Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean (Studies),

I am appealing the Faculty¿¿s decision that I must withdraw from Queen¿¿s for a minimum of one year. I respectfully request a late drop for SOCY122, ANAT100, FILM110, and GDNS125 and CR in DEVS100. I realize that this is a significant request and appeal, but this academic year was overwhelmingly impacted by my family circumstance.

On June 25th 2016, my father was arrested for assault on his now ex-girlfriend. Knowing he had no other options, he turned to my mother for support even though they have been divorced for the past nine years and have had a terrible relationship. Posting his bail, my mother was now required to observe him for the next year, in order to insure he didn¿¿t come in contact with his ex-girlfriend (the women that my father had cheated on my mother with) due to a restraining order she had issued against him. He was now obligated to move in with my mother and I, and live in our residence until his trial was over. As you can imagine, this was absolutely devastating. It was so hard for me to admit to myself that my own father was capable of assaulting a woman. Not only was this extremely difficult to comprehend, but I was also terrified. I was terrified to even perish the thought of him being able to assault my mother. I never imagined him being able to do something like this, but clearly I misjudged him my entire life.

Going into first year, I already had a secret life that nobody knew. I had absolutely no support system throughout the year. I could not tell any of my friends what had happened, because frankly I was embarrassed. My father and I already had an awful relationship to begin with and I was so disgusted by what had happened that I refused to speak to him for almost half the year. My mother chose to withhold this information from the rest of my family (who live in Europe), so the only person I could turn to for help was her. I travelled back home to Toronto a few times a month to support my mother during this difficult time, which put a severe strain on my ability to focus on school work. I knew that I was missing classes, but the fear of my father living with my mother (and possibly hurting her) completely took over my life; some days it was hard for me to even get out of bed. I became extremely depressed and anxious, but told myself that I could persevere and be strong for myself and for my parents, therefore didn¿¿t drop any classes. I tried very hard to work and focus, even attending the library with my friends in order to try fulfill my responsibilities as a student, but my depression and the stress of what was going on with my home life made it impossible for me to concentrate. I chose to withhold this information from my mother because she was already stressed enough and I didn¿¿t want to put a bigger strain on her. I didn¿¿t go ask anybody for help at school because I was ashamed of my family and confused about the whole situation. Coming home on the weekends and during the breaks was extremely difficult and a stressful situation for me to handle.