Petition Letter
To the Associate Dean (Academic),
I am writing to appeal the faculty¿¿s decision that I must withdraw from Queen¿¿s for a minimum of three years. Following this appeal, I will also be submitting an appeal to drop PHIL 157 (Winter 2021). The last year has been difficult for everyone, and as someone who struggles with a mental illness that is specifically aggravated by health-related issues, I found it increasingly difficult to succeed academically. As someone who has a permanent disability, I found a lot of the pandemic related issues overwhelming. Luckily, I am registered with QSAS, who have gone above and beyond to advocate for me and professors who were very understanding and accommodating. Unfortunately, during the last year, my father has been diagnosed with some very serious healt issues (blood cancer, cirrhosis) and was unable to work for quite some time while undergoing diagnostic tests, as well as treatment for the aforementioned issues. My mother, who owns a hair salon, had also been unable to work for quite some time during the lockdowns as well, adding financial worries to my household. As the pandemic pushed on, I felt the increasing stress of my own health concerns, my fathers, my family's financial hardships, and the wave of symptoms I experience due to my disability. Entering into the winter semester, my GPA had reached 1.63, which I knew was above the threshold I needed to meet to be removed from academic probation, and be granted permission to continue my studies at Queen¿¿s. By this time, my mother had been back to work for a few weeks, and everything was appearing to be getting better. However, I knew that due to some of the stresses of the fall semester continuing into the winter, that reducing my course load was something I needed to do. Before the deadline, I reduced my course load to two classes, one I was retaking, and one new class. Only a few weeks after the deadline to drop classes without academic penalty, Ontario once again went into lockdown. My mother came to me as vocalized just how bad things had gotten financially. My father was still recovering from health issues and was not working, and my mother had worked a total of 33 days in 2021. She had exhausted all options of financial assistance for small businesses, and if something didn¿¿t change, they were going to need to shut down their businesses, and potentially even lose the house. After a long conversation, I stepped up and told my parents I would seek out whatever work I could to help financially. After this, I reached out to my professors, who were aware of some of the issues I was facing, and explained the progression of my situation. It was evident I wouldn¿¿t be able to keep up with my classes, and with no indication of when my situation would change, I asked for their support in an appeal to drop their classes late, which they agreed to. Just a couple weeks ago, following the winter semester, a family member reached out to us to offer financial assistance to allow me to continue my studies. My current GPA, even with the winter 2021 semester classes, is 1.57, and I am also currently enrolled in classes over the summer term. I am doing well in these classes, and know that once completed my GPA will be over 1.60. I am hoping that the extenuating circumstances surround the pandemic including my family's health and financial issues, my additional appeal to drop PHIL 157 raising my GPA to 1.60, or the classes I am taking now over the summer to increase my GPA to 1.60, can be taking into serious consideration regarding this appeal. I am close to being able to graduate, and a requirement to withdraw for three years is a lifechanging decision that I absolutely know without doubt would not have happened if the circumstances outlined in this appeal had not occurred. If my appeal is granted, moving forward I feel that since registering with QSAS, I have been doing far better academically, as well as extremely reducing mental stress and disability related symptoms, and intend to continue working with them to reach my goals. I very much appreciate you taking my appeal into consideration.
Matheson Goff
I am writing to appeal the faculty¿¿s decision that I must withdraw from Queen¿¿s for a minimum of three years. Following this appeal, I will also be submitting an appeal to drop PHIL 157 (Winter 2021). The last year has been difficult for everyone, and as someone who struggles with a mental illness that is specifically aggravated by health-related issues, I found it increasingly difficult to succeed academically. As someone who has a permanent disability, I found a lot of the pandemic related issues overwhelming. Luckily, I am registered with QSAS, who have gone above and beyond to advocate for me and professors who were very understanding and accommodating. Unfortunately, during the last year, my father has been diagnosed with some very serious healt issues (blood cancer, cirrhosis) and was unable to work for quite some time while undergoing diagnostic tests, as well as treatment for the aforementioned issues. My mother, who owns a hair salon, had also been unable to work for quite some time during the lockdowns as well, adding financial worries to my household. As the pandemic pushed on, I felt the increasing stress of my own health concerns, my fathers, my family's financial hardships, and the wave of symptoms I experience due to my disability. Entering into the winter semester, my GPA had reached 1.63, which I knew was above the threshold I needed to meet to be removed from academic probation, and be granted permission to continue my studies at Queen¿¿s. By this time, my mother had been back to work for a few weeks, and everything was appearing to be getting better. However, I knew that due to some of the stresses of the fall semester continuing into the winter, that reducing my course load was something I needed to do. Before the deadline, I reduced my course load to two classes, one I was retaking, and one new class. Only a few weeks after the deadline to drop classes without academic penalty, Ontario once again went into lockdown. My mother came to me as vocalized just how bad things had gotten financially. My father was still recovering from health issues and was not working, and my mother had worked a total of 33 days in 2021. She had exhausted all options of financial assistance for small businesses, and if something didn¿¿t change, they were going to need to shut down their businesses, and potentially even lose the house. After a long conversation, I stepped up and told my parents I would seek out whatever work I could to help financially. After this, I reached out to my professors, who were aware of some of the issues I was facing, and explained the progression of my situation. It was evident I wouldn¿¿t be able to keep up with my classes, and with no indication of when my situation would change, I asked for their support in an appeal to drop their classes late, which they agreed to. Just a couple weeks ago, following the winter semester, a family member reached out to us to offer financial assistance to allow me to continue my studies. My current GPA, even with the winter 2021 semester classes, is 1.57, and I am also currently enrolled in classes over the summer term. I am doing well in these classes, and know that once completed my GPA will be over 1.60. I am hoping that the extenuating circumstances surround the pandemic including my family's health and financial issues, my additional appeal to drop PHIL 157 raising my GPA to 1.60, or the classes I am taking now over the summer to increase my GPA to 1.60, can be taking into serious consideration regarding this appeal. I am close to being able to graduate, and a requirement to withdraw for three years is a lifechanging decision that I absolutely know without doubt would not have happened if the circumstances outlined in this appeal had not occurred. If my appeal is granted, moving forward I feel that since registering with QSAS, I have been doing far better academically, as well as extremely reducing mental stress and disability related symptoms, and intend to continue working with them to reach my goals. I very much appreciate you taking my appeal into consideration.
Matheson Goff