Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: August 4th, 2016

Dear Dr. Bénard,

I am requesting permission to drop PSYCH 100 (2015/2016) due to extenuating circumstances involving a drastic decline in my mental health during the latter portion of the 2016 Winter Term.

My illness became active during late February, and persisted all the way to late June. In an attempt to reverse the course of my situation, I scheduled an appointment with my psychiatrist on the 24th of February in order to discuss coping strategies and revising my medication. Despite altering my medication and seeking support through psychotherapy sessions, my condition continued to worsen until it became clear that my state was such that I could not finish the Winter Term. I have attached the letter from my psychiatrist, Dr. McCullough, attesting to my illness.

The impact of my mental health upon my academic potential and performance during the 2015/2016 school year was profound and long lasting. For the duration of the periods during which I was unwell, I found myself operating with a severe cognitive deficit, which negatively impacted my performance in all areas. Specifically, my illness rendered me unable to process and absorb written or spoken language at a level that would permit me to function in an academic environment. Similarly, my ability to write coherently was vastly diminished during these times, to the extent that I was forced to rely heavily on my parents to even compose the necessary emails to alert my instructors regarding my predicament. In all of my courses, and in particular PSYCH 100, there was a great deal of reading and memorization required to complete the coursework. Due to my worsening cognitive deficits, completion of the course material was made impossible.

In addition to PSYCH 100, I was enrolled in ENG 100, PHIL 115, POLS 110 and HIST 121. While I was struggling somewhat in PSYCH 100 prior to the decline of my mental health, I remained confident that I would be able to improve my final grade for the course. As my condition continued to worsen, I found that my mental state barred me from completing the necessary studying and projects to pass my courses, at which point I began to seek accommodations from my instructors, including the instructor of PSYCH 100. While my initial plan was to write deferred exams for four of my courses (ENG 100, POLS 110, HIST 121 and PSYCH 100), the fact that my recovery took longer than expected has caused me to alter my conception of what is academically feasible. My current plan is to appeal for a Late Drop of PSYCH 100, and to ask for Aegrotat Standing in ENG 100. This would allow me to focus purely on my deferred exams for HIST 121 and PHIL 115, increasing my chances of success in both courses. My decision to focus upon these courses reflects both my intended path in academics, as well my realization that attempting to write the exam for PSYCH 100 will stretch my time too thin.

Should my request be granted, there are a variety of measures of which I intend to implement in order to ensure that my academic performance is not jeopardized during this coming year. First, I will make arrangements with accessibility services (with whom I have accommodations) in order to ensure that the exam season is made somewhat more manageable for me. I intend to seek accommodations for exams, as well as help regarding time management. In addition, I intend to make use of readily available support structures within Queens, such as the writing center, so as to improve my grades and diminish unhealthy levels of stress. Finally, I will remain in close contact with my psychiatrist throughout the year so that should any episodes of mental illness come to pass, they will be addressed and managed more quickly, thereby minimizing the disruption to my coursework. Currently, I am taking medication which has been yielding positive results and is allowing me to function at a higher level than what was previously possible. This development gives me the confidence that I will be able to succeed academically over this coming year, and should I experience any future episodes of mental illness, they will be less severe than what transpired this past term.

I thank you for your consideration of this appeal. I am confident that should this appeal be granted, the measures that I have described above will allow me to succeed academically in the coming year.

Sincerely,

Ethan Dignam