Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean,
I hope this letter finds you well.
I am appealing to late drop LING 320 (Winter, 2022)
The reason for this appeal is because I had been experiencing symptoms and later found that I had contracted the COVID-19 virus in the second week of the winter semester.
Due to this, I was required to stay away from campus, and I found myself alone in my room and struggling to keep up with any schoolwork that was not available online.
Though I was attempting to keep up with work for LING 320 through the class material that was posted online, I found myself falling further and further behind.
After reaching out to the class professor, one of the recommendations that they had was to assess whether it would be a good idea to drop the course and take it in the following year. Regardless of this recommendation, I wanted to try to complete this course to which I failed.
I then decided to reach out to the Student Wellness Center and was able to get in contact with the Mental Health Counselor Meghan Leuprecht who was able to help me find out that I have been slowly but steadily developing a fear and anxiety of being in a classroom.
Because of this, even after my symptoms of COVID-19 started to disappear, I found myself having what can only be described as panic attacks with the thought of returning to the classroom.
At this point, I was able to meet with one of the doctors being Dr. Lee who prescribed anti-anxiety and depression medication to me to attempt to assist me with day-to-day life.
Unfortunately, this medication was unable to help me with the panic attacks that would occur when thinking of returning to the classroom.
With this in mind, the singular course that I was unable to work on from home being LING 320 proved to be something that I could not pursue success in.
The reason why I did not drop this course when my anxiety did not start to falter was due to the fact that I was hoping that the medication would eventually make it so that I felt comfortable returning to the classroom.
As the term had gone on, my symptoms of anxiety only worsened.
As of right now, I do plan to retake this course in either the following year or during the summer in the near future.
I have been and plan on continuing to be in contact with Student Wellness Services regarding my mental health throughout this situation and I plan to stay connected moving forward. The SWS has proved time and time again to be one of the most important connections that I had the fortune to make during my extended time attending Queen??s University.
Thank you for considering my academic appeal.
Sincerely,
Robert Jinn