Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: My name is Mikayla Quigley, and I am an independent student requesting a late drop for all five of my Winter 2026 courses. I understand the academic and financial consequences of this request. However, I am asking that this petition be considered in the context of a year defined by serious trauma, financial instability, unsafe working conditions, and circumstances that were entirely beyond my control. This was not a casual academic decision, and it was not a matter of poor planning, lack of effort, or disengagement from school. I did not “choose” to fall behind this year. I was trying to survive circumstances that made it increasingly impossible to function at the level required to remain successful in a full course load.

Summer 2025 was traumatic for me. During that time, I was repeatedly assaulted by someone I was not in a position to safely leave. I still returned to school because I care deeply about my education and because Queen’s has always represented stability, purpose, and a future I have worked very hard to build. Continuing with school was not easy, but it felt like one of the only ways I could keep moving forward. By the Fall 2025 semester, however, the effects of what I had experienced, combined with severe financial instability, became unmanageable. At the time, I was also in the process of filing for independent status from my abusive parents, which created major delays with my OSAP funding. Because I had no parental support to fall back on, I was responsible for covering my own rent, living expenses, and tuition without any certainty around when my funding would arrive.

I want to emphasize that I am financially responsible and have done everything I can to support myself through school. I used my own savings to keep myself afloat and to continue pursuing my degree. However, while I am capable of managing my finances, I still rely on financial aid to make university realistically possible. I was able to absorb those costs once, but I could not do it a second time under the same level of uncertainty and instability. As the semester continued, I reached a point where I could no longer balance healing from trauma, financial uncertainty, and academic demands at the same time. Dropping my Fall 2025 courses was not a decision I made lightly. It came with major academic and financial consequences, and I understood that at the time. But it was not a real choice in any meaningful sense. It was the only way I could stop a situation that was already becoming unsustainable due to circumstances beyond my control from becoming even worse.

When I entered the Winter 2026 semester, I was trying to recover and move forward. I had finally received my OSAP funding by mid-January, and I genuinely believed I would be able and well set up to get through and enjoy the semester. Unfortunately, after only a short period of normalcy, I experienced another major disruption. I was forced to leave my job as a server at the Queen’s Pub after being subjected to harassment and assault in the workplace by an employee who has since been fired. I did not immediately report what was happening because I needed the income and could not afford to lose my job. Eventually, the situation became so severe and visible that I was effectively forced to speak out. Once I did, and once other staff also came forward, the employee was informed that I had complained. That created a situation where campus no longer felt safe for me. I began avoiding places where I might encounter him or people connected to the situation. I started missing lectures and tutorials. I withdrew from academic life not because I had stopped caring, but because I was overwhelmed, isolated, and trying to navigate yet another unsafe and destabilizing environment while already carrying the effects of everything that had happened before it.
Throughout all of this, I was also coping with the loss of my relationship with my parents, the emotional and financial fallout of my Fall 2025 semester, and the pressure of knowing that as an independent student, there is no safety net for me if things go wrong. That is why I am asking that my Winter 2026 courses be late dropped. I understand that a late drop would still remain part of my academic record, and I am not asking for this semester to be erased. What I am asking is that these courses not remain on my transcript as four failed courses, because that outcome would not simply reflect one difficult semester — it would create long-term academic and financial consequences that are out of proportion to what actually happened.

If these courses remain on my transcript as five failures, the consequences of this year will not end with this year. They will continue to affect my academic standing, my financial aid, and my ability to continue my education in a stable way. For me, academic setbacks cannot be separated from the rest of my life. They immediately become financial and practical setbacks as well. Due to my Fall 2025 course withdrawals and the full course load requirements tied to OSAP academic progress, I am now on a trajectory where I will almost certainly face escalation from academic probation to academic restriction. Academic restriction would mean being blocked from receiving OSAP for a year unless I successfully appeal to re-establish eligibility. I understand that this is something I will have to address separately at a later date. However, the context is important, although for now, I am trying to deal with the immediate damage in front of me.

I also waited so long to do this because I planned on getting incomplete (IN) in my courses, which I had already arranged and was supported in doing but if I am honest with myself, I need to recover from this year, and I can’t move forward bringing the responsibilities and shame of the past couple of months with me.

I am instead going to focus my energy on feeling better, petitioning for these late drops, petitioning for tuition refunds where possible, securing a new living situation, getting the support I need, and putting myself in a position to try again next year under more stable conditions. I am not asking to avoid accountability. I am asking for recognition that this year was shaped by extraordinary circumstances, and that allowing these courses to remain as four failures would create a level of long-term damage that goes far beyond what is reasonable or reflective of my actual capabilities as a student. I know I am capable of succeeding academically under stable conditions. I know this year does not reflect my potential, my work ethic, or my long-term ability to complete my degree. But to rebuild, I need the chance to stop this year from causing even more lasting damage than it already has. For that reason, I am respectfully asking that you grant this late drop petition.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Mikayla Quigley
20340207