Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Thursday, May 11, 2017

Dear Doctor Bénard,

I am writing to appeal two course results on my transcript. I have been granted the opportunity to appeal after the normal deadline for such requests. I am hoping to drop Math 280, taken in Fall 2013, from my record, and to change Hist 211, taken in Winter 2015, to a credit standing.
I have for many years been suffering from a severe mental illness, which worsened severely when I got to Queen¿¿s. However, in 2013 and 2015 I had not yet recognized it or begun treatment for it. This mental illness both affected my performance in those two courses and prevented me from accessing the procedures necessary to appeal them before the deadline. Clinical depression is known to impact one¿¿s memory, which severely impacted my schoolwork in the case of Math 280, and one¿¿s executive functioning, which both prevented me from turning in the final paper in Hist 211 and prevented me from pursuing an appeal to change these grades earlier.
However, in the past two years I have sought help and my mental health has significantly improved. Failing Math 280 was the last nail in the coffin that convinced me to change my program from Physics to History. When, as demonstrated by my issues in Hist 211, my mental health did not improve sufficiently from that action alone, I began getting help from a Queen¿¿s counselor, Dr. Arunima Khanna. I also began medication for my condition in Fall 2016. As a result of both of these measures, my mental health and my grades have improved. Also as a result of this, I now have the executive functioning and general wherewithal to pursue the appeals process to get those course results modified. These two marks do not reflect my academic ability but rather the past severity of my mental illness, and so I hope you will approve my appeal to have them changed.

Thank you for your consideration,
Kathryn C. Stirling