Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean of Studies,
I am appealing for a late drop of GPHY 227 (Fall, 2018). During the last week of the Fall term I experienced severe panic attacks due to a previous sexual assault experience that left me incapable of concentrating on my courses. Due to the stress of the panic attacks during a specific week of the Fall term, I did not hand in two assignments on time (GPHY 227 and POLS 250). This particularly affected the GPHY 227 course because the final assignment was due during this week and the course had no final exam, and my other courses GPHY 101 and SPAN 204 had their assignments due the previous week. This did not have such a strong impact on my POLS 250 course since they dropped our lowest grade of the whole school year, which meant that they dropped my Fall final essay grade which was the other assignment that I did not hand in. At the start of Winter term, I saw Allison the Art/Sci counsellor about my anxiety and past sexual assault encounter, I also joined the Queen's PEGaSUS group that had weekly meetings throughout the winter semester. It was very helpful as it made me feel that I was not alone and gave me strategies for dealing with the trauma. I am planning on seeing a counsellor in Kingston Sexual Assault Centre (SAC) as well as joining group counselling that will help me deal with my past trauma and help with my anxiety and panic attacks.