Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean Studies,

My name is Sarah Martin and I am a third year Global Development Studies major. I am appealing to drop DEVS 300: Cross Cultural Research Methods (Winter 2016).

For several years I have suffered from anxiety and depression. I have been taking medication prescribed by my doctor since the age of 16. Over these years I have also been to psychologists to help work through my mental illness. This past year I became involved with two organizations on campus and attempted to take a full course load (5 courses per semester). In first semester I struggled with heightened anxiety, preventing me from concentrating, sleeping and performing to the best of my ability academically. In response to this I increased the dosage of my medication and began seeing a psychologist here in Kingston. I have been seeing this psychologist on a regular basis since October and attached to my appeal is a letter of support from him.

This past semester I felt that I had my anxiety under control and continued to take five courses while working on the executive committee of WaterAid Queen¿¿s and Queen¿¿s Global Innovation Conference. I began to feel very overloaded with all of my commitments to the point that it began to seriously affect my mental health. Having dealt with this issue for several years I should have foreseen the negative impact of my decision to commit to a full course load and two extra-curricular activities. Unfortunately anxiety can often distort one¿¿s thinking and cloud judgment.

I became very overwhelmed specifically with Devs 300, which is a required program for my course and consists of a final proposal weighted at 60. This course is taught in a very high-pressure manner, which I believe added to my already anxious state. My anxiety caused me to feel as though this assignment was far more high stakes than it is. Anxiety causes a lack of confidence, which directly affected my perceived capacity to complete the assignment. Furthermore, anxiety stopped me from sleeping properly and concentrating on my work. Work that normally would take me a few hours took twice that time due to a heightened sense of pressure and panic. I have been able to keep up and perform well in all my other courses as well as the other 40 of the graded portion for Devs 300. In the past month however my anxiety has increased further and has also at times induced depression, which led to a lack of motivation. Throughout this time I have been continuing to see my psychologist and work on ways to tackle the assignment as well as alleviate pressure. I truly did want to complete this course and do well, however it is now at the point where doing so would be at the risk of my mental health and would compromise my success in my other courses. When it comes to school, mental illness can be just as, if not more, debilitating. Anxiety is not an illness with a cure it is one that you must constantly and actively fight and this alone can be difficult enough without the added pressure of an academically challenging environment.

This year I have realized that although I am very motivated to do well academically and otherwise, I must become more in tune with my anxiety to be able to continue. Next year I plan to reduce my course load to three courses both semesters and work towards either getting a general degree in four years or an honors degree in five years. I have gone to see an academic advisor and my psychologist who have both confirmed my belief that a reduced course load will alleviate pressure and allow me more time to focus on my own well-being. I will also work only on one extracurricular activity, as I do believe involvement on campus is important in building skills outside of the classroom and contributing to a more positive undergraduate experience. If I decide to complete an honors degree rather than a general degree I will retake Devs 300, this time with a lower course load.

I hope that you can see I am a responsible student and I do take my studies very seriously, because of this I must accept that my mental health and happiness are both more important than my ability to do it all. In the future I will be more aware of what I can and cannot handle and of drop dates in order to prevent a situation like this from arising again.