Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Stephenson,
I am writing this appeal to request that my course fail-grades from 2023 Fall and 2024 Winter be dropped and to waive the subsequent requirement to withdraw for 1 year I received as a result. I had planned out this past academic year and started the year off strong, doing well in my courses and very excited about my prospects for the year, but unfortunately found myself physically unable to maintain this throughout my year like I had hoped. I am petitioning for those courses to be dropped and the requirement to withdraw be waived because I experienced some extraordinary medical circumstances that severely impacted my ability to complete and participate in my courses (and my life in general). In the Fall semester, I got hit by another car while driving in Kingston (t-boned and hit directly where I was sitting on my driver’s side door) and as a result, found myself dealing with a serious concussion. This had a strong impact on my life as I tried to navigate dealing with this type of injury alone, coupled with the fact that the doctors did not have a cure or treatment they could give me to speed up the process. This became a particularly significant hinderance on my ability to participate in schoolwork for months, as well as continued symptoms that were diagnosed by a concussion specialist as Post-Concussion Syndrome (PCS). The concussion and PCS that followed affected every aspect of life, from daily routine to trying to get back into coursework, to basic things like performing tasks like cooking and cleaning to my mental and physical health, memory, sleep, etc.
In terms of a timeline, I was hit in Kingston at the end of September, (at night on the 29th), as evidenced by the police report I am attaching to this letter. I then saw a doctor at a walk-in clinic in Kingston as soon as possible, after my initial concussion symptoms appeared the morning after the accident – this is the shown by the doctor’s note dated October 3rd that is attached to this petition. In this note, the doctor asks for extenuating circumstances to be granted due to her diagnosis of my concussion and the unpredictable nature of concussion timelines (she had initially told me 1 month to 1 year; my concussion ended up lasting for around 5-6 months before I was then diagnosed with PCS and this extended the healing timeline further demonstrating that this was a significant medically extenuating circumstance during the course of this past academic year). The first semester was especially difficult, affecting my ability to even walk around during the day, and causing nausea, severe headaches, sleep deprivation, worsening my ADHD, and other factors. After dealing with this for the rest of the fall, I went to see my family doctor as soon as I was able to travel back in the United States, hoping to get an update on my condition and further resources to address the issue. I have also attached her note from this appointment to this petition, dated December 27th, in which she further confirms the ongoing condition of my concussion and mentions some of the symptoms such as my headaches and memory/concentration/ADHD exacerbation. My physician also found my symptoms to be enough concern to recommend me to a concussion specialist (her referral is also attached). I set the soonest appointment available and then was simply left to deal with my symptoms until I was able to see him. I met with the specialist in February of the 2024 Winter semester, at which point he did some testing and diagnosed me with PCS. Additionally, the specialist felt the PCS deemed it necessary to refer me to two other types of concussion-specialized neurological psychologists/therapies. Scans of these referrals, also serving as proof of the February appointment with the specialist are also attached to this petition. I still tried to salvage my Winter semester, as I deeply care about not just completing my degree but doing so successfully, and at my full capacity, as evidenced by my completion of a couple of my classes, but just simply could not operate with my best foot forward during this condition and this strongly affected my semester overall.
Regarding the coming academic year, I plan on completing the therapies recommended to me by the specialist before coming back to Kingston, and additionally my ability to successfully complete my coursework as I am no longer experiencing the severe effects of concussion and PCS that I had to work through this past year. I have also met with and worked with the academic advisor in my economics faculty (Ms. Morgan Wilson), and we have created a strong plan and framework for my upcoming schoolyear, as well as planned to start meeting continuously during the year to keep on top of the timeline we have so I can graduate from Queen’s before Fall 2025. A significant part of this is that I plan to switch programs from Applied Economics to General Economics, shifting my degree requirements as well giving me more flexibility in which courses I need take, as my coursework for a general economics degree has already been completed at this point, and would mostly just need to finish my elective credit number requirements; I would therefore be able to take a manageable and responsible courseload that sets me up for success. With her help, the plan we’ve created, and the fact that my extenuating medical circumstance from this past year is not something that will affect my future work, I am confident that this upcoming academic year will be a successful one that allows me to graduate by May/Summer 2025, without any additional time, financial, or other burdens. Though it has been a difficult academic year for me as I dealt with this injury, I know that it is something that will have affected my past year, not my future studies in the Fall, and I want for nothing more than to graduate from Queen’s at the end of this year after successful completion of the plan I developed with Ms. Wilson. I truly appreciate your help and understanding in this matter Dr. Stephenson, and I sincerely hope that you help me complete this petition.

Thank you for your consideration and support in this matter,
Siddith