Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean of Studies,

I am appealing to waive the 21-day deadline to appeal to drop LAW 201, POLS 230, and ENGL 237 from the Winter 2016 term without academic penalty. I was unable to appeal within the correct timeline due to compounding mental health ailments, which were exacerbated due to my father's health concerns, inter-personal issues with my family, and financial stresses. Once this appeal is to be granted, I will follow through with my appeal to drop LAW 201, POLS 230, and ENGL 237 without academic penalty due to my mental health concerns, which were worsened by my father's decline of health.

My mental health issues were documented during my high school education by my general practitioner, and had surfaced in University before, but to a much lesser extent. In Fall 2015 I had decided to drop STAT 263 because my mental health issues were becoming prevalent, and I had decided to lighten my workload in hopes that it would prove helpful. In November 2015 my father's health became a serious concern of mine and left me unfocused to my academics, which also worsened my Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). Compounding with one and other, I was left unable to focus on my academics and began to make decisions that were clouded, left my judgment unwise, and I began feeling depressed.

Shortly after the Winter 2016 term was officially over, I was still dealing with my mental health issues and concerns. I contacted the registrar's office and they directed me to call the Queen's academic advisors regarding this situation. I began to look into the correct procedure in submitting my appeal. I was told that I had till the end of the summer term to submit my appeal, which included a plan of recovery. If I were to miss the summer term, I would have to submit an appeal to waive the 21-day/one-term deadline.

I waited to submit the appeal as I was still dealing with my mental health concerns. Despite having a sound plan on paper in regards to recovering from this incident, I felt though as I personally I wasn't in the right mental space to follow through with my plan for academic success. During the summer I was dealing with issues with my immediate family, which had me staying at my girlfriend's aunt and uncle's house, and I was also dealing with the financial stresses of my person as well as my family. Being a difficult time in my life with having family issues, financial stresses, academic failure, my father's health concerns, and my compounding mental health concerns, I knew it was best for me to wait until I was mentally ready for submitting my appeal and following through with my plan for academic recovery. I chose to work through my issues patiently rather than be unrealistic about my own mental health status/readiness and rush back into my academics and start an appeal process I was not mentally prepared for.

I arrived back at Queen's University on September 10th, 2016 to see if I was mentally ready for academics. I recognized the environment of being at Queen's would be very different, and I wouldn't have the same support network. I planned to first enroll into my classes, file for my student loans, and then start my academic appeal if I had progressed to that point. Within a few weeks of being there, it was easy to notice that I wasn't yet mentally ready. My mother then flew out to see me and we stayed with friends and family in until we flew back for the holiday season. The time spent with friends and family over the past three months has really helped me progress to the point where I needed to be. I waited to see when I would be mentally ready, and now I feel that I have learned from this past year and a half, and I am ready to submit my appeal.

My plan for academic recovery starts with this appeal, and having the 21-day deadline be waived so I can submit my appeal to drop my Winter 2016 classes without academic penalty, which will go into greater detail of what happened during Winter 2016 and how my mental health impacted my academics, as well as to the greater specifics of my academic plan for recovery. I plan on submitting a 'Letter of Permission' and a 'Return to Studies' form to Queen's University. With the Letter of Permission I plan to enroll into classes locally in Vancouver, and use my support network to lean on to recover my academic confidence. I will also be seeing my psychologist and general practitioner regularly once they return from vacation in the coming weeks.

Kindest Regards,

Mantej (Markus) Sekhon