Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Request
Dear Associate Dean,

I am asking for your consent to withdraw from my GRMN 101 course (Fall 2021, Prof. Christiane Ardnt) on the grounds of severe extenuating circumstances affecting my ability to keep up with my work in a timely manner.

Extenuating Circumstance and Timeline
Before attending Queen??s, I was the victim of child abuse and witnessed domestic violence in my home. My father abused me and my now ex-step mom. This summer I was kicked out of my house and moved in with my ex-step mom. In June we went to the police to file charges against my father for historical abuse. It was only in mid-september that the police told us they were going to open an investigation into my father. A few weeks ago, the police contacted us to communicate that they will be pressing charges against my father and we will have to go to court against him.

Impact on the course I am appealing
The entire affair has impacted my studies, but each time I urged myself to get it together and usually managed to do that. When I heard that my dad would be charged, I nosedived mentally. The past two and half weeks, until just four days ago, I am ashamed to say that I haven??t gotten out of bed. I missed at least a full week of classes, I ate once a day and I ordered food because I couldn??t bring myself to go to the dining hall, I just couldn??t. Essentially, it was the period of shock and emotional bargaining resulting from this legal issue that caused me to fall so detrimentally behind on the major deadlines in this course. I know it may seem counter intuitive, and I should be happy he??s getting charged, but it??s hard to relive everything I??ve gone through, and whenever I hear something about it, I do.

Why I am only appealing one course
Throughout this semester, the main issue I have had is completing my work on time. I??ve struggled in every course, but in my other courses the work was not time sensitive and the professors were very supportive and allowed me to hand in late assignments. The professor of my GRMN 101 course has also been incredibly supportive, but the work in this course was time sensitive (ex. Group projects, periodic assessments) and that work could not be made up although I did contact my professor to ask if it could be. When I learned it couldn??t, I contacted my academic advisor who heard my circumstances and encouraged me to write an appeal for this course. My professor for this course also encouraged me to appeal.

Why didn??t I drop the course at the deadline?
At the week 8 deadline I was not yet informed that charges would be pressed against my father, and I did not know when the investigation would end. I fully intended on completing my coursework, but when I was informed shortly after the deadline I became very unwell mentally and have only recently begun to pull myself together. By the time I was able to focus on work again, the hard deadlines for completing the past assignments in GRMN 101 had passed.

What have I done throughout this semester to try and manage these circumstances?
The most difficult thing about managing these circumstances is the confidentiality I??ve had to maintain. I am still not allowed to discuss this case with any of my friends or family members except for my ex-step mom. I couldn??t reach out to my closest friends for support. The only reason I??m allowed to write this appeal is because appeals are confidential. I know that therapists and healthcare providers are also confidential, so I made two appointments with student wellness services but I was unable to make it out of bed and missed both appointments. I didn??t make any more appointments because at that point I could not trust myself not to miss them and I couldn??t afford anymore missed appointment fees. Writing this appeal is now my way of managing these circumstances. When I realized I was going to fail GRMN 101, I felt like a screw up, but I??m trying to be compassionate to myself by asking to be allowed to withdraw so that I can at least focus on prioritizing and succeeding in my other classes.

My plan for success going forward:
When I consulted with the academic advisor, we looked through my options in case the appeal was granted. I will be able to retake the course in the first or second semester next year. I also know that my trouble with keeping up in class is stemming from my troubled mental health and the bad study habits that accompany it. Over the winter break I have booked an appointment to see a therapist back in my hometown, and when I get back to Queen??s I am already making plans to finally make use of the mental health support on campus. I am also committing to seeing a learning strategist at SASS so that I can rebuild my study habits. I truly do want to succeed--this semester it was just particularly hard to.

Documentation
As I previously mentioned, I did not make it to my meetings with a mental healthcare professional. Instead I have included the emails I was allowed to have between the detective and my ex-stepmom (current guardian), a letter of support from the professor of this course, and a letter of support from my stepmom who is the only one I was allowed to discuss these circumstances with. Please let me know if you need anything more. Thank you for your consideration.

Best Regards,

Savannah-Cheyenne Bain
Student : 20302610