Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean Jenn Stephenson,

I am writing to you in hope of appealing the following courses to be credit standings;
CLST203, EMPR200, LLCU213, PSYC203, PSYC353, SOCY302 from the winter 2023 semester, and SOCY226, SOCY275, SOCY305, SOCY352 from the fall 2022 semester.

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to explain my circumstances.


On October 22nd, 2022, one of my best friends and former housemates, Owen Taylor, died by suicide. To give appropriate context, the timeline of my extenuating circumstance began in the months leading up to his death, around February of 2022. Owen had struggled with his mental health for a long time, however, at this time he disclosed to me how he was struggling with suicide ideation. Some close friends and I spent a lot of time providing emotional support and finding him professional resources, often having sleepovers to make sure he was safe. This was when the impact on my academics became noticeable. I found it difficult to devote sufficient time to my studies while navigating very serious and heavy situations in my living environment – and at this time I sought professional help. I found a private therapist and was making strides to juggle my academics, personal life and everyday stressors. I felt I was making progress in the early fall semester of 2022, when his death then came as a massive breaking point for me. Hearing the news of his passing from my friends who had found him was an incredibly traumatic experience. This also brought on the responsibility of communicating the tragedy and reliving this experience with the rest of his friends, peers and loved ones. This included meeting with his parents to go through his belongings and clean up the apartment he died in. The tremendous guilt and grief that followed made academics and supporting my own health debilitating. I made strong efforts into using student wellness resources and connecting with my professors. I had created action plans to complete academic deadlines, by forcing myself to leave my house and find locations on campus and throughout Kingston to complete schoolwork, however it seemed every place held memories of our friendship. In these circumstances it felt impossible to escape this traumatic event and it consumed me both physically and mentally. I was embarrassed to seek support after failing to meet these academic deadlines. I was only capable of succeeding in one of my courses (COMM) due to the persistent support of my Professor. In the Winter semester of 2023, I was at my lowest point. My friend group, including everyone I was living with, were collectively grieving, and experiencing severe mental health issues. Many of said peers have had a previous history of depression and self-harm and the responsibility to take care of other people in extreme fear of losing them too, alongside myself took over as I had no option but to enter a state of survival. I was trying my hardest to keep up with my academics, however, the quality of work I was producing was severely impacted. This has been a long process of healing and seeking professional help, and I wish I could’ve had the physical capacity to have done it sooner to uphold my academic obligations.

Having moved away from Kingston, and am back home with family, I have had the capacity to devote countless hours into undergoing professional help. I have taken the past two semesters away from my studies to truly heal from the situation and have been successfully working as an ABA therapist for the past 6 months. I feel confident I have the capacity and tools to succeed in my future studies. I am no longer in a living environment that carries the grief in such a physical way and am no longer living in close quarters with peers who at the time were at a risk for their own safety. I have had the time to process with the people who experienced the tragedy and they too have implemented safety and wellbeing plans in their own life. I am seeing a therapist regularly and am living in a healthy environment conducive to completing my degree. While I have very few credits outstanding to graduate, I am eager to close this chapter with a transcript that does not reflect such a harrowing experience in my life. I hope from my explanation you understand my appeal to change these courses to credit standings, as I do not believe they reflect my true abilities as a student.

Thank you for taking the time to consider my appeal.

Best,
Sarah Carter
(20122195)