Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To the Associate Dean (Studies),

I am appealing for the Faculty's decision that I must drop the course Gender and Modernism (ARTH311) for the 2017 Fall term. This is because my Queen's roommate and best friend, Leah Battista, passed away suddenly on November 4th, 2017. A week prior, she experienced difficulty breathing and moving and her roommates woke up in the middle of the night to find her in excruciating pain. She fell into cardiac arrest for 30 minutes with the paramedics due to what they believed to be a blood clot in her lungs, and this in turn resulted in extensive and deadly brain damage. Her roommates were with her for the entirety of the week she was in the Intensive Care Unit, taking care of her family and watching over her as she fought for her life. Because of this, I did not attend my classes for that week and I missed the initial course-drop deadline. This has directly impacted my academics, as I cannot seem to focus on schoolwork and my assignments after this deeply heartbreaking and traumatic situation. I hope to drop this course in an effort to lighten my course load, so I can focus more on doing well in some courses rather than poorly in many. I have been meeting with the Queen's chaplain to get through the grieving process and I have appointments with Queen's counsellors booked in the near future, however I feel like a lighter course load would be beneficial in me find a new normal.

This decision has also prompted me to take a fifth year of undergraduate studies, where I will have the opportunity to make up for the courses I have dropped and to receive my degree. This will also allow me to take a lighter course load next year, which I believe will prove to be beneficial.

Thank you,

Henna Mohan