Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To, The Associate Dean

I am appealing the Faculty's decision that I must withdraw from Queen's for a minimum of one year. As well, I am appealing to drop HIST 209, SOCY 227, SOCY 235, and SOCY 276 past the academic deadline.

The extenuating circumstance upon which I base this appeal is an untreated anxiety disorder which wasn't diagnosed until I had returned home from my studies to see my family physician.

I first began to feel something was amiss in mid-November while attending a lecture in one of my sociology classes. Halfway through the class I began to feel very uncomfortable, sweat uncontrollably, and hyperventilate while having debilitating feelings of panic. I left at the first possible break in the lecture and returned home very concerned but believing it was nothing that a good night's sleep wouldn't fix. I couldn't have been more wrong. Over the next few weeks I had many similar episodes and these feelings of extreme discomfort and panic began to manifest themselves in my life on a more regular basis. Whether it be at the library, in class, or any kind of social gathering I felt out of place, incredibly uncomfortable, and self-conscious. This led to a period of self-induced exile, I believed that my best course of action was to avoid any and all of the situations which caused these episodes. I lost all interest in keeping up regular interactions with friends as I was afraid they would notice my changes in behaviour and attitude towards socializing and schooling. I fell into depression to close out the semester, no longer caring about school, people I had befriended, or myself. I spent days and weeks on end locked in my room feigning sickness and poor health which wasn't so far from the truth.

Winter break saw an amplification of my already hopeless situation as I struggled on a daily basis to hide from my parents that I had done dismally in the fall semester. As a result I alienated myself from the only lifeline I had left and began to retreat further and further into myself and my depressive state. The new semester brought about few changes to the way I felt, if anything it seemed to worsen my already prominent social discomfort. My housemates began to party harder than they had before, incorporating hard drugs which left them up until 3 am most nights blasting music and yelling about nothing in particular. This caused an incredibly amount of stress for me and when I confronted them about their behaviours I was verbally abused and ostracized, seen as inferior because I did not join them on their drug and alcohol fuelled tirades.

This gave way to my lowest point, I watched deadlines and tests slip by no longer caring or able to pick myself up enough to do something about it. I never left my room and as a result lost almost 30 pounds in the span of a month, trapped inside my room and inside of my head I began to have some very dark thoughts about finding a way out. That is when something clicked and I realized that these feelings were not normal for a healthy 19 year old.


I reached out to friends I had made in first-year and began to slowly rebuild my confidence. I talked to my parents about what had happened and received their support and encouragement to continue my education should I be allowed to return to studies the following year. Bit by bit I returned to a sense of normality in my life but the feelings of extreme discomfort and unease assailed me whenever I attempted to attend a lecture or make a trip to the library. I talked to an advisor about the appeal process knowing that, academically, my year was a complete disaster and booked an appointment with my family physician for a date which I would be home from school. It was as if a weight had been lifted from my shoulders as I began to focus more on my mental and physical well-being while seeking gainful summer employment to help off-set the cost of university for my parents. By the end of the year, things were looking much brighter for me.