Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean of Studies,
I am a fourth year Life Science major and am appealing to drop the course LAW 201 (Fall, 2015) without academic penalty. I have been working with the Manager of Education & Equity of the law faculty; Helen Connop, who was very supportive of seeing that the course is dropped without academic penalty.

Extenuating circumstances beyond my control have directly affected my academic performance. For the past 3 years, I have been experiencing an increasingly difficult time dealing with depression. The condition has affected me severely mentally, academically and in my personal relationships. It has made it extremely difficult to maintain focus to study for exams, complete assignments and has also brought me difficulty in sleeping and thus affecting attendance in my class. During this fall term to some success, I have been prescribed to medication by my medical doctor, seeing the mental health and well being counselor regular and using the suicide hotline.

The plan for achieving academic success is to continue taking medication as well as seeing a professional (psychiatrist) regularly to help cope with my condition. I have also gotten approval to take this winter semester off and will be continuing my studies in Fall 2016 in the hopes of my mental state improving. The focus of my Fall 2016 term will be finishing the rest of my Life Science requirements and if there is space I would retake Law 201.