Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom it may concern;

I am writing this appeal in hopes of dropping the fall term courses Chem 281 and Biol 102¿from my transcript due to extenuating circumstances.¿

Late last year, I submitted an appeal asking for a new beginning at Queen¿¿s University after being diagnosed with Clinical Depression as well as Adjustment Disorder. I¿stated that I would do everything in my power to be and feel the best that I can. In doing so, I attended cognitive behavioural therapy over the summer. I also enrolled in six courses, all of which that i knew i¿¿d be able to succeed in. I have been trying to keep my word throughout this semester; however, I have recently been experiencing the symptoms of a relapse due to challenging family circumstances, a relapse, and a lack of support from the faculty at Queens. When I reached out to my professor in order to get the academic support that I needed to help me improve, my professor responded in an unprofessional manner and it upset me greatly. My professor¿¿s negative reaction coupled with my family¿¿s situation led to feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness, and contributed significantly to worsening my depression and anxiety. I have tried to push this behind me so that I can achieve the goals that I have set for myself this academic year. No matter how much I have tried to push all these personal circumstances aside to focus on my academics, I am still experiencing a relapse into depression. Experiencing this has really frightened me because I never want to feel as I did last year. At the beginning of this year, I felt as if I had a fresh beginning,¿but the more that I was aware of what my family was going through, the more depressed I became. This affected my academic performance significantly. I have been in contact with a variety of counsellors at Student Wellness Services as well as the Health Department to expand my range of counselling and to strive towards overcoming what I am going through. I have come to a solution with the help of my counsellor that in order for me to take care of myself as I previously stated in my last appeal, I need to take time away over the winter term in order to work through overcoming my anxiety, depression, and family problems. We also discussed how taking a step back would benefit me greatly as it will allow me to be with my loved ones instead of going through the stress of my relapse while trying to manage the overwhelming stress of exams.¿

Thank you for taking the time to read my appeal. I really hope to be doing better after taking some time off during this winter semester, in order to come back healthier, stronger, and able to achieve my academic goals. Attached you will find a doctor¿¿s note of my diagnoses from this summer, and supporting documents from the Student Wellness Services has been sent to the Faculty office.
Sincerely,
Dareen Malkawi