Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: June 15, 2015

Johanne Bénard, Ph.D.

Associate Dean (Studies),

I am writing to appeal the Faculty¿¿s decision that I must withdraw from Queen¿¿s for a period of one year, as extenuating circumstances, specifically depression, have negatively impacted my academic performance during the three years of study I have been at Queen¿¿s.

I am aware of the fact that this marks the second time I have appealed this requirement and understand fully that this will have negatively affect my chances of seeing my appeal accepted. However, I also feel that I made a serious error in judgment by appealing this decision and returning to Queen¿¿s last year as I was still not in the position to make a complete effort regarding my studies.

I did undergo counselling with Health, Counselling and Disability Services over the summer of 2014 and into the fall semester of the 2014-15 academic year. However, after the counsellor I was seeing left HCDS I did not return to counselling, in part due to my own personal issues regarding explaining my issues with depression. I am well aware that this was a mistake on my part, as while my academic performance still struggled during the fall semester, I was making strides that ¿¿ had I continued counselling ¿¿ would have put in the place I needed to be to continue my studies at the standard expected by the University.

Due to my decision to forgo treatment, my depression became increasingly unmanageable. This reached a climax on March 26, 2015 when I was admitted into the mental health ward of Kingston General Hospital after contemplating suicide for several days prior to my admission. I remained in the hospital until March 28.

Over my three years of study at Queen¿¿s, I have been suffering from depression, with it having worsened during my second and third years of study. In my situation, suffering from depression impacted my academic performance a great deal, as I oftentimes found myself unable to focus on the tasks set out for me in my courses during the school year. This meant I often fell behind in readings, or found myself unable to focus on my lectures. It also meant that I failed to complete assignments during the course of the year, as my struggles with depression seemed to overwhelm my ability to complete schoolwork. On numerous occasions, I found myself unable to take the steps to leave my house and attend classes, as I felt overwhelmed by not only my coursework but by life in general. Due to frequent absences brought on by this feeling, I fell behind on lectures and readings in my courses. By falling behind in my readings, I felt a great deal of anxiety about showing up to class, which worsened my emotional and mental states in regards to attending class. These kinds of episodes increased in frequency as the year progressed, becoming more prevalent in the later stages of second semester, especially in the last few weeks of classes. As I found myself unable to deal with my schoolwork my academic performance degraded a great deal. I failed to hand in a number of assignments during the year, as I struggled with a sense of apathy towards school and in my everyday life. Essentially, I felt as though none of what I was doing really mattered. At the same time, I found myself on other occasions to be overly emotional and unable to do schoolwork as I couldn¿¿t do it properly in the emotional state I was in. I also self-medicated throughout the year with alcohol, though for the most part this did not impact my studies. These issues have been previously documented in my first appeal letter.

In regards to my academic plan, I feel as though the greatest hindrance to obtaining a strong level of performance in my program is the fact that I did not deal with my depression in any sort of positive manner. Therefore I think the most important aspect of any academic plan is ensuring that I find a way of coping with depression. I believe the best way of doing this is to attend counselling or therapy regularly, whether on or off-campus. I plan on going back to counselling at HCDS if my appeal is accepted, and will continue to try and rectify the issues that prevented me from achieving a satisfactory academic performance. From here I will be able to better build strategies to deal with both the emotionally overwhelming feeling, as well as the feeling of apathy, allowing me to attend classes and able to keep up with my coursework. If my appeal is successful, I intend to take between 24.0 and 30.0 units during the 2015-16 academic year, including retaking the required English courses I failed, specifically ENGL 200 and ENGL 290, as well as other courses necessary for my continued studies in the English Language and Literature program. I acknowledge that there is no simple solution to depression but I feel as though getting the proper help will allow me to obtain the grades expected of me by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

I fully admit that my lack of counselling was a blow I dealt to myself and I take full responsibility for my failure there. That said, my mistake in coming back for the 2014-15 academic year cannot be rectified. It happened and may have cost me my place at Queen¿¿s. I completely understand that I am at fault here and I will do everything in my power to fix the mistakes that I have made. You do not owe me anything, but for the first time since I entered Queen¿¿s, I know that I am ready and able to be the student the University and ¿¿ perhaps, more importantly ¿¿ I expect me to be. I fully believe that I am finally able to deal with what has stopped me in the past from achieving academic success and I fully believe that I will be able to prove it this year if I am granted the opportunity.