Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Jenn Stephenson,

I am appealing to drop GPHY 101 (Fall, 2018), FILM 110A (Fall, 2018), FILM 110B (Winter, 2019), and RELS 163 (Winter, 2019). During the school year I suffered from depression. My depression is a result of being sexually assaulted at age fourteen. This event severely damaged my sense of self-worth and mental health. Normally during the summer, I am less affected which continues into September, but then towards the end of October, my depression begins to take a serious toll on my life. However, this year I gradually started feeling worse late September and the peak hit in October. This was then made worse when I suffered a miscarriage in December. The miscarriage took a lot of my attention away from my studies in the winter term. The depression affected my motivation, ability to get out of bed and go to class, self-image and self-worth, ability to focus on studying and assignments. As a result, I was unable to participate fully in my classes and studies which led to missing deadlines and crucial information.

I received counselling when I lived in Amsterdam four years ago however, I never discussed the sexual assault because I was not ready to admit it had occurred. Since then I have been battling with depression and post-traumatic stress on my own. I did, however, reach out at one point earlier in the year to an Arts and Science specific counsellor but at the time I received an appointment, two months later, I was feeling okay. After seeing the effects on my grades and self-worth this year, I have now come to realize that I can no longer fight alone and plan to receive treatment.

During the summer I am planning to go see a counsellor and would like to look at taking antidepressants in combination. Specifically, I will see a therapist specializing in sexual assault and PTSD while looking at different types of rape therapy. I also plan to participate in the group called Pegasus on campus when I return in the Fall and take a lighter course load mainly online. Taking a lighter course load will allow me to focus on those courses specifically while taking online courses will combat the issue of not going to classes if I relapse. I would really like to get better and be able to succeed at Queen's in the future and have already started my journey to recovery through speaking to a don and opening up to my friends.

The courses I am requesting to drop are all the courses I took this year, starting Fall 2018, aside from CRW 295, PSYC 100A-B, GNDS 120 (online), and ANAT 100(online). The reason for this is because in these four courses I am doing relatively well. I have always had a passion for creative writing and would like to take another course in it in the future. Similarly, I have always been fascinated by the human body and the brain which allowed me to succeed in both Psychology and Anatomy. Online courses, Anatomy and Gender Studies, have proven to be a significantly better option for me.

The reason I did not drop these courses when I should have is that I was not fully ready to admit that I had a serious problem and that the assault had such an effect on my life because I felt it was giving the assaulter power over me. I now see that I need to take control of my life for me and I would like to do that. Dropping these courses will allow me to continue to study here and prove that I am capable of things that I never believed I was. Since I can remember, I have always wanted to go to Queen's. Despite this year proving to be quite challenging I still feel the same love for this institution.

I appreciate your consideration and look forward to hearing back from you.


Sincerely,

Mhairi Prins
20102115