Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Connor Button
November 30th, 2021
Student 20236241

To Associate Dean Arts & Sciences:

I am appealing to drop the five courses I am currently enrolled in this 2021 fall semester; CISC 124, LLCU 200, ECON 250, ECON 212, and CISC 102, to then take a leave of absence from Queens University for at least a couple of terms.

This year has been a challenging year for me, for a number of reasons. My father was diagnosed with Metastatic Squamous Neck Cancer this summer and spent the majority of the summer in treatments. I had already accepted working on a summer job away from my family at a hotel in Muskoka, and felt somewhat disconnected from everyone as he managed through his treatments. I was able to visit a couple of times but worked right up to the beginning of the term without any break to connect with everyone at home. From the beginning of the school year I had a hard time focusing, and started to fall behind in my classes. I found that the anxiety would spiral making it very hard for me to catch up. When I returned after Thanksgiving I became sick for about 2 weeks with the last week fully bedridden. This being before my midterm I attempted to request academic consideration but was denied as I didn??t have physical proof such as a covid test. I assumed I would be well soon but the prolonged period of illness affected my ability to keep up with my classes. These circumstances contributed to finding me very behind in all my classes right before the midterm exams. Although I studied I didn??t do very well in any of my courses, this made it extremely hard to maintain a proper relationship with my studies as I couldn??t get out of bed due to anxiety and dark thoughts. Throughout all of this I didn??t reach out to anyone as I felt like acknowledging my failing courses to friends or family would present me as a failure at school. Because of this I didn??t drop my classes before November 1st, by then I still hadn??t told my family or friends about the mental health issues I was going through. It wasn??t until the end of November that I finally reached out to Queen??s Health and wellness and my parents about my struggle with attending class due to my mental health. This past month I have put a lot of effort into attempting to catch up in the courses I am in with no success, and it always puts me into an anxious state giving me debilitating attacks. I really wish I could finish this semester with pride and give it one last attempt to pass my courses, but unfortunately I believe I am so far behind and still very anxious that this is not an option.

I am hopeful that with a supportive outcome to my appeal, combined with taking a year away from studies I will be able to focus on my mental health. I am endeavoring to spend more time with my family, and also consider exploring other avenues of interest outside of academics. I have already connected with Queen??s health and wellness and will be setting up appointments with a family therapist on a regular basis to work on my mental health. I am confident that this year of alternative stimulus and focus will allow me to re-energize to return to Queen??s and be more engaged rather than simply going through the motions. Ultimately, I feel that removing the current stress I feel, while allowing for fresh thinking with support will bring me back to a similar spot I was in during my first year.

Thank you Sincerely for considering my appeal.
Connor Button

ADDITIONAL INFORMTION RECEIVED WHEN ASKED FOR DOCUMENTATION FROM COUNSELLOR:

I realize I am in a bit of a tricky situation with the appeal at the moment as I haven??t been seeing a counsellor. This is the first time anxiety has been this sever with me so I haven??t been in touch with a counsellor before. Me and my family are working to find me a counsellor in my home town currently but I went through the wrong steps when dealing with this and hid it from my friends and family and didn??t reach out to anyone, because of this I have no documentation to back up my timeline as I was sort of dealing with this on my own while trying to keep the façade of me not failing to my family. Although I know now that this is wrong that tied into why I didn??t reach out to a counsellor or to friends or family for help and why it went on long enough to the point of this appeal.