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The
following procedure has been established for
undergraduate and graduate students who seek
adjudication of an academic grievance claim
against faculty members or instructors in
the College of Arts and Sciences. Such grievances
may concern grades assigned or penalties imposed
for alleged academic infractions.
With
respect to the appeal of grades the University
Policy adopted by Senate Legislation states:
It is expected that the grounds upon which
an academic grievance may be based should
be clearly identified. Such grounds may include
variance from University grading standards/policies,
grade calculation inconsistencies with that
announced in published course syllabi, procedural
abnormalities, or other factors that are alleged
to have denied the student a fair evaluation.
It is not expected that grievances will propose
that the professional obligation of faculty
to fairly evaluate academic material within
their field of expertise will be supplanted
by alternate means without procedural cause.
Step
1:
A student who seeks to dispute a grade or
evaluation or seeks to appeal a penalty that
has been imposed by a faculty member for academic
dishonesty or alleged academic infractions
must initially pursue the matter directly
with the faculty member involved. If not satisfactorily
resolved directly with the faculty member,
a written grievance may be filed with the
program director/department Chairperson. In
the event that the grievance directly involves
the program director or department Chairperson,
the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences
will appoint a designee from the department
in question to serve in his or her place.
The
program director/department Chairperson should
consult with the faculty member in question
and request a written response to the grievance
from the faculty member. The program director/department
chairperson should then provide a copy of
the faculty member’s response along
with his or her own recommendations to the
student.
Step
2:
If the student is not satisfied with the efforts
made in Step I to achieve a resolution of
the grievance, she/he may then submit a brief
request to the College of Arts and Sciences’
Academic Programs Committee, via the Deans’
Office, to consider the grievance. This request
must be filed within one year from the end
of the semester during which the incident
occurred. The Academic Programs Committee
will convene an Ad Hoc Grievance Committee
according to its bylaws to review the grievance.
All of the documents gathered from Step 1
should be attached to this request in their
original form (i.e., student’s statement
of grievance, faculty member’s response,
department Chairperson’s response, course
syllabus, and any additional supporting documents.).
The Ad Hoc Grievance Committee will not review
the case until all documents are present.
Step
3:
Upon receiving a completed petition for its
review of the grievance claim, the Ad Hoc
Grievance Committee will first determine by
majority vote whether that petition provides
adequate grounds for its action. If the Committee
agrees to consider the grievance, it is to
make every effort to conduct as thorough an
investigation as the case warrants as it arrives
at a statement of findings. The Ad Hoc Grievance
Committee shall prepare and send a written
statement of its findings, together with its
recommendation of resolution to: (1) the petitioner(s),
(2) the respondent(s), (3) the Chairperson
of the respondent(s), and (4) the Dean of
the College of Arts and Sciences.
Students
should realize that the function of the Ad
Hoc Grievance Committee is advisory. The Committee
can find in favor of or against the student’s
grievance and it can recommend remedies to
the appropriate person(s). It does not have
the power to enforce any of its findings.
Whenever
the findings of the Ad Hoc Grievance Committee
fail to support the grievance claim, or the
recommendation of the Ad hoc Committee is
not accepted by the instructor, the petitioner
may petition the Committee on Academic Standing
of the Undergraduate Academic Council via
the Office of the Dean for Undergraduate Studies
or the Graduate Academic Council via the Office
of the Dean for Graduate Studies, as appropriate,
to consider the grievance. The decision of
the Academic Standing Committee of the Undergraduate
or Graduate Academic Council is final (as
per approved Senate Bill No. 0203-10).
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