Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Johanne Benard,

I am appealing to waive the 21-day regulation for my case.
My academic performance for the past year and up until now has been hindered due to some circumstances beyond my control. These include the mental health issues I have been having since last year when I moved to Canada. I had been living off campus and had minimal social interaction; also I lived quite far from campus too. These and various other events triggered my anxiety but I was not able to seek help for it then. I survived through the year and took spent some time home after my April exams. However, at that point in time, I was not aware of these procedures academic appeals and the 21 day regulation, and knew very little about the resources available on campus. This past semester, I spoke to one of the academic advisors at the faculty office and found out about the fact that I could have done something about my grades or courses right after my exams. I have been having some mental health issues again, but this time I have been seeing a counsellor and a doctor, which is why this information has come to light. I was advised to talk to my faculty to figure out possible options for my wellbeing and fixing some of the outcomes that were caused due to my health issues. My counsellor and doctor have agreed to provide supporting documents for my case and these can be used for clarification in the matter. I believe these documents have already been sent to your office by now.

As I mentioned earlier, I have been receiving help and also have been on medication now. I have taken this whole semester away from Kingston and have been living back home with my family. I also experienced high stress with my housemates in my apartment this semester (also a trigger for my anxiety), which is why I planned on moving out of there as soon as I could. Over last summer, when I was back home, I took an online course and I discovered that I was able to perform very well at it compared to the ones I took at school when I lived alone last year. This is why I believe that if I take some time away from school or go home perhaps for a while, I might be able to recover. My anxiety had been getting really bad and it was very hard for me to cope with things. For when I returned back after this summer, I was very hopeful that it would not be an obstruction for my achievements and I was very ambitious about that. Nonetheless, the poor choices I made about my living arrangements turned out to upset me recently and now I was hopeless once again. At this point I am planning my return to Canada and have only recovered enough to be able to deal with this issue and write to your office.

Be this appeal granted, I would submit another appeal. The latter of these appeals is actually the purpose. Basically, I will be appealing to receive credit standings for all my courses that I took in the 2014-2015 academic year except Psychology 100 (as I am repeating that course). These courses include Chemistry 112, Math 121, Physics 117, Biology 102, and Biology 103. These are the only courses I took last year and now I have nowhere to go. By appealing for a credit standing for these courses, I will be able to open up more options for myself and that is exactly what I need. Not having been able to declare or choose a major of my choice due to a poor GPA has really upset me over the past semester and summer. The reason why I was not able to perform well in these courses, I have already mentioned to you the circumstances being out of my control. Therefore I would be very grateful at this point if the university and faculty would give me a chance to get back and boost my confidence for my future at this school and in life.

Sincerely
Dawood Abdulmalik