Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: August 21, 2014


Dear Associate Dean of Studies,

I am writing to request that you waive the 21 day appeal deadline and also that you allow me to drop PSYC 271 after the deadline date, due to significant extenuating circumstances.

I registered for PSYC 271 in January, 2013 for the winter session. Unfortunately I¿¿ve run into many obstacles to success that have seriously hampered my ability to complete the course. Anxiety, depression and migraine headaches are issues I¿¿ve struggled with on and off for many years. I have always been registered with the disability services office because of these issues. I have also received counselling on occasion through Queen¿¿s counselling services due to a sexual abuse case that I have been dealing with for the past 9 years. The case was finally resolved toward the end of March, 2014. Overall, I have successfully completed my courses within the regular timeframe. However, on a few occasions, it has been necessary to defer an exam over the course of my 12 years in part-time studies.

In March, 2014, I had already successfully completed all of the course work for PSYC 271. I had only the final exam to complete when the court case was being settled and I began to have significant muscular, memory and focus issues, which made planning/executing plans exceedingly difficult. Sadly this has touched many aspects of my life including forgetting to pick my daughter up from school twice and even forgetting to pay the bill at a restaurant before leaving (I returned later to pay of course). Remembering what needs to be done moment to moment, ¿finding the words¿ and even preparing this appeal to drop after the deadline have been very challenging in recent months. I have seen my doctor and have had concerns about Parkinson¿¿s disease being the culprit, but I am still hopeful that it may be related to hormonal changes due to perimenopause. I did however forget the details of the deferred exam instructions from my professor and I missed the exam scheduling notification email, resulting in me missing the deferred exam completely. I have been having difficulty adjusting to this ¿¿condition¿. I have simply never been confused like this before during my lengthy period of studies and I was honestly quite shocked when I discovered that I had mis-remembered the instruction email and missed the exam.

In summary: With the sexual abuse case finally settling, I was consumed by anxiety. I had had to defer this exam a couple of times over a year period due to the final stage of this 9 year legal ordeal and had expected it to resolve months sooner. It was during this final stage that my memory and focus became issues of concern. After missing two appointments with my doctor due to my memory issues, I was able to see him to discuss my memory and focus/concentration problems. I am forwarding letters from both my doctor and my lawyer that I trust will serve to support my appeal. I am hopeful that you will grant my appeals to both waive the 21 day appeal deadline, and allow me to drop PSYC 271 after the deadline, so that my otherwise good academic progress isn¿¿t affected by this difficult period in my life.

Thank you.

Yours very truly,

Laurel Rafter