Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom it may concern,

I am writing this letter as I am hoping to late drop DEVS300 from my transcript.

This past year has been extremely difficult and tolling on my mental health which has impacted my ability to do course work for many of my classes. While DEVS300 is the only course that I am choosing to withdraw late from, many of my courses have been impacted by my depression, anxiety, ADHD, and ASD. DEVS300 is the only course in which I have not been able to find alternatives or accommodations to complete any course work.

To brief why and how I have been impacted: late last summer, I had an incident with the person who sexually assaulted me two years ago. It was a large shock as I had not had to interact with them since the initial incident. Kingston has not felt like a safe city for me because I know that my perpetrator is still living, working, playing, etc. in Kingston. They are a graffiti vandal in Kingston, so regardless of any real contact or not, I am very aware that my perpetrator is near and where they have been since they make it known with their graffiti tags. Knowing my perpetrator is out and about, it is difficult to leave the house knowing that they could be anywhere: downtown, on campus, near student housing, etc. It was very difficult to attend classes in fear of running into this person; their tags are on Queen’s buildings and infrastructure making it difficult to even feel safe on campus.

Because this incident was impacting my ability to work, I was referred to the Sexual Assault Centre Kingston to receive support and guidance through this situation. I had been receiving treatment from SACK from September 2024 to April 2025 to help deal with my reaction to all of this. While treatment from SACK was extremely beneficial to picking myself up again, it wasn’t a cure for the manifestation of my anxiety and depression; I was still unable to leave my house, even my bed on many occasions, despite having commitments such as class, work, meetings, or social events. Taking care of myself became really hard; leaving my room to eat was getting difficult, I felt the need to stay in my safe place, my corner of my student house, as often as I could to make up for not feeling safe in the city. Deadlines were becoming increasingly hard to follow, contacting my professors was daunting. Any semblance of routine was hard to follow as I was more concerned with reducing the anxiety constantly eating at my stomach and brain, and finding coping mechanisms (healthy and unhealthy) to keep me going.

While dealing with the aftermath of my SA incident, I have also started to burnout due to my ADHD and my ASD. The mental toll of trying to mask my disabilities and suffering while also trying to function normally exacerbated my depression and my anxiety. This past school year was a wakeup call for me to address these issues; while my anxiety and depression are not new to me, the burnout and executive dysfunction, especially at this rate, were. My ADHD and ASD diagnoses are rather recent so I was unaware of why I was unable to move forward in my classes until around April.

Typically, I am able to recuperate fast and continue on, but due to the levels of burnout and executive dysfunction, my recuperation time has increased greatly. So much so that most of my classes have been impacted by these issues. In fall semester, I had 4 courses: DEVS 492, PHIL 348, PHIL 378, and DEVS 501. I was only able to successfully complete DEVS 492 and PHIL 348 on time. I had to request an incomplete grade for PHIL378 and submit my assignments during the next semester. My winter semester was even more difficult. I had another DEVS 492, DEVS 368, DEVS 392, DEVS 300, and continued my full year DEVS 501. I was only able to successfully finish DEVS 368 and DEVS 392. I had to request incomplete grades for DEVS 492 and DEVS 501, both of these I will be completing by the end of July. DEVS 300 is the only course that I am unable to complete before the end of this summer semester.

I have discussed every other option with my QSAS advisor, as well as my professor in this course, to which they both recommended that I withdraw from this course given my circumstances. After looking at all my options and having time to reflect on my past year, I agree that this would be the best course of action. I am only one credit away from graduating, after I finish my incomplete courses. Dropping DEVS300 would allow me to take a summer course and finish my degree so that I can graduate in November and complete my studies at Queen’s.

Thank you so much for your consideration.