Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: I would like to drop my LING 320 course due to personal extenuating circumstances. At the beginning of February a family member of mine suddenly passed and another experienced a miscarriage. These events required me to leave Kingston and return to my home town to be with and help family members. This trip home and emotional and mental stress and depression caused me to fall behind in my school work. I already live with depression, anxiety and a brain disorder (registered with the school) that makes my academics harder to keep up with in general so the addition of these passings in my family have completely overwhelmed me.
Furthermore, the pandemic currently going on is already a major stressor for me as my condition possibly makes me a higher risk of experiencing health complications if I contract the virus. Not to mention the existential stress of the effects covid-19 is having on the world in general have also been something I have been struggling to adjust to as they trigger my anxiety.
I have filled my profs in with these recent events and received extensions on assignments from different courses but I am still struggling to keep up with all of the work. I have been focusing on making due dates as opposed to keeping up with readings and lectures which has caused a decline in the quality of my work and learning.
To summarize, all of the previously mentioned factors have caused me to struggle academically and I feel dropping my LING 320 course can lessen the overwhelming stress I now associate with my school work. This year has caused me to debate dropping my minor in LING but I decided I would drop this course now and leave the option of trying it again next year if I feel I am able to before dropping my minor completely at this time.