Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To Faculty of Arts and Science Deans,

My name is Lily Huang (student number: 20114406) (netID: 17sh104@queensu.ca). I am a second-year Queen's University student majoring in Economics. I am writing to appeal for late dropping (DR) for CISC 101 (Elements of Computing Science).

I am explaining to you about my mental illness that is extenuating circumstances beyond my control. I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety in China in 2019 summer. I continue to take medications until now including the Quetiapine Fumarate tablets and Sertraline Hydrochloride Dispersible Tablets. I am certain that I had a severe mental illness during my studies in the May-June summer term. My depression and anxiety negatively impacted my judgement causing me to unable to drop the course before the deadline.

My heart rate was high, my hands and feet were sweaty and I felt very dizzy. My situation is that I had suffered from extenuating circumstances: mental illness (anxiety and depression) beyond my control which caused pain before the deadline and prohibited me from function academically. Due to the extenuating circumstances beyond my control, I lost my consciousness and became unconscious when doing the coursework, including the quizzes and assignments. Also, I am afraid that I cannot showcase my true learning abilities in computing in the final exam. These happen beyond my control and I must try to overcome my mental illness to complete the course despite that the grade I will receive for CISC 101 cannot justify my true learning abilities. Therefore it is unfair for me to have a final grade for CISC 101 on my transcript. I kindly ask you to grant a DR(late dropping) for CISC 101.

I believe that my mental illness (depression and anxiety) was very severe during my summer term (May-June) studies that I was constantly feeling down, depressed and hopeless. I felt very tired and having little energy. There was a hard time for me to concentrate on things. There was one time when I felt bad about myself with failure. This was when I made a poor decision which I would not make when I am mentally healthy at other times. In detail, I had asked advanced students to assist me in assignment two which departed from academic integrity level one. I deeply apologize for the causes of my mental illness (I never intend to plagiarize). However, I have completed the rest of the assignments all by myself and proved that I only fail to decide for myself when I was mentally ill which is an extenuating circumstance beyond my control. This is important as it explained my inability to drop the course before the deadline without academic and financial penalty. This is to say that I was unable to recognize my mental illness and the necessity to drop the course before the deadline. Although I had tried my best to pass this course by appealing for a remark for my first assignment the grade remained unchanged because I had performed poorly on the assignment with depression and anxiety. I am currently working on improving my mental well-being and seeing myself being close to function as academically as I wish. Therefore, I believe that I deserve a better grade because it is fair for my transcript to show the grade that can truly represent my academic performance when I am mentally healthy.

A similar case happened in the 2019 fall term when I had the same mental illness. This made me forgot about a FREN 106 assignment (the midterm exam) completely (I used to meet all the deadlines). After meeting with my registered psychotherapist Ms. Anja Troje from Homeopathy & Psychotherapy with registered homeopath in Ontario: 15201 and registered psychotherapist in Ontario 003196. She supported me with documentation that persuaded the deans from the Faculty of Arts and Sci to permit me to redo the assignment (the midterm exam).


I am making efforts to improve my mental health to have full control of myself to function academically now. I have discussed mental illness, found out solutions and sought medical documentation from my psychiatrist Ms. Anja Troje, a psychiatrist from Student Health Services and Student Accessibility office. In my meetings with the psychiatrists, we had identified that I was experiencing a health issue that we believed requires quick attention. We talked about me feeling nervous, anxious, irritable, annoyed, afraid and on the edge. We had come up with solutions such as using Daylight lamp (Northern lights), continuing with medications, doing more exercises and trying to relax. The three medical documentation is helpful to prove my mental illness prevented me from functioning academically. Also, I have registered with QSAS to record my mental health symptoms. I hope that they can persuade you to grant me a DR (late dropping) for CISC 101.

I made a poor decision to be overwhelmed by taking three summer courses in May and June (CISC 101, COGS 100 and FRST 105). I always put this course as my priority and I apologize if I still cannot do well by trying my best. Please give me a chance to not taking the final grade of CISC into account as I am making efforts to improve my mental health for better academic performance from now on. Thank you for reading this email and hoping that you can grant my appeal to have a DR (late dropping) for CISC 101. Please feel free to contact my psychiatrists and me for more information.

Last, I do not need to appeal for COGS 100 and FRST 105 because I am comfortable with my final grades. The reason I have done better in these two courses is that I am good at learning arts and science courses. Next time when I am doing course selection I will choose courses that I am good at and capable of earning a good grade. I will avoid courses that are too challenging and ensure that I drop them before the deadline. Thank you for reminding me to be careful.

Sincerely,
Lily Huang