Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To the Arts and Science faculty,

I am submitting this petition to receive an AG standing for the course IDIS280, as I was unable to finish all the coursework on time due to extenuating circumstances. My mental health has been of concern for my entire life, battling with ADHD, GAD, and MDD diagnoses and navigating schoolwork. I am registered with QSAS, where my advisor had actually proposed the idea of applying for an AG standing due to my inability to complete work to my true abilities. My mental health had been at an all-time low throughout the entire semester, however, it had hit a new low during March/April, where I fell insanely behind in all of my 6 courses. My schoolwork however became the last priority in working on because of every other sign I was exhibiting. I had cut myself off from many family and friends during this time, including my therapist, I was planning to do the unthinkable and was nearly hospitalized for it. This rut I had been in was likely one of the hardest periods of my life, as getting out of bed was a rare occurrence, and I had not eaten a proper meal for weeks on end. This eventually resulted in an intervention held with peers and family, having me move back with my mother to be watched and help finish my degree for the month of April onwards. I eventually finished every missing assignment and returned to Kingston for final examination days. The issue with IDIS280 was that my course instructor had left for the summer term as of April 15th, and I had not been able to reach any of the teaching team regarding marking my late submissions. Abiding by the AG requirement, I have completed 60% of the work if not more, but my grade does not reflect it. This course in particular was very important for me, as it focused on the adequate approaches a healthcare professional must take to ensure proper patient care. I enjoyed the content of the course and found every case study, reading, and assignment thrilling to complete. Throughout the term, I focused on group work, as I did not want others to be burdened by my poor health. This resulted in not prioritizing my individual work, which was worth more, but I was able to hide and have my peers think I was doing okay. I have done all the work for the course, which is seen through the extensive notes and quality of the work I submitted, and the fact that I did actually complete all works despite not having them in the dropbox in time (they are all submitted on OnQ as of the first week of May). This is more important now as this was the last term of my final year at Queen's University for my bachelor's degree. I plan to take time off to focus on my mental health, with the support of professionals and my family, which I am now in the process of doing. I request this AG standing because it will allow me to still graduate on time with my peers and give me time to work on my health. I have been battling the result of this specific course as I have a failing grade at the moment, for the past couple weeks, and I wish to put this to an end. I request the utmost sympathy for my current condition, and that I am also able to keep my current standing for graduating. I have so much passion for the course, and it does not make sense for me to complete it all over again if I am proud of what I was able to get done even though it was not done in time. I have never submitted an AG request, thus this is my first and only ever one. I request that my passion, past academic records, and the unfortunate circumstances described will allow your team to see why I am deserving of an AG standing for this particular course. Thank you.

Best regards,
Lamia Bhuiyan