Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean,

I am appealing to drop the class MUSC 102 (Winter, 2017). I took the MUSC 102 winter exam the morning of Friday April 21, 2017 in which I failed, thus failing the course. The reason for my failure was due to an extenuating circumstances beyond my control that happened the night before my exam.
The evening of April 20th, I was in my residence dorm room studying for the music exam, when I was informed that a very close friend of mine was intoxicated and crying. Naturally I took a break from studying to see if they were alright. When I got to his room the situation was far worse than what I could have imagined. Having known him personally, I knew that he had a history with depression and was diagnosed with PTSD. When I got to him he was extremely intoxicated and continuing to drink. He was on the phone with his friend from home, crying and screaming, as that friend was trying to comfort him through the phone. I immediately removed the alcohol from his hands and put all the alcohol I could find under his bed. He soon forgot about the alcohol but began throwing things around his room in anger and self-harming with pens, forks, and anything he could find. I tried to stop him by taking everything from him and putting it all in a bag. The night proceeded like this for many hours. People would knock on his door, asking about the noise and if he was alright, to which he would not answer. He became very suicidal and talking about horrible things. After other friends noticed his state, they tried to help as well. Campus security and the Dons were both called and they tried to convince him to go to the hospital but he refused. (The Don present has since graduated so could not give a statement, however I have a copy of the incident report). They confiscated the alcohol and left, but all of us, his friends, remained by his side for the rest of the night to make sure he was okay. He got very sick from the alcohol and woke up many times throughout the night with panic attacks. I have helped him through panic attacks before which prepared me for that, but the rest were all things that I had never experienced before. Needless to say, I got no sleep that night as my friends and I sat on his floor all night. (A friend that was present has made a statement to support this incident). In the morning I went to my last exam of first year, music 102. After rushing through the exam, I remember looking around the class and wondering if anyone in the class had tried to commit suicide the night before, for whatever reason. When I left the exam I ran back to my residence, and instead of being happy about completing my first year of university, I was worried about my friend¿¿s life. My mind was clearly not in the right state for writing an exam, I do not wish to retake the exam as it is now associated with horrible memories.
My friend has gone to counselling and gotten a lot of help since the event. This event continued to effect me for weeks after even when I was home for the summer, however I was never able to tell my parents about the event. It remains a very scary and sensitive topic for me however I have come to terms with it and do not believe it will effect my future endeavours.
In the near future I would like to apply for an International Exchange through Queens. I have the minimum average to apply (2.66) however, if this is class is dropped, my average would be raised significantly, especially considering the high marks I have in all my other classes. This class will also effect my future plans as it may be issue if I decide to apply to graduate school. This appeal is very important to me and I thank you for your consideration.

- Aimée Carter 20030319