Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: June 11, 2018


Dr. Johanne Bénard
Associate Dean (Studies)
Student Services, First Floor Dunning Hall
Queen University
99 University Ave.
Kingston, Ontario
K7L 3N6


Re: Letter of Appeal
Emily Romano (20068808)




Please accept this letter as my formal appeal to the University's decision asking me to withdraw from the Faculty of Arts and Science for one year.

I am aware that I had an unsuccessful first year of university. Still, the university's decision has had a profound negative effect on me and I am hoping that my appeal will be granted and that I will be able to return to classes in September.

I am appealing based on the premise that I was unable to obtain academic accommodations that I needed. I strongly believe that if I had appropriate accommodations in place I would have had a very successful first year. The accommodations I believe would have provided me with a learning environment in which I could feel comfortable and much less overwhelmed by the drastic changes that came with performing and learning at a university level.

Throughout Elementary and High School, I was in an accommodated program. When I accepted my offer to Queen's University I was encouraged by my guidance counsellor at school to continue my accommodations and I planned to do so. I learned however that the assessment I had done for my accommodations in high school was not eligible for university. What was required was a new psychological assessment. Due to financial constraints, I was unable to afford a new assessment and reluctantly decided to go forward without perusing academic accommodations as I believed it was my only option at that time.

I took a full course load and found the school year difficult without my accommodations. I felt overwhelmed by the number of readings I had to complete in so little time. It was my first time on my own and I felt very overwhelmed, as it was my first time struggling with time management. I attended Pickering College, my class sizes at Pickering were between fifteen to twenty students, and when I came to Queen's that number grew to hundreds in one lecture. The whole experience was truly overwhelming for me and I found myself on a downward spiral to failure and too embarrassed to acknowledge that I needed help.

I am determined to return to Queen's in September and am putting a strategy in place to reach that goal and be successful. I have borrowed money and am now currently undergoing a new psycho-educational assessment with Dr. Margot Baker. I am working closely with her to establish exactly what my learning disabilities are and what accommodations I will need for me to be successful in learning and performing at a university level.

Unfortunately, because it is an exhaustive process I won't have her final report on submission of this letter but undertake to have it submitted in short order (please see attached letter). I am asking the University to grant me a bit of time to get the report finalized and submitted as supporting documentation to my appeal.

With my accommodations in place, I plan to use all the resources on campus to make sure I will have a successful next year. I plan to have weekly meetings with the learning strategists at the Student Academic Success Services to build my ability to perform well academically. I will take a lighter course load to be able to manage my assigned work accordingly. I plan to create a schedule for myself to manage my time to write my assignments. I will take advantage of my TA and Professors hours to ask about the requirements of the assignment, so I will be able to perform to my best ability.

I love attending Queen's University. I feel I am part of a great community. I enjoy attending my lectures and learning from my Professors. I love meeting new people and learning from others. Queen's is a second home for me. I truly feel home when I am at Queen's.

I also have an apartment in Kingston that I signed a lease for the 2018- 2019 school year.

Thank you for your consideration I hope the information and reasons that I presented in my appeal will be sufficient to overturn the university's decision to withdraw me. It has been a lifelong ambition of mine to obtain an undergraduate degree from Queen's University.


Sincerely,



Emily Romano