Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: June 13th, 2022

Dear Associate Dean Jenn Stephenson (Studies) and (Academic),

I am appealing the Faculty??s decision that I must withdraw from Queen??s University for a minimum of one year. This appeal letter is written to explain my situation given my extenuating circumstances and the steps I have taken to improve my academics in order to continue my academic journey in the Department of Political Studies.

My first year at Queen??s University was during the beginning of the pandemic, September 2020, and I found it very difficult being a first-year student. I did not feel part of the Queen??s student community because I did not live in residence and did not have access to campus activities due to the Covid-19 pandemic. I felt very isolated and found it very challenging to make new friends and find support from my professors with regards to my academic studies. Since everything was moved to an online platform, all classes were being taught remotely which was difficult for my learning style. Even though I have academic accommodations, many facets were not able to be met because of the online system. The online format does not assist me well with my accommodations and makes it onerous for me to retain information when reading directly from a computer and watching lecture videos. It is easy to get distracted living at home and not being in a university environment. I was not able to meet with my professors in person for any questions related to assignments or exams. I was not able to receive a scribe for note taking because notes were being posted onto this online platform for individuals with accommodations, but it was not updated daily. After a long process of searching for a tutor I finally found one which was difficult because of remote learning and yet it was troublesome to communicate with them through an online format, i.e. zoom calls.

My second year at Queen??s University, in September 2021, I moved into a house in the student ghetto with five other girls. It was challenging to connect with the girls because they knew one another from residence, and I was the odd one out. At the beginning of the year, I did not think that I would have an issue because we were all in the same situation coming from a full year being online and there would be empathy for one another. However, I quickly learned our lifestyles were very different and living with five girls during the first semester became very overwhelming to my mental health and created problems out of my control such as lack of sleep, depression, and the inability to focus strictly on my academic studies. My initial reaction was to remove myself from this situation by moving out and living on my own in an apartment, but I was afraid to live alone. This was a new living situation for all of us, which made it difficult to navigate any issues we had with one another. I will be in a house with two friends in September and we have mutual respect towards each other, which is very comforting.

I was able to take slow steps to improve my mental health by returning home to Ottawa to be someplace quiet and have a safe environment to disconnect on the weekends. At the beginning of the second semester, I became very unbalanced with personal health problems which kept me off track on focusing on my studies. I constantly felt extremely tired doing daily activities which do not require much effort such as taking the garbage out and going to Metro to buy healthy food. I then started to feel nauseous due to the stress of not knowing what was going to happen in my house once I left my room. I began to lose all interest of leaving my room because I felt extreme anxiety of having conversations with my house mates which lead to being depressed with not leaving my room/ house other than to eat or go to class. The toxic situation at the house became very apparent, and the girls began to see how I was feeling internally. I discussed a lot of my mental health with my family and I know that I should of contacted a counselor at student wellness services but I was determined and hoping that I would feel better with my living situation but in retrospect, I should have reached out to a counselor and my family doctor for guidance.

As for my academics in my second year, we were still in the Covid-19 pandemic, but classes began switching to hybrid learning. My academic accommodations were still restricted to certain facets, for example, a scribe to help me take notes during lectures due to lack of support from peers and lack of organization with students waiting up to two months to access support from a scribe, copies of overhead slides and classroom handouts in advance and limited access to the library for peer mentor help. In my second semester during my second year, I improved my grades by reaching out to my tutor for help. She was able to teach me different strategies to improve writing for assignments and how to properly structure a research paper with properly conducting academic research by inserting specific information to the search bar for the best results. She helped me improve my note taking skills during lectures by focusing on the most important points and quickly writing them down over my copies of the slideshow to allow me to focus more on the professors point rather than trying to write down every word and not absorbing the overall message. This summer, I am taking an introductory human nutrition course for further academic progress.

As of next year, I will be able to access all the components of my accommodation plan such as study support, tutoring, writing support, and working with the accommodations team to develop strategies for success in my courses. Next year I would like to take specific courses that interest me such as Introduction to International law in Politics, Topics in Comparative Politics and Political Economy and Mass Media which are all essay writing based courses which will challenge my analytical and argumentative skills. Last year my tutor taught me how to better structure and organize my essays which has helped me develop new writing skills essential to succeeding within the Political Studies program. I will be able to use the in-person classes to my advantage and visit my professors after class to ask any questions and will be seeing my tutor a few times a week for tips regarding organizing my assignments and exams. I will also be continuing to take four courses per semester for a lighter course load allowing me to put more time in each course. I will also continue speaking with my family doctor and accept any referrals to other medical professionals such as speaking to a virtual/in-person therapist.

I have always wanted to attend university and even with my learning challenges, I am still very determined and do not wish to give up this incredible opportunity. I will continue to reach out for support with my academics. I truly enjoy my program and I would be grateful for the opportunity to continue to study at Queen??s University.

Sincerely,

Sophie Miles-Kozlowski