Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To the Associate Dean (Studies),

My name is Keely Krall and I am a Third year student at Queens University registered in the Arts and Science department, majoring in Film and Media. I am appealing the Faculty's decision to drop FILM 240 and FILM 300 without academic penalty. I am currently registered in these courses for the Fall term of 2014 and wish to remove all courses from this term. I am appealing these two courses, as I was able to drop FILM355 and FILM 302 before the academic deadline.

Extenuating circumstances, beyond my control have inhibited my performance in both the Fall term of 2014. Beginning in February, I had become depressed and sought advice from numerous doctors and health practitioners. Extreme anxiety and depression affected my completion of schoolwork as I had become obsessed with my health and neglected to focus on academics. I had taken myself to the emergency room after assignments had built up and caused extreme physical illness from stress. In April 2014, I was diagnosed with Major Depression. From April until this date I have sought advice and treatment from doctors, psychiatry, and counseling. Unfortunately my recovery halted and severely worsened starting on October 6th 2014. Medication and counseling had failed at this time. Due to the aggressive nature and physical symptoms of my illness I was unable to attend class. With the inability to eat, a lack of nutrients worsened my ability to focus and do any readings or assignments. As the workload increased after the midterm period, I struggled to finish any assignment and failed to complete the large essay in FILM 300 and major assignment in FILM 240, which are pivotal of your final grade. The inability to focus and memory loss had affected my ability to carry out these assignments in a timely manner. During this period I sought advice from my mother and from other students affected by depression on how to manage schoolwork. I also took time off from my part time job to focus on recovering from this health issue. The extreme anxiety from a heavy workload only increased and resulted in social anxiety. I had begun to fear any sort of interaction with other people, inhibiting me from contacting my professors. The shame and embarrassment that my illness provided me with, led to the fear of explaining the circumstances to my professors and peers. This only furthered my lack of attendance. From October 27th until November 3rd, I had become so severely ill that I did not leave my home and failed to preform any normal function of hygiene, nutrition, and daily tasks. During this time I neglected schoolwork and any social experiences, as I was primarily concerned with my emotions. As a result, all of my courses had become affected by the neglect for contacting professors, assignment completion, and attendance due to my health. After this period I sough advice from a counselor during an emergency appointment and asked for advisement on how resolve the problems created. I had decided that I would like to appeal these courses and sought out an academic advisor.

In order to recover from this mental illness and academic failure I will be moving back home into the support of my family. There I will receive outgoing patient care to treat my illness. I intend to use a variety of methods to restart my function in society by taking small steps to handle stress and emotions. I also intend to volunteer in my community to help gain a sense of self worth. This recovery period will last over the winter term and I will begin to reintegrate studies into my life by taking a single course in the summer term. This will ensure I stay focused while being able to revaluate and utilize newly learned methods for academic success. This course will be completed under the supervision of counselors and health professionals while living at home. I will them start the Fall term of 2015 as a part time student and continue treatment using Queens medical services. My previous degree program of a Film and Media major will remain unchanged. My future academic goal is to be engaged in course material and consciously striving for the highest marks possible. I hope that in Fall 2015 I will obtain a much higher GPA than I do today. I will also submerse myself in helping the student body in the form of clubs and societies. These future plans of recovery will support future goals, as I will have time to take a break from academic stress.

Thank you for taking the time to read this appeal.

Sincerely,

Keely Krall