Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean (Academic),

I am appealing the Faculty??s decision that I must withdraw from Queen??s University for a year.

Due to the following unforeseen circumstances, I failed my first year. The past few months have been a significant learning experience for me. While it wasn??t a huge shock that I failed my first year at Queens, realizing what I went through during and now after the year has been very significant in my life.

I started the year living in residence on West Campus in my own single room with two broken hands. That made the first two months very difficult in terms of doing my school work and generally functioning through my days. I eventually moved into Victoria Hall in early October which made things easier for me. When all our classes went back online during late November, it was tough for me to stay focused with a large amount of school work to be done, and while at home in Toronto while we were packing our house to move, all resulting in unsatisfactory marks at the end of the first term.

It was the second semester that I found to be very challenging and which led me to be in this current position. Starting the second semester working from my home wasn??t easy for me. With the stress of moving houses, starting new courses, and the stress of needing to do much better this term was challenging.

When I returned to Queen??s in late January, much more significant issues began to happen. In mid-February, I was falsely accused by a group of girls in my residence of some pretty horrible things. I asked my parents to come to Kingston to help me with this after I called and explained to them what had happened, which provided needed support and help. Even though the situation was cleared up and the girls apologized, this was a very rough stretch of time for me. Being accused of something so horrible and wrong was very mentally challenging for quite some time.

A few weeks after that, I came down with a really bad case of the flu and was bed-bound for a week, struggling to do any work. By this point, it had already become April and I hadn??t heard from any of my professors regarding my academic progress. I am aware that the professors tend to be less engaged in the first year, but it was disappointing to not have heard from any of them.

In order to resolve the above issues and to better myself, I am seeing a therapist who will hopefully help me with focus and direction in my life and in the coming years. I will continue to speak to people as the year continues and into the school year, such as the peer mentorship program and Student Academic Success Services. Bottom line is that I know I messed up and should have put more effort in but I didn??t. I know I??m capable of much greater success and I owe it to myself as well as the people closest to me to be the best version of myself. I??m learning to communicate my failures and successes better. I know that in order for me to succeed in the future, I have to be better at both of those tasks.

Looking back on my school year, I??ve realized that I had too much free time, so in order to decrease idle time, I plan on getting a part-time job to keep me busier, as well as to help pay for my school expenses.

I know what I??m asking for is a lot but I also know I have the ability to succeed and will do everything in my power to exercise that ability this coming fall. Thank you very much for your consideration. I look forward to contributing to the 2022-2023 academic year at Queen??s University.