Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean of Life Sciences,

I hope this letter finds you well. My name is Prusha Balaratnam, and my student number is 20207918. I am currently wrapping up my fourth year and Life Sciences specializing in biomedical sciences. I am writing to petition to drop BCHM 310 (FW22/23), MICR 386 (W23), PHGY 350 (W23).

An unforeseen personal event beyond my control has and continues to directly affect my academic performance, and I have been working on navigating this situation to better adapt and cope with the situation. Unfortunately, my father has been dealing with his alcohol addiction for most of my life, and it has particularly worsened over time. At the end of the fall semester of 2022, my dad had attempted to quit drinking and due to the severity addiction, it had resulted in sever withdrawal symptoms that led him to be hospitalized in the ICU for a couple months unconscious, and evolved into a respiratory infection. At this time, there was no official prognosis for his situation, and it seemed his odds of recovery and survival were not very good. This had not only taken a mental toll on my mental health, but it also left me in charge of a lot of household affairs in my father’s stead, including the financial burdens. Moreover, due to my hometown being 4 hours away, I had to travel a lot back and forth to handle my father’s situation and complete my courses, which had further prevented me from focusing on my coursework and burnt me out. I was not aware of the supports I could have reached out to during this situation that could have helped me perform better in my courses. I also did not realize how much of an impact this situation would have on my ability to successfully complete my course, until it was too late, as I was in a state of shock about the event that had taken place. Therefore, I was not able to withdraw due to the chaos of the situation and my mental state. Fortunately, my father has gotten a lot better, but still continues to struggle with his alcohol addiction. As, I continue to navigate this situation, I have learned better ways to cope, how to better utilize my existing resources, and attained the mental capacity to take a break or leave of absence from school, if a situation a severe as this was to occur again. As much as I would love to have continuous availability to pursue the courses of interest, I am also aware of my obligations to my family and how I will need to choose at times because I have seen doing it at the same time without the correct mental supports can be quite detrimental. Hence, I am writing to you today in a better physical and mental head space, to request a petition to drop the courses mentioned above. These last two year I had an immense amount of growth and learning on how to handle the realities of life and addiction.

I hope to retake or have retaken the courses I am petitioning to drop and taking a fifth year to have sufficient time to complete these tasks. Due to the nature of my situation, I know it will be constantly evolving and I will need to do better to adapt to these unfortunate circumstances. I have created a reliable support system, including friends and family I can rely on throughout this period, and have inquired about the supports available from Queen’s University, such as QSAS and Student Wellness. I plan to utilize the supports better to set myself up for academic success. I am aware that not all will go according to plan, and there will be hiccups along the way, but I have a strong foundation and a lot of mental support systems in place to allow me to navigate and effectively handle these situations. I am specifically asking to drop the course I had failed, even though there are other courses I had performed poorly because, these courses have the largest impact on my GPA and I would benefit the most from retaking these courses. Overall, to ensure success I have navigating this situation by pursing a fifth year to focus on retaking and increasing my GPA, utilizing resources available to me, and establishing a good support system in place that I can turn to in need of mental support. As for the ongoing issue of addiction, I have been urging my father to enter rehab but due to the large stigma around alcoholics, this has been ongoing task I am working towards to prevent another sever situation.

As I continue to navigate this challenging period, I am grateful to all the support I have received, especially from my peers and research supervisors. I appreciate and thank you for taking the time to review this appeal and hope you will consider my petition to drop BCHM 310 (FW22/23), MICR 386 (W23), PHGY 350 (W23).

With kind regards,

Prusha Balaratnam