Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Hello,

My name is Benjamin Ruby and I am writing to petition for my grades from the Winter 2023 term to be changed. I am petitioning for PHYS 216 to be changed to a credit standing and STAT 263 to be dropped. I am registered with SASS for a depression-related accommodation.

My circumstances:
Unfortunately, I had multiple health issues during the 2022/2023 school year that forced me to repeatedly change my plans for the year. For the first time, during the summer of 2022 I started taking anti-depressant medication prescribed by my doctor. I expected it to help. I returned to Queen’s in Fall 2022 with a full course load, but early in the semester unexpectedly experienced side effects from this medication. I withdrew from all my courses before the drop deadline and returned home. I spent the Fall having the medication adjusted. I returned to Queen’s in Winter 2023, but only taking three courses in order to ease back into school and provide more space in case the adjusted medication continued to cause trouble. I dropped one course before the deadline because the medication I was then taking made 3 courses difficult, but stuck with PHYS 216 and STAT 263 through the term because I expected the side effects to improve. However, they did not improve. In late December, I began a different medication that I expected would be easier because it had been successfully used by others with whom I have a genetic connection. But for me, this new medication caused worse side effects, which interfered with my work, including irritability, brain fog, and physical symptoms such as headache and nausea. This led me to stop taking this medication in April and to defer my exams to avoid them coinciding with the withdrawal period. Within a short time of stopping this medication, I felt much better and continue to be well.

I wrote my two exams in May. I did disappointingly but fine on the PHYS 216 exam (72%), but having done badly or not handed in everything earlier in the term, my course grade averaged down to a D. I do not have the exam grade for STAT 263, but failed the course as a whole, again having done badly or not handed in everything earlier in the term. For both courses, I effectively had to try to learn all the material in the 3 weeks before the exams. It turns out I was unreasonably optimistic I could do so.

Why I did not drop earlier:
I did not drop these two courses initially because I was expecting the symptoms of the medication to fade over time and thought that dropping one course would be enough to enable me to perform in the remaining two courses. But the side effects on the mediation only got worse after the drop deadline, and as I continued to increase the dosage hoping it would become effective they only worsened. The bottom line is that unexpectedly the side effects of my medication did not lessen and the benefits of taking it did not appear.

How these circumstances have been resolved:
Since the end of April 2023 I have been feeling well. No more side effects.The underlying symptoms are also largely resolved, with the assistance of therapy. I spent time after the May exams going through my textbooks from the Fall 2022 classes which I took again in Fall 2023, to maximize my chances of success. This preparation allowed me to do much better in Fall 2023, only having one period of depression, which was handled quickly.

Why I have petitioned before:
This is unfortunately not the first time I have petitioned due to my mental health. Essentially, my two petitions track my mental health journey over the past two academic years. For 2021/22, I made a petition because I experienced depressive episodes nothing like what I had before. At the time, I was not taking medication for depression, nor receiving targeted depression therapy. The following academic year was different. In 2022/23 I experienced unexpected and terrible side effects from medication I started during the summer of 2022 and then changed for Winter 2023. In other words, my 2021/22 petition was about major depressive episodes (which I no longer experience) and my 2022/23 petition is about side effects from new medications.


Documentation:
I have attached a letter from my GP, Dr. Kwok, which supports the extenuating circumstances I describe above.
After Dr. Kwok’s July 2023 letter I started to take another medication, which has proved more helpful and largely side effect free.