Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

New Information: Rewritten Petition:

Dear Associate Dean,

I am writing this letter to outline the circumstances that have affected my progression during my undergraduate career at Queen’s, to explain the delay in submitting this petition, and to inform you of my academic plan.

For the entirety of the Fall/Winter 2021/22 school year, I took online Queen’s courses from my family’s home in Burlington, Ontario. During the Fall 2021 semester, the relationship between my mother and her husband was a point of major concern in the house. My stepfather was physically and emotionally abusive towards my mother and towards me and my younger brother. We managed his increasingly abusive behaviour since 2018. There was police involvement at several points between 2019 and 2022 as a result of his behaviour. These major events, as well as the day-to-day altercations impacted my mental health and distracted me from my degree. I needed to support my mother and younger brother but it was hard to manage with difficult courses. In October 2021 he committed a violent act against my mother and he was arrested and charged as a result. He did not live with my family from that point on, but the legal aftermath, as well as the mental, emotional, and financial impacts of his actions remained with us for some time. I worked with my doctor to receive mental health treatment shortly afterwards from October 2021.

In December 2021, I spent Christmas at my biological father’s home. My father unfortunately has a history of physically and emotionally abusive behaviour as well. On Christmas Eve, he physically and emotionally abused my stepmother and my two step-sisters. I tried to help de-escalate the situation and get but I had to call the police as the situation got worse. The event was traumatic and impacted my mental health and functioning. Coupled with what I had been dealing with in my mother’s home, I felt depressed and completely unable to attend to myself or my responsibilities shortly afterwards. I enrolled in the Winter 2022 semester with a reduced course load and connected with student wellness, accessibility services and the external “Empower me” mental health service with hopes that I would be able to manage what I was experiencing and continue to make progress towards my degree. I should have dropped some or all of the courses as my condition worsened in Winter 2022, but with clouded judgement, my degree progression seemed more important to me despite the advice I received.

I did not submit these petitions within the deadline because, after all that I went through, I was looking to switch schools. I believe my decision-making at the time was impacted by trauma. I attended a local college to be closer to family and was considering transferring. I became aware of the 1-year deadline to appeal to drop courses too late, so I thought that transferring would be better than GPA repair. But, when I spoke to academic advisors about returning to Queen's, they mentioned that I could appeal to waive the deadline if I explained my circumstances.

I first consulted with my doctor in October 2021 to address my mental health but I did not yet have a diagnosis and an effective treatment plan so I was awaiting referrals. Reaching an effective treatment plan has taken some time but I believe the treatment plan I have now has improved things, though I am still working on it. I am also registered with QSAS and receive support that I did not receive before 2024 but that I think I needed earlier in my academic career.
 
Thank you for your consideration.

Zion Adegbayi
ST#: 20124796


Rewritten Academic Plan:

Previously, a lot of my courses were in Computing or Math. I was admitted to Queen's in first year for Computing but struggled with the academic requirements for further levels. Ever since then I've often tried to include a majority of math and coding courses in each term, in order to prove my competency and make progress toward my desired change of plan. It is clear to me now that I need extra support in math, so going forward I will be seeking supports in that regard. I also intend to focus on the Philosophy degree plan instead of aiming for a change of plan. I will continue to work with my doctor, QSAS and SWS to address my health proactively. I will also talk to academic advisors about reducing my course load, but I will also aim to meet regularly with an advisor to talk about progress and my goals as I gain momentum in my plan.