Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Appeal Letter: 3 August, 2021
The Board of Studies Faculty of Arts and Sciences Queen??s University


I am Gabriel Joseph-Brown and I am currently a 3rd year student in Business. I wish to appeal the Associate Dean??s decision to deny my appeal to waive the Requirement to Withdraw for a Minimum of Three Years. I am writing to confirm that I have carefully read the Associate Dean??s Decision letter, and, in response to this, have decided to appeal this decision. I want to remain a student in the fall, and, in this letter, I plan to respond to specific reasons my appeal was denied with an expansion of the facts and events that took place during the 2020-2021 school year.
Due to the rules at the time of this current pandemic, I have not had the opportunity to make a face-to-face presentation, which I regret, as I find virtual meetings difficult and challenging to
follow. Please bear in mind that this letter speaks to who I am, what I want, and why it is right for me to remain a student in the fall so that I can continue my academic progress and personal development. On some occasions, I will repeat and re-emphasize what I sent and discussed in my earlier appeal for the purpose of helping the Board of Studies fully understand the timeline, severity, and impact of circumstances beyond my control as it adversely affected my performance at Queen's University. A lot has happened since the original event, and I am confident that I will now succeed.
I grew up in Toronto, and came to Queen??s to follow my parents?? footsteps, and earn a University degree of my own. However, I also have both ADHD and a learning disability, and these have made it difficult to communicate and display my true abilities. In addition, I contracted COVID-19 at an important time in the school year.


In September, at the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year, I contracted the COVID-19 virus. I remember waking up with a sore throat and going into the shower not being able to smell my soaps. After receiving my official diagnosis, the severity of my symptoms dramatically worsened. Specifically, I was not able to get out of bed, which meant that that I was unable fully to attend class, and this led to me falling behind at the start of the school year. I had to self-isolate for 3 weeks and during that time I can honestly say I have never felt more alone and afraid.
After being diagnosed with COVID-19 I contacted my Student Wellness Services Counsellor Jay Harris, and my Academic Advisor Hayley Everson, to seek immediate counselling; despite my efforts to connect with them, their busy schedules were beyond my control, and I was told that it would be weeks until I could get an appointment. As an alternative, I reached out to my family physician, Dr. Gayle Gordon, and I informed her of the circumstances; I mentioned that the extenuating circumstances compromised my ability to excel academically as my health became priority and had to follow Coronavirus protocols. Dr. Gordon assessed, documented, and confirmed the lingering physical and mental toll of the extenuating circumstances. She confirmed that I was physically and mentally unfit to execute my preplanned daily routine in my current state.

It is important to mention that ??Extenuating circumstances?, in the eyes of the faculty, is defined as a ??significant physical or psychological event that is beyond a student??s control and debilitating to his or her academic performance which should be supported by official documentation from an appropriate professional? and I confirm that the above-mentioned remarks were supported by official documentation from Dr. Gordon. After meeting with Dr. Gordon, we decided the best strategy for me, as a student, was to switch from full-time to part-time. This resulted in me missing my target cumulative GPA for the Fall semester. On January 19th of 2021, I was devastated to hear that I lost my grandmotherto COVID-19. To make matters worse, we were unable to have a proper funeral for her. This sent me into a great sadness which severely impeded my ability to excel at my full academic potential. Once again, I dropped from five classes to four. Personally, dealing with the lingering physical and mental toll of this extenuating circumstance impeded my ability to excel academically. Conveying the timeline of events in this manner is crucial as it prevents the physical and psychological events that were beyond my control and debilitating to my overall academic performance from being misinterpreted. In fully describing the interlaces of my extenuating circumstances, the above-mentioned proves that those events were responsible for those outcomes.


Aside from the extenuating circumstances, in the past year, I have seen a remarkable improvement in my academic success. Prior to Summer Term of 2020, I did not have a term GPA over 0.50. I am happy to report that since then, my GPA has positively trended upward and the 2020-2021 school year has been my most successful year at Queen??s by far. It has been the only year that I have not failed any courses. Specifically, in 2020 my Summer Term GPA was 2.73, my Fall 2020 term GPA was 1.67 and my 2021 Winter Term GPA was 1.95.

This newfound success comes from regularly consulting Student Wellness Advisor Jay Harris, Academic Advisor Hayley Everson, and Dr. Gayle Gordon. In spending time with them I was able to develop a workable academic plan which has worked evidently. I have also taken steps to ensure that I stay physically and mentally healthy. In preparation for a successful return in the fall, I have taken drastic measures to ensure that I do not get sick and miss school again. This includes some careful thought to change the way I live, and the people that I regularly associate with, as I think that this was a distraction, or even a problem, that prevented me from maintaining an adequate focus on my schoolwork. For example, noise and activity around me can be a major problem, more so than for students with a normal ability to maintain focus and concentration. After thought and discussion, I signed a 12-month lease for a brand-new apartment on University Avenue in Kingston which is only a 5- minute walk to campus. This will change my home environment and really help focus and attention.
Currently I am double-vaccinated, I maintain a healthy diet, I work for Smith School of Business, I have a school routine that requires I dedicate at least 8 hours a day to my 4 courses, and I am currently prescribed two medicines that help keep my daily focus. I think that this is good evidence that I have assessed my needs and made positive changes, and that I can continue to display good learning skills in the next semesters.

For this upcoming fall semester, I will choose my courses carefully as I intend to graduate with a BAH MAJOR in ECON in the next two years and I have provided an outline below for what would be required based on the Academic Requirements Report:
66.0 units required in TOTAL.
Of those 66.0 units, 18.0 units would be electives and 48.0 units would be required in ECON as follows:
-ECON 212/3.0, ECON 255/3.0
-ECON 310/3.0, ECON 320/3.0, ECON 351/3.0
-15.0 units at the 400 and/or 500 level depending on whether I complete seminars only or a seminar and thesis
-3.0 units from one of these courses: ECON 231/3.0; ECON 232/3.0; ECON 331/3.0; ECON 332/3.0; ECON 430/3.0
-3.0 units from ECON Communications Options list of courses found in the Arts and Science Calendar -6.0 units from ECON any level
-6.0 units from ECON at any level; COMM 211/3.0; COMM 221/3.0; PPEC 200

As I mentioned earlier, a lot has happened since the original event, and I am confident that I will now succeed. I have hired an Economics tutor for September, and I will have weekly sessions to make sure that my cumulative and ECON GPA reaches at least 1.9 as I continue to build on my current trends of academic success. I also intend to connect with Jay Harris, Hayley Everson and Dr. Gayle Gordon on a bi-weekly basis. I am ready to come back strong; I have a proven ability to seek help and execute an academic plan designed for healthy learning and success. I do not need time way for reflection, not now, when I have already discovered an effective way forward.

Yours, Gabriel