Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Johanne Bénard

Please accept this request as an appeal to drop Psychology 100 (Fall and Winter Term), as well as Credit Standing on French 100 (Fall and Winter), History 124 (Fall and Winter), and CISC 101 (Winter 2015).
I am making request due to the accumulation of events and illness that affected my personal well ¿¿being this year having a drastic negative effect on my academic potential. I have been lead to believe that my situation is such that I might mitigate the detrimental effect to my post-secondary academics.

While I am well aware that transition from secondary to post-secondary education can be a harrowing experience, I was unfortunately naive to how ill prepared I was to handle what was to be my first year at Queen¿¿s University. While my past life prior to arriving here, with the obstacles that I have already concurred should have prepared me, and could be the subject of a great mini-series, I will not go into that for this appeal. Sufficient to say I have done well to get here, but have now matured enough to know when I need help, that I must ask for it, and not suffer in silence.

My current school year started with what I hoped would be the end of a very unhealthy and controlling relationship. It took me too long to understand the abusive nature of this person, and that the controlling of whom I could see with respect to friends and family, was truly damaging me. It was my belief that moving to Queen¿¿s residence I could put this behind me, and start my new life, away from the abusive anger. Unfortunately, he too was at Queen¿¿s, and he began to stalk me. Again, I believed I could handle this myself, but that illusion was shattered when he found out my residence, managed to make his way in, and slip a note under my door. This sent me into a tailspin, and while I did alert security, which there will be a record, I found myself no longer feeling safe. This incident was compounded by him sending harassing offensive text messages. I found him threating stating ¿¿How dare you ignore me, who do you think you are You can¿¿t ignore me forever.¿ Stupidly I though by ignoring this I could cope. But even this escalated, when perchance we ran into each other on campus, he would corner and berate me, screaming that ¿¿I was a rude individual who could not escape him.¿ This started to disrupt my sleeping playing havoc on my ability to maintain alertness, or even attend most lectures.

It is difficult writing this, as in putting this in print I can see what perhaps would have been the better path to take, but as always hind sight is 20/20. I, unfortunately, found solace in another person, who made me feel safer around campus. He made me feel like a very important person, which was something I needed after how I was treated. I needed to feel needed, so again I missed or ignored the warning signs. My need to feel in control of my life meant I again allowed the relationship to take control of me. His OCD, cleanliness issues, coupled with his own low self-esteem and depression began to further deplete me. For my own need to feel like I belonged, I became like a primary care giver to him as he moved into my residence. I was his support system, which gave me purpose, but also a sense of obligation. I did finally realize that this was not a symbiotic relationship, his infringement on my space was upsetting, and though I asked him to leave he would not. Again the cycle of controlling and obsessing reduced my social network to only him. I would be under his glare to such an extent he would be mindful of me going to the bathroom. I intended to tough it out until the end of exams, as my leaving the residence could again be a clean break. Again I am starting to understand how past life experiences have made me susceptible to this. However, a dear friend, seeing what again I had gotten myself into advised me, and helped me to end this relationship sooner. This resulted in me attending my Saturday computer exam in tears. My Professor, stated it would be acceptable for me to defer the exam, with proper documentation from Health and Disability Services.

This move to Health and Disability Services was perhaps the first thing that I had done right. Upon explaining my situation to my councilor, I began to see the unhealthy and negative stresses on my life. I expressed my concern of my inability to take my other examinations due to my emotional turmoil, to which I was advised by the councilor it was up to the individual Professor¿¿s discretion to grant the deferral. I admit my error here was the belief that I would be receiving documentation from her. I emailed my professor requesting the deferral, which he granted, with this impression. The next day I returned to get the required documentation, to find that the person I spoke to was not in that day, and I would have to wait until the next day. My exam now having passed, I called to be told now that she , the councilor, did not feel my situation warranted a deferral. My stress level was now through the roof. I went to a very understanding Professor, who rescheduled the exam to the following week, but the toll on me was now too much. I became very ill, I was found to have fluid on my lungs (pneumonia), as was prescribed antibiotics, but this was not until exam had finished.

I should mention this was not my only medical bout during my year. In the Middle of March, a wisdom tooth extraction did not go well. I suffered complications from surgery requiring strong pain medication, requiring me to stop attending classes for a week, and deal with the discomfort for some time after.

I have always taking my academics very seriously; I truly believe I am a lifelong learner. In the past I have made time to tutor others in various subjects, as I know what education is one of the most important things anyone can have. Unfortunately life lessons do not come from a book, though I now believe I might have some insight as to how to write one. I can see how I have made poor choices, but did not have the maturity, or experience to understand what to in the midst of the situation. The events of this year have greatly affected my academics, and are not a true reflection of my potential. The timeline of these events stretches from October 2014, with the belief I was doing the right thing in November, right until May of 2015. I have placed myself in a situation twice where I have been scared to attend classes, or forced to miss, had plummeting grades, loss of sleep, developed anxiety and depression, and an inability to properly attend and write exams. However, as bad as I have let things become, I am not a quitter. Though I do realize I cannot do this by myself. I did seek out counselling during my second set of exams, but could find no support.

Regardless, I wish to move forward. Since the completion of exams, I have had appointments with Spring Forsberg, Academic Advisor, Vicky Andrews, Concurrent Education Assistant, and Sarah Harsford, Concurrent Education Councilor. I have weekly meetings with Sarah, to help find strategies for me to properly cope, and seek correct support at the first signs of trouble. In my desire to heal, I am retaking Psychology online to recover my lost grade. My counseling sessions have uncovered issues from my past, which makes me continue having regular sessions and meetings with Academic Advisor in Arts and Science and Education. I will not allow myself to get into this situation again, and ask that you grant my appeal that I may continue to heal and move forward. I wish to learn from this experience, grow stronger from it, and not have it a constant reminder of my failure.

Thank you for your time,

Crystal O'Dea (10129436)