Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Hello, my name is Cameron Howes (10195840) and I am a third-year life sciences student. I would like to submit an academic appeal to drop my Organic chemistry class, CHEM 281. I have suffered through a personal domestic issue in October that has negatively impacted my ability to study and my performance in this class.
Before October 15th, 2018 I was doing well in this class and received 79 on my first test. However, one of my housemates, Carla Namkung, called the police at around 3 am, October 15th. She called them to bring her the Kingston General Hospital to help her with her mental illness which cause her to harm herself. The following night the police were called to our house again, October 16th, 2018 to help with the same problem in which she was attempting to cause harm to herself. The same incident occurred again on October 18th and here parents came Kingston and had an intervention in our house at around 3 am. I was awoken in the middle of the night on all instances and was unable to go to class the next day as I received little sleep. I have recently spoken with Lindsay Winger, the assistant dean of support services and community engagement, who is aware of my situation and of Carla. She says she will validate this situation to you and I will leave her contact information below. After this situation, I sympathized with Carla greatly and tried to give her more chances, but I did not want to stay in my own house. I avoided my house and housemates immediately after this to try and avoid the situation all together hoping that Carla would recover from her mental illness after visiting the hospital. I have never dealt with anyone in a condition like Carlas and I understand it is not that simple. On October 27th, 2018, my housemate Vicki Go said she was leaving and so were the rest of my housemates, then offered me to come but I did not want to have my landlord Varsity Properties take me to tribunal. As I could not afford losing money there and paying rent at another house. Vicki told me she had signed a new lease for November 1st, 2018, and after that I became the only person living with Carla. This gave me more mental stress being the only person in the house with her and I felt completely responsible for her life. I did not want to stay in the house and tried to find a different place to sleep. I then went home the weekend of November 10th and spoke with my family which helped me from feeling responsible for her. I was disrupted by the police three times in the middle of the night in October which impacted my ability to attend class and focus on material necessary for my only November organic chemistry midterm. The severe emotional frustration and my feeling of fear in my own home greatly impacted my performance on my CHEM 281 midterm on November 9th, 2018.
I have found a new house for 2019 and Varsity Properties has agreed to terminate my residency after December given the circumstances. Carla also seems better since I returned to Kingston on Nov 12th 2018 and police have not been to my house all of November. I will be living in a stable and safe environment for next semester and will be able study well without disturbances. However, I plan to take more than a standard course load in the winter semester to help with this semester. Which I will be unable to do if on academic probation and I do not want to suffer permanently from this ordeal. I just want Carla to get the help she needs and for me to move on.






Lindsay Winger: lindsay.winger@queensu.ca
613-533-6000 ext:77590
Lindsay has offered to validate my situation and explain in greater depth for me
The police have refused to release the police reports due to privacy issues, so I was able to speak with Lindsay on November 26th, 2018. If Lindsay's validation does not count as documentation, then I will continue trying to the reports for you.