Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: June 22, 2016
Queen¿¿s University, Kingston

To The Associate Dean: Dr. Johanne Bénard,
I am appealing to drop DRAM 251 (winter 2016) and ENGL 277 (winter 2016) from my academic record and to wave the 21 day period.

I am appealing the 21-day waiting period for two reasons. Firstly, for the month of May I had my teaching placement in a rural area with limited internet access. Secondly, because I had to take a month off of work to do my teaching placement it was not financially plausible for me to pay the 50 fee. I know this fee may not seem like much, but as a student who lived below the poverty line, 50 dollars was beyond what I could afford. Now that I have financially recovered, I am able to pay the fee.
Due to family and physical health issues that were beyond my control, I was unable to attend the necessary classes and complete the assignments requires to pass the courses. The combination of my own personal health struggles and the mental health issues my brother was facing directly affected my academic standing in these two courses. I personally faced ailment in regards to my reproductive and hormonal health. This issue lead to bodily pain, excessive lethargy, anxiety, headaches, and an inability to focus, which, in turn, caused me to be continually truant for both DRAM 251 and ENGL 277. I have been struggling with my hormonal and reproductive health for over a year, however, with medical help, I was able to ease the symptoms for the fall semester, which is reflective in my first term grades.
As I had finally begun to achieve academic success in the fall semester, I received another setback. During the winter break, my brother began to struggle with his mental health. Because of the bond my brother and I have, I was very concerned for his physical safety at this time. I took frequent trips home to accommodate my brother¿¿s heath concern. While this is a private matter, the frequent trips back home to Niagara lead to additional absenteeism. To add to this, I am a low-income student and work part time to afford my living accommodations. Because I was taking lots of time off to go home, I was taking additional shifts to be able to afford my rent. These shifts often were during class time and lead to less time to work on my academics. This was in addition to the stress of worrying about my brother¿¿s health and safety. Also, during this time, the treatment of my hormonal and reproductive issues became inefficient and I became ill again. The combination of my poor health and my brother¿¿s decline in mental health created an extenuating set of circumstances where I was unable to succeed in my academics.

These circumstances began to pile up near the end of the semester. I had finished most of the work in DRAM 251 and some in ENGL 277. However, with the added stress of exams on top of my circumstances lead to a failure to complete the final assignments in both classes. Now that the semester has finished, I am able to seek more intense medical treatment for myself. My brother has also started a treatment that has been quite effective. Due to my circumstances being temporary, I have met with an academic advisor in both the Arts and Science Department and the Education Department. As both courses were electives, I plan to take other courses to redeem those lost credits. While meeting with Vicky Andrews in the Academic department, we created an academic success plan. This plan ensures that I will graduate with all necessary credits and course requirements within five years of undergraduate studies instead of four. As I am taking a fifth year, Vicky Andrews and I also allowed for a lighter course load that allows me to deal with extenuating circumstances should they arise again.

I know that I have a bright future at Queen¿¿s University next year. I have taken extra steps this summer to earn a sufficient amount of money as not to rely on part-time work during the school year as my only means of financial gain. I will also be using the large amount of academic success services on campus and ensure that I have regular meetings with both my professors and academic advisors. I am aware that my 2016 winter semester was an academic disappointment, but I have taken the proper steps to make sure it will not happen again.

All the best,
Brent Clifford Gorrie
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