Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom it may concern,

I am submitting an appeal to be granted CR status in the subject of ENGL 340, taught by professor Morrison in the Fall and Winter semesters of the 2013/2014 school year. I submit this appeal based on the extenuating circumstances of a severe psychological challenge and a simultaneous harassment charge.
During the summer of 2013 I found myself becoming withdrawn from my social circle, I focused more on my summer job rather than my friends and chose to work instead of attending Homecoming and Frosh Week and the school year approached. When class began I closed myself off more from the world around me, sat in the back of class and never raised my hand - even if I had a question to ask. In October, when my first few tests came back with very negative results I realized something was very wrong and went to see Dr. Biederman at the La Salle building on campus. She only had to administer one written test before diagnosing me with severe depression and immediately beginning a round of antidepressants and recommended I also visit the upstairs counsellors, which I did. I was initially pleased, having an answer and quick-fix to my issues. However, the antidepressants prescribed made me gain weight and hallucinate, and I felt ugly everyday. I cried myself to sleep, my self confidence plummeted and my depression only worsened. My depression made it impossible to eat, get out of bed, shower and even leave the house some days. I missed many of our surprise quizzes that Professor Morrison would not notify us of, I would also miss required reading sections and my class participation section. Dr. Biederman and I made appointments to meet on a regular basis (every 2-3 weeks) to monitor my prescription and how the fluctuations in my dosage were going, but I would also miss these.
In November of 2013 an old house-mate from my second year at Queen's began stalking and harassing me, through social media, in person, at my work place and in my neighbourhood. He spammed every online account of mine he could find including Facebook, Twitter, Moodle and all of my e-mail accounts. This made it terrifying for me to go online in any way, shape or form. I couldn't even research for essays on my own laptop for fear he had some how hacked my files. In conjunction with the current anxiety from my depression I had panic attacks daily. I called the police a total of nine times on my ex-house-mate before he was finally charged with stalking and was given a restraining order. To execute this process fully I had to end my day of class early several times and make cab trips to the Kingston Police Station to make video interviews and sit in a tiny room for hours on end.
In January of 2014 Dr. Biederman referred me to Dr. O'Brien (who I am currently seeing) at the Adult Mental Health Centre because she no longer felt comfortable treating me in such a delicate state. Dr. O'Brien, after only one short appointment agreed I was severely depressed and treated me with more antidepressants. Every month was a different pill, every pill with a different side effect and none of them worked. April was the worst month - we experimented - desperate and trying to give me some happiness in a month of exams and extreme stress we tried to double the dose of a pill that seemed to work a little bit, with horrible side effects. It made me incredibly groggy and caused me to lose the ability to recall words. Giving me a great disadvantage during a time when I needed it most. It is now August and Dr. O'Brien and I are still working on a suitable antidepressant for me.
Moving forward, I am resigning myself from the BAH program and will be moving on with simply a BA, at this time I do not wish to obtain my Masters or any other diploma this will help to ease my graduation process.
I am going to begin seeing a counsellor at the La Salle building again this coming school year, I believe this will allow me to speak to someone other than my doctor that is outside of both my social and familial circle and can provide for me an objective look at my life and help me to make decisions I may be having trouble with.
I am going to be hiring a tutor for my classes in which I receive lower than a 70 grade in within the first two months of both Fall and Winters semesters.
I am also going to have a relationship with my professors, something I have been afraid of in the past, I believe this is the best way to stay on top of my studies and to make sure that I do not miss any assignments, readings or possible questions.

Thank you for your consideration of my appeal.