Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Johanne Bénard,

I am writing to discuss the possibility of being permitted to drop my courses¿¿ GRMN 102, PHIL 201, SOCY 122B, SOCY 211, SOCY 227. I¿¿m kindly asking for your permission to drop these courses because during the school year I struggled with depression and anxiety as well as problems socially. On top of this, about half way through the year my grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer. These problems have made it impossible for me to perform academically and have had devastating health effects.
During the school year, someone I know (at the time a friend) created a rumor about me leaving me feeling confused, sad, alone, and depressed. He was falsely saying to my friends and other people I know that he had heard a rumor saying I was bi-sexual. This was possibly one of the most difficult things I have had to face as it took months of continuously stating to my friends ¿¿I am not bi, but straight. This was just a rumor¿. This rumor resulted in people not talking to me for months and further deepened my state of depression, anxiety, and loneliness. During the year my depression made it very difficult for me to eat proper amounts of food (resulting in 30lbs of weight loss) and get enough sleep, which made concentrating difficult through the cloudiness of my thoughts. Many times I found myself trying my best to concentrate and get work done but there was always all these distractions and thoughts running through my head I have never had. Despite asking this individual on multiple occasions to stop spreading these rumors he continued spreading them until I could barely deal with the stress one day, which resulted in me informing him that I would take further action by contacting Queen¿¿s and the law if he did not stop. I did not want the situation to evolve into what it had become but this felt like my only option. After the rumors stopped with about 2 weeks of class left, I was able to eventually rebuild the relationships with my friends again but there was a constant reminder at the back of my head of what he said and the impact it had. I often find myself now wondering why he would have said that and what made him say that. Thank you for your time and understanding.

Respectfully,

Jonathan M. Flamand 10149767