Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean (of Studies):
I am submitting this letter in request of having the COMM200, COMM221, ECON243 and STAT263 grades dropped from my transcript due to extenuating circumstances.
These ongoing circumstances of my major depressive disorder have been occurring cyclically, with the brunt occurring during the winter and when I am with my family (due to personal relationship issues), the circumstance that was the reason for this appeal. During the summer, due to increased pressure from my parents, I was forced to go home to stay with my family, aggravating family issues and tension, causing a deterioration in my depression. Due to these issues, I was unable to make the make-up exams in Kingston. Until that point, I had been recovering, being a full-time student, living on the Queen¿¿s Campus, and my Winter Term 2018 grades prove that. The aggravation of my family issues and tensions cause a unstoppable deterioration in my depression symptoms, specifically missing class (online modules, assignments, lectures, and projects of my COMM200 and COMM221 classes, leading me to fail them due to incomplete work. In an attempt to make up the missed work, I reached out to my professors in the late summer, near to the end-date of the courses, but due to my continually depression decline, I was unable to meet the deadlines. When I had improved, upon my arrival at Queen¿¿s, which was on part of taking my medications, normalizing my school schedule, visiting my mental health counselors, I reached out to my professors again, to explain and ask for a second chance to complete my work, with my documentation and support from my medical professionals in hand. However, after much communication with both professors, they would not allow me a chance to finish the course work, and complete the course, submitting a failed grade. I understand their reasoning, but I hope that you can understand mine; I have been hard at work to fix my GPA at Queen¿¿s, and believe that even with the grades I have worked hard towards this year, I will still be below the 1.60 GPA minimum come May¿¿s re-evaluation. I understand if the STAT263 and ECON243 will not be allowed to be dropped from my transcript, but I ask for a compromise if possible, I put in an incredible amount of effort towards saving all of the grades.
I have been in constant communication with my counselor, Arunima Khanna, at Queen¿¿s Student Wellness Services, and she supports my application to you, in addition to Dr. Ritsma at Queen¿¿s Student Wellness Services. I have given them both permission to share details of my medical history as it pertains to this application, as they both would like to share their input as it would strengthen and give confirmation to my application and reasoning.

Sincerely yours,

Sonya Patel
20017297
15sp90@queensu.ca