Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To the Associate Dean,

My name is Bushra Afreen (10043196) and I am appealing to request an extension of the incomplete grade in my DEVS 300 course that I had taken in Winter 2016. I have communicated with the course instructor, Professor Villia Jefremovas, throughout the entire semester. She has been extremely supportive as she is very aware of my circumstances and advised me to appeal to the Dean. In short, I suffered from a severe physical illness which exacerbated my depression, along with a terrorist attack in my hometown in Bangladesh that affected everyone around me, including myself. As I was in regular correspondence with Villia, she suggested that I take an extension until April 2017 to complete the final assignment in her course.
My history of depression began while I was on exchange in my third year in Ghana. I was raped twice; once by a classmate and the other time by a very close friend of our program coordinator. I had to meet with medical examiners, lawyers and police and fight for myself in a foreign country as well as complete my studies. In the second semester of my exchange, I struggled with my mental state during extremely harsh physical conditions which ultimately subjected me to hyper dehydration and a tonsil infection. Finally returning from all that with good grades and my head held high cost me my innocence and my happiness. Although I loved Ghana and I have many beloved friends there, I couldn¿¿t forget the incidents that I was continuously fighting from. I was diagnosed with clinical depression before I went into my fourth year.
In my fourth year, I could no longer enjoy things fully, and I had trouble concentrating. In October, right when I seemed to be getting on track with my academic life, a huge infected cyst appeared on my body which brought fevers and other related complications as well as prevented me from sitting upright for almost a month. This forced me to drop two courses less than three weeks before finals. My depression worsened. I felt useless as I was literally unable to do anything, even move. However, through regularly communicating with my professors I was able to finish the rest of my coursework before Christmas. The cyst also healed around that time and I was able to enjoy the holidays for five days before classes for Winter 2016 began.
On January 5th, my second day of class, my best friend rushed me to the emergency. It turned out that I had severe chicken pox. The disease took a huge part away from me. I lost all functionality. I missed more than two weeks of class and suffered from perpetual fatigue, migraine, insomnia, cramps, a sluggish brain, loss of vision, destructive and suicidal depression and a bloated body crawling with ugly scars. I dropped two courses again because classes became difficult to understand and I could barely keep up with readings or remember basic vocabulary and speech. Despite this, I finished and did well on every one of my assignments except one. This was the final project in Villia¿¿s DEVS 300 that I was extremely passionate about. My topic was regarding societal conflict and reconditioning in Bangladesh (where I am from) and I had been wanting to work on this topic ever since I took up DEVS as my Major. Villia granted me accommodations so that my barely functioning brain could keep up but I was crashed. My depression hit an all time low and I struggled to find the courage and energy to keep up with life, to talk to people, to smile or breathe. I had been halfway through completing the assignment when my brain had shut down. Nothing worked. I could not find motivation to do anything and became extremely lifeless. I hated looking at myself, I hated thinking and I hated my writing. I felt that all the other assignments that I had completed were terrible, despite the high marks. I was blocked ¿¿ not by a mere writer¿¿s block ¿¿ but a total block in my brain and heart that prevented me from living like a healthy person.
However, I kept on working. I rewrote entire pages, researched, interviewed, researched some more. This was in June and I was in Bangladesh at the time. I kept going one word at a time. I went to see my counsellor who was shocked to find me so deteriorated. She advised me to see a psychologist who could give me some medication but my mother refused as she believes anti-depressants are bad. I had no energy to argue, and again, no motivation. Throughout this ordeal my physical conditions worsened. The worst thing that happened was several discs prolapsing in my spine, leading to extreme pain in every part of my body. I started physiotherapy sessions because I could barely move without hurting myself. But then the unimaginable happened.
On July 1st, Bangladesh suffered its first mass-scale, hostage-execution style terrorist attack. All of the terrorists were our age, and went to the same high schools in Bangladesh as my friends and studied in a very popular university. We were shocked. I called Villia eight hours after the attack and tried to process the situation. The project for 300 that I had been working on all this while was hugely relevant. But the attack changed the entire context, the entire flavor of Bangladesh, my home. And so the paper needed to be rewritten and approached with more sensitivity. I started looking for people to actually collaborate with me to implement the program I was writing about.
Bangladesh suffered enormously. Restaurants closed down, hundreds of people lost their jobs. Offices were being shut down, universities and schools were closed. For my father, who is a garments manufacturer, it was a disaster. Investors became nervous and tried to back off while the sea ports were closed so all the goods ready to be shipped stayed soaked for days in the monsoon showers. Buyers lost confidence while the workers created havoc. The clothes¿were not produced on time so my father had to ship them by plane, costing him more than¿seven times the manufacturing cost. My father became overburdened with stress to the point where he broke down and could not continue further by himself. I did not think twice after seeing him so broken and hopeless. I joined his company. I entered a field I knew nothing about ¿¿ the RMG sector. I went to meetings with him abroad and never left his side. I learned things about textiles, fashion, design, product development and sourcing, costing, labour issues, etc. At the same time, I am continuing to work on Villia¿¿s paper. But to be honest, it means so much more than a paper now. I believe in this project, and I believe in its capacity to socially rehabilitate and facilitate peace.
Mentally, however, I am fighting a losing battle. I feel like I have aged by thirty years, but with no capacity and no energy. Depression is ruining my relationships and is killing my motivation to try, to live. I am trying my best to deal. My fifth year begins in a few days and I am prepared to seek counselling again. I have a full course load this year, along with the job I have in my father¿¿s company. I am almost finished with Villia¿¿s paper, but I don¿¿t think I can take any more stress. I will complete everything, but I need to go one step at a time. I want to do well and finish my degree with pride, integrity and hard-work. I therefore humbly request you for just a little more time.

Thank you very much,
Bushra Afreen
10043196