A. General Campus Resources
University policy strongly encourages all students who believe they have a dispute or conflict to use all appropriate avenues for informal resolution before initiating the Graduate College grievance process described herein. Students may seek advice about how to address their situation informally from their faculty advisers, their director of graduate studies, their unit executive officer, the Graduate College, the Office of the Dean of Students, and International Student & Scholar Services before pursuing a formal Graduate College grievance.
B. Departmental Grievance
A student may elect to pursue a grievance with the student’s department/unit, if the department has a written grievance policy which has been approved by the Dean of the Graduate College.
- Appeal. A party dissatisfied with the outcome of a department/unit grievance finding may appeal the decision on procedural grounds to the Graduate College. An appeal must be filed in writing with an Intake Dean within ten business days of the date of the departmental decision being appealed (see 9.3 Procedures for Pursuing a Graduate College Grievance).
- Reporting. The department/unit shall annually report to the Graduate College Dean the number of grievances filed under the departmental procedures.
C. Graduate College Grievance
A. Purpose All members of the university community are expected to observe high standards of professional conduct and ethical behavior in graduate education. In a large and heterogeneous scholarly community, problems may emerge among students, faculty, and administrators. The purpose of this policy is to outline the process through which graduate students can constructively address concerns about the decisions or behaviors of faculty or administrators that they believe have adversely affected their status as a graduate student.
B. Availability This policy is available to all current graduate students of the Graduate College. It is also available to former graduate students provided they meet the timeliness requirements specified herein.
C. Applicability This policy applies when a graduate student believes that an incorrect or inappropriate decision or behavior of a faculty member or administrator has adversely affected the student’s status. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- failure to follow a departmental or Graduate College policy in a manner that results in significant prejudice against the student;
- failure to follow departmental or Graduate College procedures for assessing degree milestones such as qualifying examinations, comprehensive examinations, preliminary examinations, recitals, etc.;
- improper termination from a program;
- requiring personal services unrelated to academic duties;
- retaliation for exercising grievance rights.
This policy does not apply in cases involving:
- challenges to Graduate College petition decisions;
- the exercise of professional judgment in evaluating student academic performance/progress;
- student-to-student conflicts;
- academic misconduct such as breaches of academic integrity in research and publication;
- employment-specific issues, including those covered by collective bargaining agreements (i.e., teaching assistantships and administrative graduate assistantships);
- cases that arise under the Student Code, including academic integrity or capricious grading claims;
- cases involving alleged discrimination or sexual harassment.
D. Non-Exclusivity This policy does not override or supersede any other policies or procedures as established in the university Statutes and campus policies.
E. Duty to Cooperate Students availing themselves of the grievance process,and all faculty, staff, and administrators have a duty to cooperate and provide information and materials relevant to the investigation of a grievance. It shall always be the responsibility of the Parties to ensure that the Graduate College has accurate contact information to facilitate communications as described in these procedures.