Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Good afternoon,


I hope this email finds you well.


I¿¿m currently writing this appeal letter in regards to dropping a course after the academic deadline, in hopes that this wouldn¿¿t affect my overall GPA.

I¿¿ve been suffering with an array of ongoing mental illnesses such as anxiety, depression and panic disorder for many years, which have all made it equally difficult for me to perform academically in a way that adequately reflects my intellectual abilities. Having said this, my mental health has completely plummeted since November, when ceaseless problems arose in my off-campus house here at Queen¿¿s, which I share with five other Queen¿¿s students. After continuous tension, mostly revolved around their relentless cannabis smoking throughout the house (despite cannabis being prohibited in my lease) my room and possessions getting broken into/damaged multiple times while I was away; I officially decided to move out of my house on February 1st. Although my lease only ends on April 30th, and that I was practically forced out of my own house, I¿¿ve continued paying monthly rent, for a house which I don¿¿t even have the keys to. Luckily enough, I was able to move into my boyfriend's off-campus house.

Although I hoped that physically removing myself from this fatiguing situation would make matters better, one of my housemates happens to be in a relationship with my boyfriend¿¿s housemate, which means that I¿¿ve had to continuously interact with her in my boyfriend¿¿s house. Since February, I¿¿ve had her and her boyfriend ceaselessly yell at me and call me unpleasant names, harass me for utilities money, create fake social media accounts to harass me, threaten to bring me to court, and so on. Furthermore, this housing situation has obligated both my boyfriend and I to find completely new living arrangements for next year, which has added to our stress, given that the tension in both of our houses has been absolutely awful and impossible to manage.

To add to my burden, my dog that I¿¿ve had for fourteen years had to be euthanized in my home a few days ago, and while this left me feeling extremely sad, the grief that my mom has been experiencing has made things quite difficult for me to manage.

Additionally, I experience chronic, and quite severe cases of Tonsillitis, and am currently practically unable to eat or drink due to the pain, which is making it extremely difficult for me to study for my upcoming exams.

Considering everything that has happened this year, I¿¿ve been left feeling exceptionally drained and have had tremendous trouble staying motivated. I didn¿¿t drop this course before the deadline because the continuous progression of these events led me to believe that eventually things would subside, which unfortunately enough they didn¿¿t. Quite frankly, this year has been the hardest year of my life, and I¿¿ve struggled tremendously to meet school-related deadlines. Over the past few months, I¿¿ve been trying my absolute best to move forward by obtaining Short Term Accommodations, getting registered with QSAS, as well as talking to multiple health-care professionals every week.

I¿¿ve always valued my education and consider myself to be a very academically driven individual, but this year has proven itself to be peculiar. More than anything, I hope that I¿¿d be granted a late drop for this class which wouldn¿¿t affect my GPA.

Sincerely,

Camryn Massie