Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean,

I am writing to ask for permission to drop a course past the designated cut-off date. I have encountered significant challenges that were beyond my control which made it difficult for me to succeed academically. I would like to drop the course MATH 121 so that I can try again next fall, when I will be better able to complete the course.

At the beginning of the school year, I moved into an apartment with my girlfriend Bernie. Bernie suffers from depression. She had been treated before to some degree, but we now know that her illness was not taken seriously enough. She was taking the same medication for a few years, and besides that her condition was not being monitored.

Towards the end of September, her depression worsened, and was likely enhanced because she was living away from home for the first time. The most difficult part of her depression, at least for me, were the suicidal thoughts that she was experiencing. Neither of us really knew what to do. We thought that the hospital would more or less turn us away, that counselling would be too expensive, among other concerns. We were both scared, but hoped that the situation would resolve itself in time.

Her depression continued to worsen. Depression seems to come in waves. When it peaked, which at that time was almost every night, she made it clear and explicit that she wanted to commit suicide.

This made it difficult for me to succeed in school. There were many times when I had a lab or a class, but I couldn't go because I was afraid that she might not be there when I came back. Depending on how she felt that day, I was able to sneak away quickly and get back as soon as possible. I could never get a proper night of sleep. A few times I found her in the middle of the night staring at the edge of our 9th story balcony, or at a bottle of pills, clearly contemplating suicide. From then on I had to physically hold onto her at night so that I would notice if she tried to get up, and I tried to drink a lot of water before bed so that my bladder would wake me up many times a night so that I could check on her. Since the night was when her depression was the worst, I had to be there to make sure she was ok. I couldn't go to sleep.

This went on for a bit more than a month before I realized that she would not get better by herself, that our situation was unbearable, and that we needed help. One night, I brought her to the Kingston General Hospital. The people there were very helpful. Bernie stayed there for about a week. She was set up with biweekly counselling, new mediation, and her medical situation is now monitored actively. She also moved back home with her parents where she is doing much better. Although depression seems to be a life-long illness, and it does flare up from time to time, it is much more manageable now. The lows seem to occur less frequently and less intensely.

I actually used this appeals process in the fall to drop a geology course for this same reason. I had fallen very far behind. My professor and T.A. were very helpful and considerate and afforded to me the opportunity to complete my assignments and labs after the deadline. I did the best that I could, but I was unable to catch up. I had missed too much and had too little time left, so I appealed for a past-deadline course drop.

I now find myself in a similar situation with MATH 121. Although I have had no hindrances this semester, and I will have every opportunity to succeed going forward, MATH 121 is a full year course. My first semester grade was somewhere in the 20s. I had planned to perform extraordinarily well this semester and surmount that deficit. That is why I did not drop the course before the deadline. I can see now that I will not have the grades required to pass because of that first semester.

I would very much appreciate the opportunity to drop MATH 121 for now, and start fresh next fall when I will be in a great position to succeed.

I will attach documentation provided by Bernie's nurse practitioner who is in charge of her medical care. When Bernie requested this note, nurse Darlene asked for specific dates on which I missed school to take care of Bernie. I provided the dates of the labs that I missed over that time period. Although specific dates seem to be the convention for medical notes, I hope that I was able to explain why this was so much more than missing three days of school, and why that convention does not apply well to a caretaker of someone with depression.

Thank you for considering my appeal.

Sam