Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean??s Office,

My name is Essi Amegbeto and I am appealing to restore the former IN standing from the Winter Semester courses of 2022 and to waive the appeal deadline and restore the former IN standing on courses from the Summer and Fall of 2021. I am requesting this short-term consideration because the situation has become a manageable one with a foreseeable resolve.

After becoming a student at Queen's, I became aware of physical health issues affecting my concentration, specifically migraines and associated pain stemming from back issues. I sought out diagnosis and subsequent treatment in 2018 with limited success. My studies began to lag, and I began to feel pressure from those around me, distracting my focus from my studies, which had a compound effect.

When the pandemic began, and studies became virtual, I came to recognize that isolation was negatively impacting my mood and student output; this was added to a snowballing sense of failure and taking on a life of its own, occupying my thoughts entirely. I could not complete the course evaluations specified in each course syllabus to be appropriately graded. I sought out psychological treatment and it was discovered that I may also suffer ADHD.

I came to recognize a pattern: as my student workload increased, I felt more stressed and maintained a destructive working posture, which aggravated my back issues, causing migraines. This would cause my studies to spiral into a backlog and I would begin to feel more pressure and judgment from those around me, fueling anxiety and depression, eroding my productivity and work quality.

For me, this is a huge milestone, as over the years I have accessed many resources on and off campus. This includes but is not limited to learning strategists from the Student Academic Success Services and Queen??s Accessibility Services, physiotherapists, the PEQ program at the Health Promotion Hub, Accessibility Services Advisor at Student Wellness Services as well as sessions from counsellors, a psychologist, a psychiatrist, and occupational therapists in the department. In each of these, I have learned to give and take in order to create a more realistic mode for my day-to-day activities, which require flexibility in my surroundings and how I interact with them. I am able to have a better understanding of my limitations and triggers.

I am now finally learning mindfulness in my study and work posture, which will help reduce migraines and the need for medication and all its side effects. And I am now centring my motivation around myself and what I want instead of looking outward for self-realization.

I ask for the chance to be given until December, 2023 to complete my coursework in these courses. I feel that knowing how to prevent migraines and avoid feelings of self-doubt will allow me to bring my studies to their proper fruition. All I want is one day to be a graduate of Queen??s University. As an alternative, I propose a late drop of said courses with an F standing.

Please see attached for a list of courses and documentation. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Essi Amegbeto


The courses I would like to address:
? DEVS 392/Topics in Developt Studies I (Higher Education & Development), 2022 Winter
? DEVS 492/Topics in Developt Studies I (Approaches to Sustainable Livelihood Development), 2022 Winter
? FREN 150, 2022 Fall/Winter
? PHIL 247/Practical Ethics, 2021 Fall
? COMM 251/Organizational Behaviour, 2021 Summer
? RELS 137/Religion and Film, 2021 Winter