Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Arts and Science Faculty Office
94 University Avenue, Floor 1
Queen's University
Kingston, Ontario

Dear Associate Dean,

I am writing to request your consideration in allowing myself to request both CR standing and DR standing for courses undertaken during my academic career here at Queen's University. Unfortunately, with respect to my personal history, I have struggled considerably over the course of my studies, faced with an evolving set of new challenges year over year. Please see below a listing of the courses I requested for consideration. The appeal covers four years due to my belief that I have finally developed habits and strategies in an effort to cope with my existing and evolving problems, skills absent until now. Since my first year I had planned to submit an appeal, and yet each semester, a new evolving and consuming issue presented. Without resolve, the guidance I received from the Queen's ombudsmen and healthcare team was not to rush with an appeal, but to improve my situation such that successive appeals would not be necessary. With at least one more year of undergraduate classes at Queen's, I believe I have the team, support and skills, to be on the right-footing moving forward. However, the knowledge of my transcript, one not reflective of my abilities or circumstances, has continued to weigh heavily on me, and my plans and aspirations for the future. Thus I would like to ask you to consider my circumstances in light of my request, listed here:


First Year: Why: MATH 121 Why not others in 2012 Fall and 2013 Winter

My first year at Queen's in the general sciences program was characteristically challenging, a period of transition towards independent living among new faces combined with a different mode of instruction. However, these typical first year difficulties were compounded with the existence of undiagnosed and untreated major depression disorder, general anxiety disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. In between sporadically attending classes, there was crying, loneliness, days of sleeping, suicidal ideation, and confusion. While these issues predated my arrival, this time was marked by a substantial increase in their associated morbidity. In retrospect, I am deeply indebted to my residence floor don and a caring roommate, who astutely pointed out that something was wrong and that I needed help. With their encouragement, I visited a counsellor at LaSalle only to realize an awful experience, one where I was accused of having an eating disorder. Instead of sharing the secrets I had held internalized for years, I became more closed. After more prompting, I returned to LaSalle with optimism that things would be different, only once again to experience a negative interaction. As the first counsellor I had ever seen had left Queen's, I was faced with sharing things I had never told anyone to another stranger in the span of 45 minutes. Unfortunately, once again it was far from positive. I was told that ADHD was not real upon my inquiry, and after an unproductive back and forth argument, I left humiliated and helpless. You see, prior to this my only interaction within mental healthcare was a visit to a child psychiatrist with my mother. It was the first and last time I saw that doctor. After openly sharing the depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation under the impression that this would yield help, the drive home was instead marked with my mother screaming and intermittent requests to stop lying and never talk about those things again. Thus when I later went to the Disability Office requesting screening for ADHD, I was shocked to hear that it was inaccessible precluding a two-thousand dollar payment. Ineligible for OHIP coverage, paired with a complete refusal of parental financial support, left me trapped in a position knowing something was wrong, yet unable to find help within a community that prides itself on its mental health support. In addition to the mental health issues, a severe gastrointestinal illness left me in the hospital hooked up to IVs instead of in the library studying for my full-year course exams Appendix A.

The spread in marks within my first year course load can be attributed to the different modes of learning required to succeed, such as excellence in abstract problem solving and complex logical reasoning with respect to MATH 121. Without my current medication and cognitive therapy sessions, doctors, psychologists and experience through trial, focus and concentration in both the classroom and library was mostly absent. The courses in which I did well in were rooted in memorization lacking abstract reasoning allowing for an element of luck through the solely multiple choice based exams. While I did quite poorly in the majority of my courses due to the issues outlined above, my performance in MATH 121B was particularly unrepresentative of my abilities, a result of the added impact of the acute intestinal illness days prior to the examination.


Second Year: Why: CHEM 281, PHGY 214 and STAT 263 Why not others in 2013 Fall and 2014 Winter

My second year at Queen's was largely similar to the first. Entering the life science program was a mixed reward, lucky, as I was below the GPA cut-off to a formerly small and exclusive program - but this extension only allowed for me to stumble amongst my unresolved and evolving issues. It was marked by an initial multi-hour ADHD screening at the Regional Assessment and Resource Centre at Queen's, paid by myself, to determine if I would require the full assessment. While it determined that I most likely had ADHD, a diagnosis would not be provided without payment of the full fee, and I continued without proper help Appendix B. My anxiety and depression continued in spite of varying pharmacological regimens, and each one brought a new set of side effects that further complicated my ability to succeed academically Appendix C. While unhappy at Queen's, struggling with school, lacking a true social network; the same was true at home, when I experienced a temporary estrangement from my parents.

The spread in courses can be once again due to the difference in learning and evaluatory modes and the corresponding circumstances required for success. General Organic Chemistry and Mammalian Physiology, known to be hardest courses within the life sciences curriculum: complex, abstract and requiring consistent dedication and studying. Statistics too was a challenge, and faced with a 90-weighted final examination, my anxiety and a particularly troubling week cycling between new medications resulted in a panic attack during the exam, and a resulting awful performance. The wonderful professor, was instrumental in providing crisis intervention, preventing self-harm. He had stated his support for a credit standing in subsequent emails Appendix D. The other courses, while I did not excel in, where not ridden with failure due to a combination of their memorization and multiple choice format, and their first year standing. The temporal aspect of my circumstances resulted in a varied performance, resulting in the observed detriment simply due to their unfortunate timing.


Third Year: Why: ECON 212, ECON 222, ECON 231, ECON 255, and ANAT 100 Why not others in 2014 Fall and 2015 Winter

The fall of 2015 marked the development of some serious health issues that while continuing to present day, have since been managed better. A sudden 25lbs weight loss, the development of bowel and urinary symptoms, irregular lymphadenopathy and the discovery of a pathology on the thyroid were the few of the unusual changes I experienced Appendix C, Appendix E. My family doctor dismissed these changes as borne by anxiety. Ironically, the member of my family that I was closest with, my grandmother, had died of an aggressive thyroid cancer after metastasizing to her brain, after her concerns were similarly dismissed as stress and anxiety. Once again I was alone, without the support of my family to navigate the complexities of the healthcare system while juggling school under the label of an anxious young student being investigated for varying rare malignancies. Not only were the appointments, consults and procedures time-consuming and inconvenient, the travel expenses between Toronto and Kingston quickly became an additional concern, trying to balance necessity with cost currently I have 23 medical doctors Appendix F. The thought of cancer, in addition to the stress of school, all while struggling with an existing severe general anxiety disorder made things difficult. This year was also marked my extremely emotional experiences as I came to discover and learn to accept my sexuality in spite fear of disownment by my family and friends.

The spread in marks can be largely attributed the format of instruction and evaluation as well as the timing of the extenuating circumstances I was immersed in. For example, the appointments and morbidities made ECON 231 a struggle, so much so that I was never able to complete the final term-paper. Microeconomics (ECON 212), macroeconomics (ECON 222) and mathematical economics (ECON 255) were complex and abstract, and the sheer repeating absences in class due to medical conflicts made complete comprehension of the material impossible. For example, due to an administrative mistake at LaSalle, I wrote my midterm for ECON 255 a few hours after undergoing a surgical biopsy, still partially under anesthetic, and certainly with a great deal of anxiety unrelated to the course. Alternatively, LISC 391 was a lab course consisting of multiple noncumulative group assignments. Due to extensive participation at the start of the course before my circumstances deteriorated, my group was able to support me later on in the course. Tax policy (ECON 240) was a narrative short-answer type course, and pharmacology and therapeutics (PHAR 270) was purely memorization based, and online, allowing me the flexibility to learn the second year material easily, on my own schedule. With respect to the summer, I succeeded in one course at the neglect of another. With my interest in health and economics, I did fairly well in ECON 243 but struggled with ANAT 100. With medical procedures, a course of side-effect laden treatment and periods of worse health, I missed the two major group project assignments for the course. When my instructors informed me that there would not be offered alternate assignments, I experienced great difficulty in continuing to devote my limited time to the course and did not pass Appendix G.


Fourth Year: Why: CHEM 281, EPID 301, and ECON 310 Why not others in 2015 Fall and 2016 Winter

Unfortunately, the semester started off once again contrary to plan, with a sexual assault resulting in a month of debilitating prophylactic treatment. It largely continued that way, with more medical procedures, appointments and new prescriptions, especially worsening later on in the academic year Appendix H. Part of the disruption was due to the poor timing, such as a MRI scheduled before an exam a series of weekly appointments causing continued disruption to my pre-arranged schedule, notably for CHEM 281 and ECON 310 or the suspected pulmonary embolism and corresponding chest pains experienced at the writing of my ECON 222 final 50 weighted final Appendix I. With respect to EPID 301, while missing several seminar reflection submissions due to absences hurt my marks, my final exam performance did not help. Yet this was due to the existence of existing severe anxiety, provoked by not only the stress of the course work, but the discovery of a new brain lesion, one with an incidence rate of 0.6 per 1 million cases, the week of my exams.

On the other hand, increased self-care, regularly attendance with mental health practitioners, and a reduced course allowed me to demonstrate my academic abilities. In economic history (ECON 331) a course extension and mentorship allowed me to submit a good term paper. A second attempt at statistics (STAT 263) along with a tutor and group studying throughout the term resulted in an adequate mark in lieu of a poor final exam performance. The same was true with ECON 262 and MICR 270, fairly non-demanding courses, taught in a narrative fashion and rooted in memorization.


Moving Forward:

The past four years have been marked with a remarkable set of challenging and unexpected events resulting in a significant detraction from academic success. However, I believe that my personal extenuating circumstances have presented me with valuable lessons, from which I can use to demonstrate my academic capabilities in the coming year. In an effort to avoid another appeal submission in the future, I have and will continue to take proactive measures to ensure my studies remain uninterrupted. This includes a new family physician who is willing to coordinate continuing medical care in a way that respects my academic commitments, through scheduling and communicating with my broader healthcare team, and focusing on minimizing the side effects of various treatments. A reduced course load, of three courses in the Fall and four in the Winter will allow me to maintain focus on my studies, preventing poor performance. Continued psychotherapy sessions at LaSalle with Drs. Lacoursiere and Khanna, better relationships with course instructors, and adequate self-care will allow me to demonstrate my success in academics.