Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Rebeka Darvas Academic Appeal Letter
Student Number: 20008920

I am appealing to drop two courses from the 2018 winter semester. These courses are PSYC 231 (Winter, 2018) and PHIL 275 (Winter, 2018).

The extenuating circumstances I experienced were the recurrence of depression. These symptoms began February 2018 and affecting throughout the rest of the winter semester. I was seeing a therapist in Kingston and a psychiatrist who diagnosed me with major depression. The severity of the symptoms affected my cognitive performance. The depression impaired my ability to attend classes and to complete work. As a result of the depression there were many days when I was unable to get out of bed, leave my room, and function regularly therefore I was incapable of completing my school work. My symptoms had been exacerbated following the sudden death of my grandfather February 17, 2018. I stayed in Kingston and I continued to try and get better on my own. However, I was still having a lot of trouble completing work and I was falling behind in my classes. At that point I decided to contact accessibility services. I met with Bonney Hunt who advised me to register with accessibility services and with the help of my psychiatrist I was granted eligibility for academic accommodations. The paperwork she completed is attached to this document. Bonney also recommended that I meet with an academic advisor to discuss the rest of the semester. I met with Andrea Labelle and told her about how I was struggling to complete school work and attend class regularly. She recommended that I drop non mandatory courses from my schedule so that I could try and keep up with the school work necessary for my mandatory courses. At this point it was past the add/drop date for courses so she recommended that I file an appeal to drop them. She assured me that with proper supporting documents from healthcare professionals the appeal would be accepted. She told me to wait until the summer to file the appeal because that way I¿¿d be able to add or drop classes from this list case my condition worsened. This is the reason why I have waited until August to submit this appeal.

In regards to my future academic plans at Queens I plan to stay at home and do 3 online classes during the fall semester. During this time I will be working on my recovery so that I am well enough to return to the Kingston campus for the winter trimester. I will enter this trimester with measures set in place to prevent a similar deterioration from happening. These measures will include having more regular meeting with a therapist in Kingston as well as my psychiatrist. These professionals will help me closely manage my medication and address any problems that arise before they become larger issues. I will also begin the year by registering with accessibility services straight away instead of letting things deteriorate before I contact them. This will benefit me by providing continuous support throughout the semester in order to prevent from falling behind with school work. The classes that I am appealing to drop are not mandatory courses for my medial degree therefore I am not required to retake them in order to graduate. In the following year I intend to take other elective 3 credit psychology and philosophy courses in order to make up the credits I am losing.