Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean (Studies):

I am appealing to drop my courses LATN110 and BIOL102 from the fall 2013 semester, drop my BIOL102 summer course, and change my grades to credit standing for CHEM112 and PHYS117. I am also appealing the request to withdraw from Queen¿¿s University for the 2014-2015 academic year. I believe the extenuating circumstance which caused my low marks in these courses was seasonal affective depression that had been untreated at the time. This was suggested to me by the psychology intern on campus, Erika Hilderley, when I went to get screened for ADHD (which I had assumed was causing my problems studying).

This seasonal depression has been affecting me with greater intensity each year for the past three or four years, but reached its peak this year. It started to negatively impact my studying by the end of October. From there, the depression increased in intensity to a peak around March, at which time most days I could not even leave my bed to get food from the cafeteria. Because of this I could not go to classes, which had a strong negative impact on my studies and grades. I also had difficulty sleeping until very late at night (often 4am or later), which further impacted my ability to study and attend classes.

In order to prevent this seasonal depression from affecting my studies henceforth, I have bought corrective lights to use in the winter, and vitamin D pills to combat my winter deficiency. I am also seeing a psychiatrist soon to explore other options for treatment. Documentation from the campus psychology intern is included to support my appeal, and further documentation will be sent from the psychiatrist when available. If this appeal is accepted, my plan is to try to take BIOL 102/103, CHEM 112, and MATH 121 in the fall and winter semesters. I intend to pursue biochemistry (BCHM) as my Plan for the next four years.

The extenuating circumstance that caused my low grade in the BIOL102 summer course was a lack of consistent internet access for the vast majority of the online course. I only had internet access at my house for the last three weeks of the course, and even for those it was a very inconsistent connection ¿¿ for example, on the day before the exam, there was no internet access to my IP address. This was admitted by the service provider (Cogeco) over the phone. This lack of internet access caused me difficulties in fixing a problem with the MasteringBiology online suite for the course, which in turn prevented me from completing multiple assignments and one lab on time.

Finally, I apologize for the lateness of this appeal. I have been working on overcoming the problems mentioned above since the winter, as well as a summer course and training towards employment. I ask that you consider my appeal so that I may have the chance to perform to my full potential in this coming academic year.

Sincerely,
Alex Kecskemeti
SN 10103024