Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Bénard,


My name is Rachel Hunt, I am a full time student, working towards my general BA in geography, and I recently received an email stating that I must withdraw from my studies at Queens for one year. I am writing this letter to appeal the faculty's decision.

Let me first start by saying, that there are several factors that make up my extenuating circumstances. The first is, that as a student with a learning disability, I have always struggled with my education, and have had to work harder than most. I am an excellent student in terms of effort, attendance, and timely completion of assignments without ever having asked for extensions, however, this is not always enough. Specifically my learning disability has to do with working memory, and therefore directly impacts my ability to retain comprehension in a traditional classroom setting. With the knowledge of my learning barriers, I made sure I was registered with Disability Services, and because they were not as helpful as I had hoped, I began to seek more help this year on my own. The first step, was finding out who I could speak to in order to create an academic plan to ensure I was capable of completing my courses to the best of my ability. While being mindful of my mental health, and my previous issues, as well as the importance the school puts on maintaining good mental health, it was important to ensure that I was able to maintain a healthy balance. My mental health in the past has affected my ability to cope with the demands of school among other things. When I began to seek academic help, it took nearly three weeks for a faculty member to answer my e-mails, but I was eventually introduced to Dr. Betsy Donald, who was very helpful with this matter, and pointed me in the right direction as to the steps to take next.
Another aspect that negatively affected my grades this semester, was the sudden death of a very close friend, just days before the exam for the class that I ended up failing(GPHY 102). The reason I did not speak up about the death was because the rules clearly state that in order to have an exam rescheduled, the deceased must be an immediate family member. Although the individual who passed away was not an immediate family member, he was like family. I didn't request an exception because although he was a big factor in my life, and one of the biggest supporters of my education at Queens, I feared the school would not see it the same way. However, the fact of the matter is that his death affected me greatly, causing me to leave school during exams to be with my loved ones.