Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Atkinson,

I am requesting that the Faculty of Arts and Science permit a late course drop in 7 courses and an IN extension, if possible, in 1 course so that I may remedy the academic effects of the extreme collapse in my mental health that I experienced from the middle of 2014 onwards.

The extenuating circumstances that inhibited my ability to complete these 8 courses in a satisfactory manner, as denoted in my documentation, consisted of the major depressive disorder and chronic anxiety that I developed at the beginning of the Winter 2014 semester. While I was able to work out informal arrangements with my instructors to complete that semester¿¿s coursework, I misapprehended the nature of what would be a serious and prolonged medical condition instead of a temporary period of emotional difficulty. Since the onset of this condition in January 2014, I have been beset with a variety of symptoms, including a lack of motivation for either professional initiatives or academic work, diminished energy, chronic fatigue, erratic and unhealthy sleeping and nutrition habits, persistent low mood, recurring periods of acute anxiety leading to anxiety attacks, suicidal ideation, and acute social withdrawal. This has led to a severe reduction in my ability to concentrate, read or write academically, think critically, or use any of the array of higher-level brain functions critical to academic success. In effect, I developed a form of academic post-traumatic stress disorder, to the point where activities as simple as picking up books, or encountering any mention of school or careers online was enough to cause a downward emotional spiral.

These factors, in addition to hindering any semblance of academic or social life, also fatally damaged my ability to maintain the everyday abilities needed to complete my coursework. Reading or writing, both in academic and non-academic contexts, became next to impossible, and ancillary skills critical to communicating with my instructors and maintaining the administrative rhythms of student life, such as checking my e-mail and bank accounts, making phone calls, and logging onto SOLUS, became equally difficult due to the panic attacks they would invariably cause.

While the specific effects of this condition varied from course to course, and from semester to semester, in general they resulted in an inability to complete the overwhelming majority of all assignments, no more than a handful of quizzes and tests, and around half of all lectures and seminars. Towards the middle of 2015 academic year I did begin to seek further accommodation from my professors and medical / academic counselling from student services, but the combination of my own denial about the situation and the extent to which my illness had become deeply rooted internally and entwined with other professional and financial stresses made it difficult for me to keep up with any prescriptions or recommendations for academic success and personal rehabilitation in any meaningful fashion.

I left Kingston and Queen¿¿s in the spring of 2016 to return home and seek treatment in a supervised fashion, and I am now in a position where I have greatly improved my mood, reduced anxiety levels to a manageable level, and begun to regain the skills that I had previously lost. As a result, it is only now that I can reasonably complete the appeal process and contemplating returning to finish my degree without risking a critical relapse.

My formal request is to have the following courses, where I was only able to complete a negligible portion of the coursework, dropped:

GPHY 247
GPHY 351
HIST 348
HIST 468
HIST 515
LLCU 101
LLCU 102

I would also like to request an IN grade extension for:

PHIL 493

This was the only course (with the exception of PHIL 276, which I was unexpectedly able to succeed in) from the Fall 2014 semester onwards where I was able to complete enough coursework to earn a passing grade. However, the symptoms that affected my failure to finish the other courses still dominated this one, and I was unable to finish the final essay and received a D+, a grade which reflects my diminished capabilities at the time.

I would therefore like to be given the opportunity to submit this final paper, provided that the necessary prerequisites can be met. When I last spoke to the instructor, Mick Smith, in the summer of 2015, he was very supportive of my hopes to finish the course, although if he has changed his mind in the meantime I will of course defer. I have also kept the course syllabus and my already-marked papers to assist with calculating the final grade if the course records for that year have been destroyed.

If these obstacles cannot be overcome, I would then request that the grade be changed in accordance with Aegrotat status. If this is not possible, then Credit status would be the next best option. I should also say that since my recovery is ongoing, I would like the ability to change my first preference from IN to Aegrotat during the summer should I find the work more emotionally taxing than anticipated.

Should my appeal be granted, I require 18 credits in HIST to obtain my major, having already obtained the requirements for my PHIL minor and necessary electives. I feel that with appropriate and frequent consultations with necessary professionals from the Learning Commons for brushing up on academic skills, the Student Wellness Centre for any necessary health and wellness accommodations, the Student Academic Success Centre for honing time management skills, these 18 credits would constitute a realistic floor from which to attend school on a full-time basis.
I am hoping that with this appeal, I can make up for the lost two years of my time at Queen¿¿s, eventually get those courses unreasonably impacted by my health issues removed or otherwise amended, and return to obtain my degree.

Thank you for consideration in this matter,

Ben