Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To the Dean of Academics,
I want to apologize for coming to you so late. I am requesting to drop RELS 131 after the Academic Drop Deadline.

I am currently a returning student to Queen's University. Having taken 8 years' time before deciding to return to my studies, I decided to take two Distance Education courses and have had a lot of difficulty maintaining the two, sparking episodes of anxiety, sleeplessness and depression.

I have been dealing with depression and anxiety for eight years. Through counselling and time off school, I have managed to stop taking medication to treat these disorders. However, the episodes can be sever enough that it effectively prevents me from functioning. These symptoms are hard to recognize, and I was unable to acknowledge them until shortly before the Academic Drop Deadline. Unfortunately, I believe I was over-zealous, prideful and a little naive. I was unwilling to admit that my disorder had made me fall too far behind to finish the course.

At this time, I am only requesting to drop RELS 131 and not PSYC 100. My intention is to announce Psychology as my major and so, when I stopped being able to function properly, my priorities shifted to attempting to maintain my mark in PSYC 100 at all costs.

I have been seeing my psychologist, Dr. Sam Klarreich, and will continue to seek counselling as necessary in order to finish my studies at Queen's University. Come Fall Term, II will seek academic advisement and other student services to ensure my studies will not be interrupted again.

I want to thank you for your time and understanding. I hope all is well.

Sincerely,

Michael Wall
5562531
6mw19@queensu.ca