Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean (Studies):

I would like to appeal the Faculty¿¿s decision that I must withdraw from Queen¿¿s University for one year and would like to request to drop the following three courses after the academic deadline: MATH 121, BIO 103 and PHYS 117.

This is my first time in university and I was not sure what to expect in terms of the courses or the course workload. The beginning of the academic session started off well, I was completing all the assignment and assessments on time and excelling. However there was a personal situation in Late October that affected my academic performance. Although I am not comfortable elaborating on the situation, it was an internal struggle for me to concentrate on my studies as well as deal with the situation. It was an incident where one of my floor mates decided to oppress me for the rest of the academic year because one night while I was studying, I made a noise complaint to the dons because the floor mate was being exceptionally loud during quiet hours. It affected me to the point where I was not comfortable staying in my own room in residence but it was also a factor as to why I attended most of my classes. As soon as I came home from class, I would be as quiet as possible so the floor mate wouldn¿¿t bother me. The floor mate made my living environment very uncomfortable and made it difficult to study with ease. There were some nights where I had to sleep with earphones in so I did not hear the harsh statements said by the floor mate. At the time, I would try to cope with it by going to the library for a quiet studying environment. Although this problem took a toll on me, I only confided in one other floor mate and one of my dons. I have attached a personal documentation from my don, Taylor Macpherson to verify and account for my situation. The situation affected me from the night of the problem to the very end of my academic session. It affected my overall performance because I was unable to study to my best potential, which had a domino effect throughout the year. I was mentally exhausted by the time of final exams, which lead to a very poor academic performance. It affected my performance in all five courses to the same extent however I was able to do better in some courses because I had a strong background in some courses.

The problem has been resolved since then, after the exam period I told the floor mate that I had no issue with them and I consulted with my don who helped me regain myself by offering me some moral support. Although it was a bit too late, I¿¿m glad I have resources available to help me through this situation. Since the problem, I have already started seeking help in form such as my parents, academic advisors and religious advisors. With the help of the academic advisors, I was able to plan out what I¿¿m going to do better the situation and how to move on from this point from an academic standpoint. I think the underlying issue was that there was a confidence problem and every demeaning thing the floor mate did affected my experience as a first year, my life style and most importantly my academic performance. In order to avoid coming to this position again, I have to be more mentally stable and use all the resources that were readily available through the university. This situation will not reoccur in the future as I plan to live further from the people who affected me and they are in different areas of concentration so the likelihood of running into them are pretty low. Another way I¿¿m going to better improve this situation in the future is to seek help when I need it. Initially I thought that this situation was very embarrassing and that I thought that I didn¿¿t need help.