Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To Associate Dean (Studies)

I am sending you this letter of appeal to ask that you reconsider your request for me to withdraw from Queen's for one year because of my academic performance. I am also appealing to drop the following courses after the deadline. These courses are:
FILM240, LAW201, HIST201, POLS262, HIST250A/B, RELS212.
I am also requesting a Credit Standing in HIST245.

Please read the reasons below as to why I am making the above requests. Please know that the past six months have been difficult for me. I started to feel depressed in November 2015 and am only now beginning to feel better. My academic difficulties actually go back to my first year at Queen's when I was living in Victoria Hall. I struggled to adapt to the academic lifestyle that university offers and by the end of first year I strongly believe that I lacked the skills that I should have developed over that year. I believe a lot of my issues were caused by my roommate who did not take university seriously and impeded my academic studies. He did not return to Queen's for second year. To start there was a mix-up with my request to share a double room with a friend from home. My mother and I tried to correct this in the summer but was told this was not possible and to wait until everything had settled down in the first month. Unfortunately this ended up being a much bigger problem for me than I thought possible. I was placed with a roommate that proved to be incompatible with myself. This roommate would drink and smoke drugs in my room throughout the first semester and very heavily during exams period. He would come in at 3 or 4 in the morning and disturb my sleep and then proceed to sleep right through until 4 or 5 in the afternoon and expect me to keep all the lights off in the room. I asked him to stop but he wouldn't. I approached my Don at the time and we both had a discussion with my roommate but very little was done and my roommate did not change. I fully understand that there were other areas that I could go to study but due to my struggle with adapting to university life, I felt my room was the place that I should truly should feel safe and therefore the place where I wanted to study. My parents and myself tried to find an alternate room for me to move into, however this proved to be difficult. Unfortunately I was only able to move into a private room in mid February of 2015. By that time I was struggling to keep up with my course load and all the work that I had fallen behind on because of my issues with my roommate. I realize I should have sought academic assistance at that time with an academic adviser but being a first year student I struggled to find the help I needed.

After a difficult first year I decided to myself that I would make a fresh start in second year and that it would be much better than first year. Unfortunately my inability to form proper relationships with people that I should have met during my first year at Queen's carried over to my second year. I believe this was due to the anxiety I now know I have which made it hard for me to adapt away from home where I had lots of friends and people I trusted. In November of 2015, I began to start feeling lonely and sad. I felt like I could not find something, and that I was missing something, whether that be a partner or a hobby and that school work seemed meaningless. I thought that I could work through the issue by myself but I failed to truly accurately understand the magnitude of the issue that I had been hiding over the year and a half before. I began to feel even more depressed because I was struggling to deal with my academic future as well as thinking too much about all of the negative events that have been happening in the world. I hid this issue of dissatisfaction and lack of ability to concentrate on my academic courses from my parents because I did not want to bother them with my problems. This feeling occurred over the winter break of 2015/2016 where I assured myself that I would be able to deal with the issues that I had created for myself on my own. This was clearly not the case because second semester was a lot worse. I attribute this to the ever increasing mental fatigue that I was putting on myself by avoiding work and not going outside to face my issues and also to get some help. I understand now that I was severely depressed and this culminated in mid March where I didn't leave my house for a week and felt hopeless and lonely and slept for 16 hours a day.

When I came home I was clearly depressed and was not even willing to talk or see my friends. I was distant with everyone and the mental issues that I mentioned above became more obvious. I finally told my parents how I was feeling shortly after they discovered the academic horror that I had inflicted upon myself. I discussed with them the academic issues that I had been struggling with and the problems that I had been hiding. My mom immediately took me to see the doctor where I was diagnosed with severe depression. I was given a doctor's note to send to Queen's, put on medication and a meeting was arranged for me to see a counselor. I am now trying to love myself more and am doing other steps such as eating healthier, finding new hobbies and going out more often with my friends.

Sending this appeal is more about giving me the option to decide if I am ready to go back to Queen's in September rather than having that door closed for a year. I would only consider going back to study at Queen's in the Autumn if I am feeling better and am ready to deal with all of the issues I have been experiencing over the past year and a half. I want to make sure that the steps I am taking to help myself are in place and are working.