Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Candice Wing-Kay Wong
710 - 18 Uptown Drive,
Markham, L3R 5M5
(647)-975-3348
CandiceWong1283@Gmail.com
16cwkw@queensu.ca

22nd May 2017

Dr. Johanne Bénard
Dunning Hall
94 University Ave,
Kingston, ON K7L 3N9
(613) 533-2470
Ext: 79584
f2deans@queensu.ca








To Associate Dean in Studies, Dr. Johanne Bénard,

I am writing this letter today as a request to appeal my grades from classes LLCU 101 and LLCU 111 (Fall, 2016) with the objective of making necessary changes to my transcript in order to fairly reflect my academic ability. From September 11th, the commence of Fall term classes, I had been unawaringly burdened by extenuating circumstances regarding my mental health that was already fairly unstable in its' nature. Despite my previous admission to South Lake Hospital's adolescent psychiatric floor, I had underestimated the severity of my illnesses as my attending physicians and psychiatrists had not provided any diagnoses upon my discharge. Beginning a semester as a first year student with undiagnosed, untreated and unaccommodated psychological setbacks was incredibly difficult, to say the least. These hindrances were also coupled with physical ailments such as chronic migraines and a concussion that required my absence to allow for basic recuperation. On September 26th to October 4th, I was admitted to Kingston General Hospital for psychiatric purposes and provided documentation that pardoned my absence and allowed for an additional day off as well. Aside from the instances in which absences impacted my academic performance, the timing in which I received feedback for completed projects and the new due dates I was assigned from granted extensions was extremely difficult to manage. After receiving an extension in ENG100, I had to start and finish one close reading assignment for a Wednesday afternoon lecture and immediately after, complete and submit another essay of identical nature for the Friday tutorial. The LLCU 101 course heavily prioritized attendance as your ability to read, write and speak Inuit language was the majority of the test material. My frequent absences resulted in a marginal loss of my overall understanding of the basic grammar and pronunciation of said language.

More often than not, I behind by a lecture, assignment, or in the worst case, an entire unit compared to my classmates. As a result, my circumstances had transformed a once manageable workload into a myriad of incomplete readings, essays and tests that proved to be unfeasible to finish in its' entirety. The vicious cycle between absences and extensions could be summarized by the exam deferral I was granted during the two weeks necessarily to recover from head injury. Those two weeks also coincided with the end of semester period where professors and teaching assistants were expecting to receive final assessments. Subsequently, I was admitted to Kingston General Hospital on Dec 12th to Jan 5th for psychiatric reasons yet again and this time, was discharged with an official diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder. As of now, I do not have documentation of this admission due to the fact that the physicians did not provide me with a sick note upon my discharge. However, campus security was involved in taking me to the ER that night. This documentation can be requested if necessary but during my admission, I did receive a visit from Associate Dean, Roxy Denniston Stuart and outreach counselor, Freeman Woolnough. Due to the length of my involuntary admission, I was unable to salvage my grades or properly prepare for deferred exams. Combined with an official dismissal from residence, I decided that withdrawing academically until I received full treatment was within my best interests. Upon arriving to Toronto, I was admitted to Camh (Centre of Addictions and Mental Health) and my psychiatrist, Dr. Gerald Shugar went on to further diagnose me with Bipolar Personality Disorder.