Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean and petition committee,

My name is Rizal Anderson, my student number is 20383435, and I am writing to waive the deadline for a petition to drop the classes CHEM 112, MATH 130, PHYS 115, and PHIL 151 in the Fall term of 2023-Winter term of 2024 due to extenuating circumstances outside of my control.

In this instance, this is a delayed trauma response to sexual abuse that occurred to me when I was seven years old at the hands of an adult family member. During the fall term of 2023, I finally came clean to my parents in regards to sexual abuse I endured by a family member that I had kept bottled up for years. This came to an extreme shock to my family, especially my mother, who initially did not believe it and could not understand it initially. This created some tension in the home, notably with my mother (whom I had previous issues beforehand that unfortunately increased during this period). This became worse during my second semester as I had to continually explain the situation (of what occurred) to my mother several times as she initially did not believe it and this created significant issues even after she believed it occurred. All in all the disclosure to my parents helped accelerate a delayed trauma response to my sexual assault which affected my ability to concentrate and complete coursework on time.

This especially caused problems in CHEM 112B (which is shown by my decently good final grade in CHEM 112A - (B-), but my sudden drop in CHEM 112B), as I had to discuss with several family members and solve this situation with my mother thus causing a non-submitting of schoolwork. I also had severe problems that I had dealt with lightly but increased in grade 12 as it related to my problems related to my sexual assault at a young age as I was obliged to bottle it up because I was afraid of the consequences that could ensue with my parents (especially my mother). Coupled with the transition to university all these issues ignited during my first year. The extenuating circumstances outside of my control relate to severe sexual assault I experienced at a young age by an adult family member. If only I am able to appeal for CHEM 112 to be dropped, that would most accurately indicate my performance (as in summer school I did very well demonstrating my knowledge in Chemistry, having gotten an A+ in CHEM 113, and an A in CHEM 114).

I did not receive help for my issues till October 2024-all the way into 2025 at Student Wellness Services due to struggling with trauma, of which I am extremely grateful for the help of Dr. Sevda and Dr. Li that helped me sort through the problems I was facing as it was related to a delayed trauma response to sexual abuse. I have proof of the meetings, through one particular e-mail by Dr. Sandy Li September 25, 2024 (which was the start of my help from Student Wellness Services), outlining her referral to Dr. Sevda that specializes in my kinds of cases: