Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean,

My name is Rachel Samson, I am in my fifth year at Queen¿¿s studying Life Science, and I will be submitting an appeal to waive the one-term deadline regarding the ANAT 215 course I took in the Fall of 2018. My extenuating circumstances regarding my health at the time caused me to fail the course and miss the deadline to appeal to drop the course after the drop date. At the time I was struggling with severe migraines, causing me to miss many lectures and labs and fall behind in all of my courses. Moreover, I struggle with an eating disorder, and this overwhelming setback induced a relapse which caused me to become very depressed. The professor for this course was understanding of my situation and allowed me to complete the final examination after the winter break in January 2019. Although I was extremely appreciative of this gesture, I utilized that time to focus on my health and was unable to catch up on all of the content before the exam, causing me to not get the grade I needed to pass the course. Furthermore, the extension I was given on the exam created a delay in the marking process so my grade was not submitted onto Solus until much later, and since I was focused on maintaining my health amidst a new full course load I was not aware that I had failed until near the end of the term whilst studying for exams.

I understand that this is now much after the deadline and you may be questioning why I waited this long to appeal. First and foremost, my main goal throughout my time at Queen¿¿s has been to maintain my mental health in order to continue my studies. I recognized that I have submitted appeals before, which may seem contradictory to that statement and my recorded reoccurring setbacks may be perceived as unappreciative of past granted appeals. However, recovery is not linear, and although I have used the appeal process offered to Queen¿¿s students, I have also utilized alternative supports such as Queen¿¿s Students Accessibility Services, and the Queen wellness services. I genuinely appreciate all that these support services have done for me and have even joined the Queen¿¿s Mental Health Awareness Committee to raise awareness of the mental health resources offered at Queen¿¿s. Moreover, I have weekly sessions with my psychotherapist and monthly check-ins with my psychiatrist. I am lucky enough to have built this support system throughout my years at Queen¿¿s, but it is difficult creating that structure in conjunction with my studies, and that instability has created many setbacks for me. Thus, the appeals may seem as though I am not willing to prioritize my mental health or that I am not improving but that is not the case. With all of that said, over the past few years, it seems as though I have been climbing barrier after barrier due to the repercussions from my health and things such as appeals for past courses can get lost amidst the chaos of just trying to work day-by-day to focus on maintaining my health in order to be capable of completing my studies at Queen¿¿s. Secondly, I am also diagnosed with general anxiety disorder, ADHD, and PTSD so reminders of the past can trigger anxiety attacks for me. I don¿¿t mean to continuously use my health as an excuse, but to be completely honest writing an appeal is a vivid reminder of the past and is personally quite triggering. It felt stuck, I recognized that completing the appeal would help my health by lifting a weight from the past off of my chest, yet simultaneously recognized the setbacks regarding my mental health the process of writing the appeal would bring me; potential risk of relapse which would affect my current studies. In summation, based on my aforementioned explanation of how the appeal process has affected me in the past, writing the appeal was a barrier for me in itself and I did not want it to affect the exams I was currently studying for and is the reason why I continued to put the task off until now when I have a lighter course load and a strong support system at home.

Although it has been difficult to overcome these obstacles, I am very proud of how far I have come. I feel grateful to be on track for graduation this year and that I have gotten to the place in my recovery where I am allowing myself to research potential future study options. I am in the process of looking at opportunities for graduate studies and having an F on my transcript from ANAT 215 has affected my GPA which closes many doors. I feel that if this appeal is granted, I would use the opportunity to appeal for a late drop in the ANAT 215 course and continue this positive momentum of my health and determination to succeed in future endeavors. Thank you for your kindness, consideration and for taking the time to read my request.

Kind regards,

Rachel
20028948

I have further documentation registered with QSAS if needed