Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom it may concern,

I am writing to petition for the waiving of a drop deadline for the CHEM281 course I took in Fall 2023, the reason being that the extenuating circumstances that directly affected my academic performance having occurred after the drop deadline of October 30, 2023. I do not have the exact dates, but these extenuating circumstances occurred around mid-November, and affected me strongly for the rest of Fall semester.

The extenuating circumstances are as follows: I was in a study group with some peers from the course, and developed a sense of trust with them. In mid-November, despite having not come out or disclosing that I was trans to any of them, one of said peers found out somehow and outed that part of my identity to other group members and in one study session, would actively misgender me. No one would say anything, and everyone had started treating me differently afterwards, so I never went back to those study sessions.

I already generally hide that part of my identity because I don’t think it’s relevant to how people should treat me, and also because I fear that something like this (if not worse) would happen. These experiences destabilized my perceptions of how people typically see me, which significantly impacted and worsened my perception of self, thus significantly increasing my gender dysphoria and worsening my depression, all in addition to the breach of trust and immense distress from the discrimination I experienced. I was able to deal with going to my other course classes and continue on like normal, but when it came to CHEM281 specifically, I tried continuing on like normal but I eventually avoided going to classes because those peers would be there and the feelings from the discrimination I experienced made going to class worse for my already spiralling mental health. At one point in end of November/ early December I could not eat or get out of bed for days on end and experienced suicidal thoughts. Because of the missed classes, and the extenuating circumstances I experienced relating to this course, I was not able to complete my assignments and did not pass my final exam.

Current steps that I have taken have included seeking support through counselling, briefly at Queen’s. Unfortunately as it is, I am definitely more distrusting and fearful of others because of the severe extent to which these events have affected me. In March of 2024, however, I did finally make it off of the waitlist for top surgery, and post-surgery a lot of gender dysphoria has been alleviated, because my chest had been a primary source of dysphoria for me. Counselling has helped me build a support system I can rely on should something like this happen again, which I am thankful for.

I hope this provides an adequate understanding of my extenuating circumstances and how they impacted my coursework in CHEM281. Thank you for your time and consideration.

All the best,
Laurent