Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To the Associate Dean (Studies),
I am appealing to the Faculty's decision to drop CHEM 213 (Fall 2016) due to extenuating circumstances that have lead to difficulties in completing course work on time, and to the fullest of my abilities. In dealing with these circumstances, they have caused emotional distress, anxiety, and a devotion of time taken from my studies in an attempt to remedy the situation explained below.
I am in second year, and this is my first year on main campus as I was studying at the Bader International Study Centre last year. I have found that the transition to second year has been very difficult academically, socially, and emotionally. Since the beginning of the fall term, I have been dealing with a combination of personal issues with my only two friends who also go to Queen's. I have had to devote a lot of time and support over the past year and a half to my first friend who has been dealing with serious physical and mental health problems since childhood. My friend has been committing frequent acts of self harm since september, such as cutting various parts of her body, abusing substances, and just not taking care of herself. These acts of self harm have been unhealthy coping mechanisms that have risen due to past experiences of physical, mental, and sexual abuse. Included in these acts of self harm have been two suicide attempts over our year and a half of university, the second of which took place this semester during the month of October. Over the fall semester I've had to take time out of my academics to visit my friend in hospital due to an acetaminophen overdose, and to spend time with her daily in order to prevent substance abuse, self harm, and any other attempt at taking her own life. I live in the same apartment building as my friend, and she is currently living by her self in her apartment unit due to her roommates being away for most of the semester. It has been difficult to leave my friend alone in an apartment, due to her mental state, and I feel responsible for her safety. My friend has been told by psychiatrists and therapists that she is likely to have bipolar or borderline personality disorder. Supporting someone and constantly being around someone who can at one moment be extremely excited and happy, then the next moment be severely depressed and breaking down is very draining and has affected me emotionally and academically. I have been in a relationship with my other friend for the past two years until this September, and have been dealing with depression, anxiety, and emotional strain since ending my relationship due to a loss of trust and respect. I feel as if these two circumstances in conjunction have taken away much of my drive, interest, and hope for doing well in my academics. This stress has affected me physically as my appetite has substantially decreased, I am constantly low energy, and I do not feel well most days. I fell behind in my courses initially due to personal feelings of confusion, depression, anger, and betrayal towards my past relationship, and it has been a struggle to keep up with my hefty course load due to my friend's current mental state. Most of my time devoted to academics has been to complete required components of my course load such as labs, learning labs, online quizzes and tests, midterms, and studying for the upcoming exams. I haven't been able to attend most lectures in my courses, especially in CHEM 213, due to falling behind and not understanding what is being taught in lecture. This has lead to not completing weekly quizzes, and receiving low lab report marks. After receiving my recent lab marks, I have found that it will be very difficult to complete the course with a passing grade. I really need to lighten my course load so that I can devote enough studying to pass my other courses. I've recently reached out to the Queen's Student Wellness counselling services in order to receive advice on how to properly deal and cope with these circumstances, as well as outline a strategy to ameliorate my own mental, physical, and emotional wellbeing. I will also be organizing a schedule for allocation of time in which I support my friend, myself, and study time for the upcoming exams.
Regardless of wether my appeal is granted or not, my future plan for academic success will include: considering taking a lighter course load second semester, developing boundaries with my friend to ensure I devote enough time to my academics, retaking CHEM 213 in third year, attending workshops on study strategies and time management, and making further appointments to receive support from my personal student wellness counsellor.

Thank you very much for considering my appeal,
Adrian Iles (10193066).