Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Jenn Stephenson, Associate Dean (Academic),

I am petitioning that I be allowed to drop all my remaining courses – BIOL 102, CHEM 112, PHYS115 and MATH 130 – even though it is past the drop deadline.

I have been experiencing extreme exhaustion as well as difficulty concentrating, which began towards the end of high school. This was unusual for me. More commonly called burnout, my symptoms are medically recognized as a form of depression. I was diagnosed and began treatment July 4, 2023.

By the end of the summer, I believed I had recovered enough to come to Queen’s. I was wrong.

About two weeks after starting classes, my symptoms began to return. I wasn’t about to blow my opportunity at Queen’s however, so I tried to ignore them. Unfortunately, this caused my burnout to worsen. I pushed myself to work through the exhaustion. Despite this, I was met with consistently dropping grades and a fuzzy memory. The stress of this made each week harder than the last. I even fainted in my residence at one point due to stress. It became hard to function, not just academically, but at all.

On October 25th, I experienced a traumatic event. My childhood best friend reached out to me via text while she was committing suicide. She’d already swallowed the pills. As my own mother contacted police, I called hers, searching for my friend’s location. When Trinity stopped answering my texts, I believed she had died. Only after several painful hours did I learn that police had found her and brought her to a hospital, alive.

The event was overwhelming, enough so that I reached out for help, to my family and then later to my family doctor, who recommends that I withdraw from school.

I don’t want to leave Queen’s, but I can’t recover here. It was only after the course drop deadline that I reached out and faced this. It was also only after the deadline that I learned students may temporarily withdraw and return. I am so grateful that the option exists.

Normally a high-preforming student, I no longer recognize myself. Academically, I cannot function. I think through a fog. (My mother helped me to organize this letter.) Continuing my studies will continue to worsen my health, as painful as that is to admit.

I plan to return to my parent’s home to rest and recover. When I can, I’ll find a low-stress, temporary job. Once I am myself again, I’ll return to Queen’s and take part in all the academic opportunities that are so appealing but are – for me now – so frustratingly out of reach.

I’m afraid a misjudgment of my health earlier this fall will permanently damage, or even destroy my academic career. If you are willing to approve my request, my future remains bright.

Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,

Anna Bagshaw

Supporting documents included in this petition:
- A letter from my family doctor recommending I temporarily withdraw from schooling
- An online news article about the police search for my friend on Oct. 25th, 2023