Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: June 26th, 2016

Dr. Johanne Bénard
Associate Dean (Studies), Faculty of Arts & Science
Student Services, First Floor Dunning Hall
Queen's University
99 University Ave
Kingston, ON K7L 3N6

RE: Letter of Appeal

Dear Dr. Bénard:

My name is Danalyn Holmes I am writing an appeal to request a CR standing for BIOL334 in winter term 2016 and to request that the 21-day deadline be waived to appeal for a CR status in PHYS117 and PSYC100 in winter term 2015. I am requesting this appeal due to medical extenuating circumstances; specifically, I have been diagnosed with Major Depressive Episode and Anxiety Disorder for which I am providing documentation. I will also provide documentation (to follow) demonstrating that I struggled with this illness during my first year but was not aware that I could appeal for a CR status at that time.

My rationale for this appeal is due to a major depressive episode in the week leading up to, continuing through and well past the date of my final exam for BIOL334 (April 20th, 2016 - 7pm to 10pm). The extent of this episode resulted in severely decreased energy, focus, and motivation, leaving me unable to get out of bed in the morning, sleeping 10+ hours every night and taking multiple naps throughout the day. In addition, I also went through an anxiety attack the day of the exam and the day after as well. This anxiety attack caused a severe decrease in appetite, the inability to keep any food down, an increase in heartrate and a constant state of panic. On this particular course, the final grade that I received was a C-; however I do not believe that this grade reflected my effort or my academic abilities in this course. I went into the exam with a 90; however, the final exam was weighted 45, and I did extremely poorly on it, receiving a 24 on the final. With regards to my other courses, the MUSC102 exam was on April 7th, 2016 near the beginning of this episode, and I received a C- on the final, however it was only weighted at 30. In addition, the BIOL202 exam was the day following my BIOL334 final, in the middle of the depression episode and anxiety attack, resulting in a similar grade point average.

Although experiencing these types of episodes since 2013 (and dealing with the academic consequences), I was not diagnosed until December of 2015 with Major Depressive Episode and Anxiety Disorder. Since this time I have been working with physicians, psychotherapist and personal counsellors both inside and outside of Queen's University. In conjunction with therapeutic effort, I have also been going through trial and error with anti-depression medication dosage, in which my dose was doubled as of June 2016. This increase in dosage was due to the frequent and consistent episodes of major depression and low mood, and also because after telling my physician about this most recent episode, she decided that the dosage was insufficient to contend with the extent of my symptoms. The aim of the increase in dosage is to avoid the decrease of motivation, focus, energy and indecisiveness that these episodes bring on, and to allow me to function in my educational, social, and occupational environments. While the latter two are understandably important, I am most concerned with the educational environment, wanting to perform up to my academic potential, which is evident with the 90 grade that I had before the BIOL334 exam.

Throughout the Winter 2016 semester I was on a low dosage of this medication. While dealing with many major depressive episodes and anxiety attacks throughout the semester, my support team of physicians, psychotherapists, personal counsellor, family, and I together decided a reduced course load of 4 classes would help make the semester easier for me both mentally and emotionally. I feel that this demonstrated my willingness to be proactive in managing the academic demands and situation overall to the extent that I was able.

This major depressive episode also impacted poorly on my other courses that had final exams; however, no other exam was weighted as heavily as BIOL334 and therefore did not dramatically drop the final grade. My other final grades that were affected by the final was a B- and a B; however, due to the guidelines for requesting a CR status, those grades are considered academically in good standing although they are not up to my personal standard.

In future, I hope to mitigate any further impact on my academic performance due to my illness through careful monitoring of my health in consultation with my team of physicians, psychotherapists, personal counsellors, mentors and academic advisors. As noted above, my medication has been increased and my academic performance on my summer term demonstrates that my health is significantly improved.

I would be grateful for your consideration of these appeals.

Sincerely,

Danalyn Holmes