Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Jill Atkinson,

I am writing to appeal the Faculty¿¿s decision that I must withdraw from Queen¿¿s for a minimum of one year. I hope that you will allow me to continue attending Queen¿¿s for the upcoming academic year. Thank you for the opportunity to explain my circumstances.

The segue from high school to university for many students can be a tough feat, for myself, however, I found it to be one of the hardest times in my life. In my final year of high school, I was motivated and involved in my school¿¿s community. I did everything I could to be accepted into The Faculty of Arts and Science at Queen¿¿s. In September of 2017, I was ecstatic to begin my studies at Queen¿¿s. Shortly after moving in, I found it near impossible to be the same social and upbeat person I was just a few months prior. I wasn¿¿t fitting in with my floor-mates and in turn, didn¿¿t participate in any Orientation Week events. Although Queen¿¿s was welcoming and provided me with several opportunities to meet new people, I still felt as if there was no social circle that was right for me. I had come to Queen¿¿s with the same determination that got me there but, unfortunately, that all quickly disappeared when I began to feel a loss of hope. I tried to brush off the feeling that I wasn¿¿t fitting in, as academics have always been my highest priority, but I slowly learned that it was doing much more harm than good. My GPA suffered greatly as I stopped showing up for classes and turning in assignments and my desire to learn and succeed seemed to simply vanish. Before coming to Queen¿¿s I had had some major issues at home with my family, I had found out that my father was having trouble being faithful to my mother and as a result, I felt extremely conflicted. Unfortunately, this began to eat away at me and my previous battle with mental illness began to resurface. I felt as though everything was piling up, even getting out of my bed at all was a struggle. I had stopped eating, I rarely ever, if ever, left my dorm room, and I couldn¿¿t sleep. By the time Winter semester came around, I had completely given up. With my failure at school, my issues at home, and deteriorating mental health, passing became impossible. To spare you the details, I have yet to find a solution but I have begun to learn to cope with this, as I understand it is out of my hands.

Sincerely,

Una Gogic