Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Appeal Letter: Dear Members of the Board of Studies,

I am writing to you today in appeal of the decision that was made by Associate Dean, Jenn Stephenson, regarding my request to drop ASTR101.

I believe that the grounds in which the decision was reached are based on a case of misinformation and poor representation on my part of the actual timeline of my extenuating circumstance.

As noted in both my personal appeal letter as well as supporting documentation provided by my psychotherapist, I did begin to experience issues with my mental health in June of 2021 and reached out through Queen's for professional support, prior to beginning ASTR101. Although where I believe the confusion lies is how that was presented in my supporting documentation letter. It was not made clear that despite addressing external mental health issues with a psychotherapist months prior to taking ASTR101, the then present issues had zero impact on my ability to perform at my normal academic level. I utilized this support from time to time over the following months, but it was not until the end of the Fall 2021 semester, after the drop deadline, that my struggles were dramatically heightened by other problems. Near the end of December 2021 was when I first became seriously burdened by the extenuating circumstances in my life. I found myself in deep states of depression, experiencing self-destructive and self-harming feelings and had no ability to focus on all my academics. The events going on in my life took a drastic hold on my mental health and completely encapsulated me, leaving my academics at the time to suffer. This intensified over the winter holiday and carried through into January 2022. In my supporting documentation letter, the statement: Mr. Nygren reported his emotional distress impacted his ability to effectively complete his schoolwork., failed to specify when it was impacting my academic abilities. My academics were not impacted throughout the majority of the Fall semester, and I did not have justified reasoning to drop this course at that time. My academic abilities were only seriously jeopardized in January 2022 when I wrote the deferred ASTR101 exam. I should note that the reason for taking the deferred option was not due to the matter in question but rather a COVID exposure. The burden of my condition on my academics only came in January 2022 when I took the deferred ASTR101 exam. As shown on my strong grades throughout the course, if it were not for the mandatory 50% on the final exam to pass the course, I would have still finished the course in fine standing despite scoring a 40.8% on the final exam. Yet the mental and emotional state that I was in at the time lent me next to no ability to perform on that exam as I normally would have been able to.

Through the aid of my psychotherapist and the continuing treatment that I have been receiving, I have been able to move away from the issues that resulted in my poor academic performance. This is not a matter of long-term mental health issues but rather traumatizing external events in my life that I have been able to since move away from. The impacts that it had on my academic abilities were isolated to a specific period of time, hence why I haven't felt the same burden on my other courses that did not have a final exam in the month of January.

If given the opportunity, I would like to demonstrate that the final grade I received in ASRT101 is not an accurate reflection of who I am as a student. The student that I was in January of 2022 is not the same student that I am today or was before, and I do not believe that future goals in academia should suffer because of it. The failure of a course on my transcript does not reflect the hardworking, driven, and aspirational student that I am. I ask to be given the ability to show this by removing the course from my transcript and allowing me to gain back those credits through a new elective. Rather than repeating ASTR101 and relearning all the content that I have already been taught, taking a new course would allow me to further my education in a more valuable way. Although if the removal of ASTR101 from my transcript entirely is not possible, I would also like to suggest the possibility of simply retaking the final exam instead of the entire course.

I understand that this letter is a final plea, yet regardless, I believe it is justifiable to warrant a reconsideration of my appeal. I appreciate the time you take to consider my request. Please feel free to reach out with any questions you may have for either myself or my psychotherapist, whose contact information can be made available upon request.

Many thanks,

Alex Nygren
20099001
alex.nygren@queensu.ca
647-740-8200