Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Sir or Madam:

I am a 6th year student in the Bachelor of Computing-General Program.

I am writing to request in the hope that you will consider the medical evidence I am including. As a result, I ask that you consider my request that you exclude my winter term credits and grades from my academic record, that you permit me to continue with my studies in the fall to replace these credits, and that you waive the three year withdrawal period.

I have included the following medical reports/evidence with this letter:

Letter by Dr. Anca Facy, dated June 8, 2015
Letter by Dr. Daria Racicovschi, Lakeridge Health, dated June 8, 2015
Letter by Dr. Claudia Petrescu, dated June 2, 2015
Letter by Dr. Terry Cullen, dated June 2, 2010 including his obituary, dated March 3, 2011
Death Certificate of Elvira Margulies

2. Difficult Circumstances and Mitigating Factors
For the majority of my time at Queen¿¿s, difficult personal and family circumstances beyond my control have affected my state of mind and my performance.
My grandmother passed away in March, 2013 and my grandfather developed advanced Alzheimer dementia. Both of them played a major role in my upbringing and were my surrogate parents for several years while I was separated from my parents.
I have also been diagnosed with depression and, most recently, attention deficit disorder.
The first major setback was in 2010 when I had an episode of depression. After failing several exams, I had to withdraw for 1 year from computer engineering. I was assessed by a psychiatrist, Dr. T Cullen, and diagnosed with depression and was placed on medication. At that time I also requested to transfer from engineering to Computer Science within Queen¿¿s. Although I was taking the prescribed medication daily, it did not work well for me. Unfortunately, I was unable to be reassessed by Dr. T Cullen, as he passed away unexpectedly the same year. My family doctor referred me to a second psychiatrist, Dr. Rabinovici, who thought that I was well, and took me off the medication. Unfortunately that did not work well for me. Soon I had difficulty getting out of bed, concentrating, and maintaining my focus. I was trying to convince myself that I was ok, but I was not.

It was at this time that my family started to have significant problems, making it difficult to open up to them.

The rst family crisis, which kicked off the other, was the hospitalization and death of my grandmother in 2013. To put this event in its proper perspective, we have to go even further back.

We came to Canada 20 years ago and my parents would have to work long hours to be able to establish themselves here; as a result much of my rearing was in the hands of my grandparents. They would drop me off at school, pick me up, and keep me company before my parents came home. They taught me French, German, how to play the piano. My grandfather furthered my knowledge of math to the point where I scored 4th highest in Canada on math contests by the time I nished elementary school. We were very close.

My grandmother was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2010 and started chemotherapy and radiation. In 2013 her lymphoma came back, and when my grandmother was hospitalized, I took it hard. What was initially just an overnight wait to remove ¿uid from her abdomen soon progressed over two weeks to her being bed-ridden to her no longer being able to eat solid foods and nally to her passing away one morning.

Throughout this time, my family would take shifts to stay by her side almost 24 hours a day. During the daytime when my parents were at work, I would bring my grandfather and we would stay with her attending to her every need and watching her slowly wither away. After work, one of my parents would relieve me, and the other would come at night to stay with her overnight. It was a soul-crushing two weeks staying by her side watching her descent into a painful death from cancer. Watching the woman that had introduced me to the beauty of what life had to offer forgo said beauty and give up on life itself.

Even then, my grandfather had been affected heavily by Alzheimer Disease, but the death of my grandmother made it worse quite quickly. Within weeks, he no longer knew that he had a son, referring to my father as his recently deceased brother Karl. He remembered my name, but not that I was his grandson. We had taken over care of him and moved him into our house but still every day he yearned to go ¿¿home¿. He would constantly try and leave to go back to his former apartment, resulting in my need to either watch him constantly while my parents were at work or go out looking for him. Eventually he accepted that he now lived with us and stopped trying to go home, but with that came even further deterioration in his condition.

Things he could until recent years do himself dress, eat, go to sleep without prompting, put on shoes without help¿¿soon were out of his reach. I was again watching someone who taught me so much slowly but surely fade away. I would go back home as often as I could to help take care of him, and each time I returned I would have trouble readjusting to doing things for the betterment of my future, such
as attending class and studying rather than dwelling on the present circumstances and the possibility that in my grandfather¿¿s place could be eventually my father or even me.



3. Conclusion

While I understand that the recommendation before the committee is to suspend me for three years, I would like to ask you to consider the difficulties I have faced. Depression is a serious illness and when mistreated becomes worse, as it has in my case. Had it not been for my parent¿¿s continuous efforts to seek medical advice, I may have never gotten the proper treatment. I am prepared to work with you and do whatever is necessary to succeed.

If you determine despite the medical documentation I have provided that I must withdraw, I ask you to consider the extenuating circumstances beyond my control and to decrease the penalty period to one semester on compassionate grounds and to allow me to retake the courses, as well as exclude the ones impacted by my medical condition.

Now that I am receiving proper treatment, I do not wish to lose time to complete my education and to begin my career. Please understand that I am capable of good grades and good work, and that I simply would like to finish my degree like any other student.

Thank you for considering this petition.

Sincerely yours,

Arthur Margulies