Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To the Associate Dean (Studies):

I am appealing for Credit standing in CISC 221 (Winter, 2018). I received a letter grade of D in the course.

I experienced sexual violence on campus mid-way through the 2017 Fall semester which posed a serious psychological challenge on me this year. The sexual assault's effect on my mental, physical, and emotional health made it strenuous to do things in my day-to-day that were not difficult before. For example, getting out of bed in the morning, attending evening classes, studying for long hours, etc. all became substantially challenging. This was because I was deeply overwhelmed with the event itself and that being a victim of sexual violence was now a part of my identity. I was proactive in going to LaSalle on February 9th 2018 and getting the proper treatment and documentation, so I did not fall deeper into self harming behaviours. I met with the Sexual Violence Response Counsellor, Deborah Keogh, who gave me a letter of Academic Consideration for 2-3 months. I set up weekly meetings with her and the Crisis Counselor, Laurie Hooke, and was treated for 13 weeks from February 9th to May 3rd 2018. Since the incident happened on campus, I felt like campus was no longer an emotionally safe environment, instead it became a very hostile environment to me. I suffered from panic attacks almost every time I stepped foot on campus which made it very challenging to stay on campus for long hours and attend classes. The course I am appealing relied heavily on in-class group participation, and so being present was essential to my success. Due to my mental health at the time, I did not have the mental and emotional strength required to excel. The other courses may have been been easier for me given the timing of the classes. My four other courses took place during the day and I did not feel my mental health suffer as much as during the night. This is attributed to how unsafe I felt after leaving my CISC 221 class at 8:30 PM and my environment reminded me of situations that induced panic. I began looking for solutions to this and learned that my instructor, Dave Dove, allowed students with accommodations to complete some Thursday evening course work on Tuesday mornings instead. On February 15th, I reached out to Dave Dove with my Academic Consideration letter, requesting that I receive the same accommodation as the other students. At first, he asked me why writing in the morning accommodated my condition. I did not know how to answer this without disclosing the sexual assault (which I felt uncomfortable with) so he directed himself to my councillor, Deborah Keogh, from Student Wellness Services. After speaking with Deborah he understood the situation and accommodated me. I am grateful for his consideration, however, this arrangement only worked if the Thursday lecture was dedicated to independent assessment, which exclusively occurred four times in the term. If you look at my previous academic performance starting from the Summer of 2015 to the Winter of 2017, I averaged one B per year and the rest were A's. This academic year, I received four B's and one D after the onset of my mental condition in the Fall. Despite this, I kept trying to keep up high levels of academic performance. Clearly the 2018 Winter term was not as successful as it had been in the past because my mental health was more fragile due to the sexual assault itself. I was on track to graduate in June and since this course is a requirement for my degree and is not offered through distance studies, dropping it by the March 2nd deadline equated to prolonging my time in a highly triggering environment. I was dedicated to finding another solution, I brought my concerns to my counsellor who directed me to Barbara Lotan, the Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Coordinator. On March 9th I met with Barbara and discussed the challenges I faced in CISC 221. We continued with email correspondence from March 21st to May 10th, in which she suggested Credit standing for the course and supported me in the process of writing this appeal letter.

I have officially graduated and I am taking the summer off before moving forward with my career. In terms of future plans, I have enrolled in a sexual assault victim program in Toronto and hope to continue the treatment on the foundation that was set by my counsellors at Queen's. I am focused on self care strategies in all domains of health. One of these strategies is a part time teaching job I have where I teach high school students various types of science, which has been very fulfilling thus far.

Thank you for your consideration and I look forward to hearing from you. If you require any additional information please do not hesitate to reach out.

Lydia Noureldin