Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Nikola Harricharan, 20112318
Queen’s University, Faculty of Art and Science
Friday June 14, 2024

To whom it may concern,

My name is Nikola Harricharan and I am petitioning to drop Animation: Disney to Ghibli; Film 220.

Over the past year I have struggled consistently with debilitating mental health issues. During this time I struggled with anxiety, depression and some PTSD. These mental health issues inhibited me in many different ways as I was affected physically as well. In the time I was enrolled in this course I was experiencing things such as; over sleeping, loss of appetite, anxiety attacks and a big discouragement to join in on day to day activities, especially school. These symptoms did not allow me to perform at all, and because of this I was unable to participate at all in this course. I had such a debilitating few months due to my mental health issues and in this time I had dropped everything, including working as I had to quit my job because of these issues. It was in my best interest to quit, I let my employer know in December 2023 as it had been ongoing for months and it spread through until April/May of 2024.

Moving forward, I really want to succeed and be able to continue at Queens as I have been doing my best to put in the work over the past few years at University. It has been a challenge, especially during COVID, however I set some expectations and set a few measures to ensure I can be successful in the future. First, I spoke with a therapist, she is helping me manage these mental health issues. I also made it very aware to my doctor that I have been struggling and they have both been able to and will continue to support me going forward. My therapist and doctor have recommended treatment plans such as therapy sessions weekly and taking some supplements my doctor has recommended to remediate/manage these mental health issues. I have also spoken to an academic advisor and she was able to help me set up a plan to succeed. The plan I decided to acquire is to change my degree to Liberal Arts from History, this way I am able to use more of my credits from my previous years. Once the date reopens on June 17, 2024 I will submit my plan change. This idea to change my plan was encouraged, however I took the time to look into the following two primary courses I need for this program and can say it interests me and I am excited about being able to join this program. I also did lots of research on this program and don’t take this change lightly, as I understand change can be hard. However in this circumstance I am very eager to be able to join Liberal Arts.I believe I can thrive more and succeed in Liberal Arts.


Thank you to the faculty and advising team for the support, I am hoping you will take this information into consideration.


Nikola Harricharan, 20112318