Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean of the arts and science department,
I am appealing to drop Religion 212 Mythology of the Ancient Near East. I had attempted to drop this course back in February during reading week, I believe either February 15th or 16th. I was living at my parents house at the time where there is only dial up internet, and although either SOLUS or the internet was lagging, at the time I believed that the course had been dropped successfully. I have dropped courses in the past so I know that there is no confirmation email from SOLUS, and often times the course remains in moodle or OnQ, even after it have been dropped. I only noticed that RELS212 remained on my SOLUS timetable in week 10, as I went in to make a payment for a summer program. I thought that this might have been a mistake, and I booked an appointment with an academic advisor a few days later. It was here that they advised me to submit an academic appeal with supplementary documentation. It took me a few weeks to book an appointment with my doctor, and another week for her to complete the Physician¿¿s note form, which I was able to pick up on April 12th 2016.
I have suffered from depression and anxiety for many years, and have dropped down to part time studies a few times during my undergrad at Queens, as I would always rather be a part time student giving my best effort in the three classes I remain in. I dropped this course because starting in early February of 2016 I began to have anxiety attacks and regular heart palpitations. These usually happened at night causing my sleep schedule to be disrupted, often times only getting 4-5 hours of sleep per night, and/or causing restless/broken sleep. I still maintained a high level of anxiety throughout the day, usually revolving around my current schedule or my future education. I found myself struggling to keep up with the workload of four courses as I was functioning at such a high level of anxiety and little to no sleep. I felt as though I was living every day in a fog of fatigue, and I know that it affected my concentration, retention, and comprehension in lectures, readings, and assignments. I was also feeling a constant sense of panic, because even as these symptoms were happening I recognized their effect and the impact it would have on my grades. I chose to drop RELS 212 because it was my only course that did not have any assignments due until after reading week. Additionally, RELS 212 had two large assignments that made up 80 of the course, putting more pressure to perform in order to get a good grade. I went to the walk in clinic on February 18th 2016 as my family doctor was booked for a few weeks. I went specifically for the heart palpitations as they were progressively getting worse, and a symptom I had never had before. It was here that I got paperwork to have a blood test done. In addition, during this period of time I saw my psychologist for three weeks straight instead of every two weeks as I have done for the 6-8 months.
Though this problem has still not completely resolved, I am continuing to see my psychologist every other week, and exploring any possible physical explanations with my family doctor. I have always loved this school and my program. I am extremely disappointed that I was unable to complete the Mythology of the Ancient Near East course as it had a lot of interesting material that I explore even outside of university. I have been working at my undergraduate degree a few more years than most, but I am determined to complete it and move on to post-graduate study. I am asking that this course be dropped because if it is not I will get a 0, as I stopped attending after I thought I had initially dropped it back in February, and all assignments were due after this date. I care a great deal not only about my grades, but also the material and learning process in my courses. I have not done as well this semester as I had hoped, however I still believe that I have done better than I would have with an additional course. I have decided to do the Interdisciplinary Studies in Global Health and Disability this summer at the castle to not only try and catch up on a few courses, but explore new subject areas and methods of study that are provided at the BISC campus. I am hoping that this more interactive method of study will help copy with any lingering academic anxiety, as well as providing an opportunity to learn about global mental health issues.

Thank you very much for your consideration,
Alex Armitage