Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: From: Mackenzie Stevenson
Student Faculty of Arts and Science Queen¿¿s University
99 University Avenue Kingston Ontario K7L 3N6

April 23, 2018

To: Dr. Jill Atkinson
Associate Dean (Studies) Queen¿¿s University
94 University Ave Kingston Ontario K7L 3N6

To Whom It May Concern:

Please consider this letter an appeal to drop and be refunded for the following courses: CLST 201, SOCY 389, LAW 201, LAW 203 from the Winter 2018 semester.
Beginning on January 24th, 2018, I experienced severe mental health problems that prevented me from being able to meet the requirements or attend my courses. I began the semester with five courses and part-time employment with the University Club. This was not an abnormal commitment level for me, as I have previously been a part of the Varsity Rowing Team as well as other extra-curricular activities. Beginning January 24th, I became unable to attend classes or work. I did not make it to any class or shift for the rest of the semester excluding a test for CLST 129 for which I performed visibly poorer on than the rest of the assessments for that course. As two of my courses were online, I managed to keep up with major assessments until reading week, at which point my mental health deteriorated to a point where I was no longer capable of completing online tasks either. I attempted to drop the above listed courses after speaking with a counsellor during Week 8 of the semester, however when I logged into SOLUS, I learned that I had missed the deadline to drop the courses. I regularly attended medical appointments with Doctors Lindsay Ritsma and Sandra Welihinda of Student Health Services, as well as counselling appointments with Julia Armstrong of Student Wellness Services, and Shelley McAlister of Morneau Sheppell. During one of my medical appointments I was prescribed an SSRI, which unfortunately caused me to experience a side effect of deficiency in my ability to focus. Attending these appointments were the only commitments I could fill prior to April 5th, 2018. Removing my participation from the four courses I wish to drop, allowed me to have enough energy to focus on CLST 129, the course that remained. Thanks to a temporary accommodation given to me by Dr. Welihinda, and the cooperation of my professor, Dr. Fabio Colivicchi, I was able to complete this course and am comfortable with my resulting grade, therefore this appeal does not apply to CLST 129.
I am requesting a refund for these courses as I do not believe that I should be required to pay full tuition for courses of which I was only able to fully participate in the first two weeks. I do not believe that I could meet the learning outcomes of any of these courses and feel as though my knowledge on their content is not any greater than if I had not enrolled in the first place.
I intend to return to Queen¿¿s for another semester upon finishing my fourth year of studies to make up for the credit that I will lose by these courses being dropped. I intend to retake CLST 201, as it is mandatory for my program. The other electives I do not plan to retake, but will make up the 9.0 credits that I will need to graduate. I will be continuing counselling for the foreseeable future as this has seemed to improve my ability to function typically.

Thank you for your consideration,
Mackenzie Stevenson