Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom it may concern,

I am writing to drop HIST 210 from the fall term after the academic deadline. In September 2018, I originally moved into a house with four of my friends, but one had dropped out and sublet his room to a girl named Carla. She seemed like a friendly person and I became the closest housemate to her, but the events that unfolded during the semester were unpredictable to me because I was unaware of her mental health conditions. On the weekend of October 12th, 2018 I started to notice that she was not okay. It was not until multiple visits from her family, friends and police, did I find out she suffers from borderline personality disorder. Being the closest housemate to her, I felt guilty for not being able to help her. I felt powerless seeing her cuts, flesh, and bloodstains in the washroom tub and not being able to do anything. It was hard to realize that her safety was not my responsibility, and it has been a long process to be able to go back to my regular life before all this had happened.

My house was no longer a safe environment for me to live in because it stopped me from being able to do every day activities. Going to class was not possible due to my overwhelming emotions, as well as trying everything I could to get help. In one weeks worth of time starting October 12th the police have visited my home more than six different times, sometimes until 5am. For three weeks straight since the start of all this, I've cried myself to sleep if I could even fall asleep, imagined finding her dead body in the room she sleeps in beside mine, and stressed about how I would be able to catch up in my studies.

I have a counsellor I see regularly in the education department, but realized she would not be free until three weeks later when I emailed her October 16th. I tried to seek help from urgent counselling but they were completely full the first two times I tried to go. During this time, I asked for help from Lindsay Winger the assistant Dean of support services & community, Queen's emergency housing, The Chaplain, and occupational therapy. Eventually I got out of my house situation, but it took three whole weeks out of my studies to do so. It was appointments after appointments during the second half of October, contacting legal advice from Joan Jones, in order to get out of my lease and move into a Queen's emergency unit November 1st. I have never been in a situation like this and did not know how much it would affect me even after I moved out. I took a lighter course load for the year of 2018-19 because the previous years were tough on my academically, but now I unexpectedly had three weeks worth of assignments and studying to catch up on, it was overwhelming and stressful to say the least. It was also financially stressful, I was stressed about suddenly having to pay for my old rent until December on top of the more expensive rent of living in emergency housing. It was a unit for three people, but we could not find a third housemate in such a short time, and had to pay way over my budget in order to move way from Carla.

I could not attend class while trying to do everything I can to escape a toxic environment I once called home. It was such a mentally and physically draining process to move out during mid-semester, I couldn't prioritize school over my own well being. There was no way I could've ever predicted the extent of this, as Carla chose not to disclose her mental health with my housemates and I before signing a sublease, and that is her right. There was a lot of pressure to stay by her side and support her, she told me things she said she's never told anyone else, even professionals. She wanted to live with me so bad she told me in the hospital when I visited her that she would kill herself if she couldn't live with me. All that I have experienced still affect me to this day, the only difference is that I now have all of the proper support I need and know how to take care of myself, unlike last semester. Thank you for your time and thoughtful consideration, I hope to hear back from you soon.