Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Thank you for the consideration and opportunity to apply for an academic appeal.

Two weeks prior to the COVID-19 lockdown at Queen's I began dealing with domestic problems in my residence. These problems were typified when I started receiving acts of harassment against me. I reported these events to my don and they were passed to residence life. I was interviewed by residence life and we worked out a plan to resolve these problems. Although the problems have ended I did not feel safe in residence or on campus and thus returned to my parent's home. The following week was the last week of in-person classes, and during this time I was unable to attend any classes. Once the lockdown started I began having intense anxiety and a major depressive episode that has only resolved recently. I tried multiple times to book appointments to on-campus mental health support, but I was unable to as they were always full whenever I called in. During the final weeks of classes, I was unable to get psychological help, because all the resources on campus were closed. Recently, I have registered with a counseling company that is supported through my parent's insurance so I have a support system if I go through an episode like this one again.

My mental state made it very difficult to gather motivation and to pay attention to anything, therefore I focused on the assignments that I had been assigned before the lockdown. I was barely able to complete those assignments and most of them I was graded much lower than I usually am. Aside from the major assignments for many cases I was unable to complete the makeup work that compensates for the in-person exams. This caused my mark to drop most considerably in Sociology 122 where I was not able to complete 10 of the final grade and English 100 where I was unable to complete 25. In sociology, my grade dropped from 74 to 61, and in English 77 to 58. Along with the uncomplete work I did very poorly on the final research paper in sociology in comparison with my other assignments. My grade in sociology stands at a c- which prohibits me from being accepted to the sociology major plan (the plan that I am interested in).

I have contacted Dr. Singh and explained that I have been struggling recently, but he was unable to change my grade on my final paper with the work I had provided.

I have never missed a tutorial without extenuating circumstances and throughout the year. I believe that my performance and ability to complete assignments in the last few weeks of classes does not reflect my ability and effort throughout the year. I am happy to give more detail or to answer any questions you may have. It means a great deal to me that I am able to apply for this appeal, thank you for your attention.