester whilst attending Bader was 3.370, whereas my grade point average of this semester is 0.180. Therefore, the struggles I endured during the months of my transition to main campus prompted me to register with QSAS in March, further meaning that my accommodations were only provided after the course drop deadline of March 1st.

Additionally, I am hoping to only drop the second semesters of my ENGL 100 and POLS 110 courses as that is when the extenuating circumstances began. I hope to obtain the 3.00 credits I earned for each of the courses in first semester, and plan to retake the second half of the courses next winter.

It goes without saying that my first year has not gone the way I'd envisioned it in September. I truly do not want the unexpected circumstances of this year to affect my academic record going forward, which is why I request the appeal of my petition on compassionate grounds.

Respectfully,
Angelina Martin