Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean of Studies Dr. Jenn Stephenson,

I am writing this appeal to request back dropping ECON 250, ECON 255, and ECON 351 from my fall 2018 semester.

As a history, I was diagnosed with major Anxiety and Depression in 2012 from which I recovered before attending Queen's in 2017. At the beginning of the 2018 fall term I started to generate symptoms indicating that my previous anxiety and depression disorder were coming back, I then suffered a personal trauma which triggered an eating disorder. The eating disorder began at the end of September and I am still currently recovering. I was eating at a severe calorie deficit that caused me to lose over 40 pounds in the two months of classes and my heart rate to fall to a resting rate of 36 (normal is within 60-70s). The malnutrition made it physically difficult to attend classes as well as mentally focus on school work. My brother who was also attending Queen's at the time contacted my parents concerned for my well-being, and after they flew to Kingston to check on me it was decided I couldn't continue my studies and I flew home to Vancouver on December first. I completed all course work except for final exams and stayed until the very last days of class. Throughout fall semester I was seeing a Psychologist through the therapy zone, Dr. Hannah Marchand, once a week. I was making efforts in healing however they were not enough. I also leaned on my brother, as well as Queen's Field Hockey coaches for support. Looking back, I had no perspective into how I was affecting my health, and didn't even acknowledge the issue. At the end of term, I went to the clinic at LaSalle and their concern wasn't reciprocated, however in me coming home I was diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa as well as major Anxiety and Depression, and as time went on Bulimia Nervosa. Since it was decided that I was not healthy enough to return to school for winter term, my focus has been on recovery. Initially I saw a counsellor 2-3 times a week, my doctor and a dietitian every 3 days, and as I have been progressing reducing frequency in appointments. My intention at the end of December was to write all four exams, however addressing the fact that I am only requesting to drop these three courses and not my fourth, which I wrote the exam for in Vancouver, is that I used my ECON 231 exam (the only non-mathematics based course I took) as a measure of my strength. I ended up writing the exam successfully, however the stress associated did cause several binge and purge episodes. This indicated that writing one exam successfully would give me confidence and optimism for the future, however trying to multitask relearning and additional three complicated mathematics courses while also dealing with my eating disorder would not be conducive to my recovery process. For my future plans, I am hoping to return to Queen's in the coming 2019 fall term. My recovery is progressing nicely and I have seen many positive results in the recent weeks. I do understand that I still have work to do towards my mental and physical health to be considered fully recovered, however having the four months ahead to prepare seems like a realistic and achievable timeframe. I do not plan on playing for the Queen's Field Hockey team for the foreseeable future as I would like to be fully committed to my studies as well as putting my efforts into creating an environment I can thrive in. I will be staying in contact via technology with my current counsellor at least weekly, and creating a positive new environment by changing my housing arrangements and starting new with friends who are informed and extremely supportive of my situation. I also plan to register myself with QSAS to provide any supplementary support I may need concerning academics, as well as familiarize myself with the Arts and Sciences embedded counsellor Allison, if I find that I need any additional support. The documentation I have attached is a letter from my family physician here in Vancouver, as well as a note from Dr. Marchand. If you require additional documentation let me know and I will be happy to provide it.

Thank you for your time,

Jessie Alexander
SN: 20014448