Information for Prospective Students Information for First-Year Students Information for Transfer Students Information for International Students Learning Communities, Study Abroad, Theme Semester Calendars Quick Reference Forms Listings Table of Contents SAA Search Feature Academic Advising, Concentration Advising, How-tos, and Degree Requirements Academic Standards Board, Academic Discipline, Petitions, and Appeals SAA Advisors and Support Staff

Department of Astronomy

(2 October 1986)

I. Introduction and Grounds for an Appeal

The Department of Astronomy believes that the primary instructor of a course is, by far, the most qualified person to make the judgment behind the conferral of a grade. Under some circumstances an unjust grade may be assigned. The appeals procedure described below is intended to provide a remedy for the assignment of unjust grades due to clerical error, capricious or biased judgment, ex post facto changes in course requirements or lack of uniformity in the application of standards within a class. This procedure is not applicable to complaints stemming from differences in the level of difficulty from one course to another or to complaints arising from a misunderstanding of the basis for evaluations if that basis was described in writing.

Any set of proceedings of this sort must be recognized as imperfect. The procedure is not, therefore, expected to be able to resolve disputes over fine points of borderline judgment.

The Committee of Appeals has no power to force an instructor to change a grade (see section III.3.a. below).

II. Timing

The student should initiate this procedure as soon as he or she is aware of the course grade. We distinguish between Case A, in which a student continues in residence during the next regular University term following that in which the grade in question was assigned, and Case B, where the student is not in residence in the following regular term. Case B would apply, for example, to students who received a grade during the Winter or Spring terms, and were not in residence until the following Fall term.

In Case A, the department will usually consider an appeal only if it is initiated within the first two weeks of the term immediately following the assignment of the grade. While the initial inquiry may be verbal (See III-1 below), a written statement should be sent both to the instructor of the course and the Department Chairman within this two week period if the student plans to proceed beyond the initial inquiry (III-1).

In Case B, the department will usually consider an appeal only if written notification of an intent to appeal is received by the Department Chairman and the course instructor within the first four weeks of the term immediately following the assignment of the grade. The Grade Grievance Procedures (III below) must then be initiated within the first two weeks of the student's next term in residence.

The Astronomy Department will endeavor to complete its consideration of a grade grievance within two weeks of the time in which it begins deliberations.

III. Grade Grievance Procedures

The procedure for handling student complaints of unfair or improper grading shall be as follows:

  1. The student must first discuss any complaints with the instructor of the course. This may be done by telephone in the situation described above as Case B.
  2. If the student remains dissatisfied, he or she may bring a complaint to the Department Chairman, or his representative who will hear the student's complaints and obtain the instructor's reply. The Chairman may decide, usually within a week's time (a) that the complaint is unjustified or (b) that the complaint may be justified. In either case both the student and the instructor will be notified of the decision in writing. In instance (b) the Chairman will attempt to negotiate a settlement of the complaint.
  3. If neither (1) nor (2) result in a satisfactory settlement, either party may request a review by the Department's Standing Committee on Appeals. The request should be made in writing to the Chairman of this committee. If the Department Chairman has delegated a surrogate for stage (2), this person will not serve on the Appeals Committee. Upon receipt of the request for a hearing, the Committee will set up a time agreeable to both parties, usually within a week of receipt of the request for review.
    a. If the Committee finds that the instructor has not acted fairly or properly, it should attempt to persuade the instructor to change the grade or remedy the wrong. The Committee may seek the advice of the Assistant Dean to see if some alternative action is acceptable, e.g., allowing the student to drop the course, or consenting to award partial credit for the course, or permitting the course to be expunged from the record.
    b. The Standing Committee on Appeals will be composed of two faculty members, an undergraduate student and a graduate student. Only one student member need attend a hearing: The student member hearing a complaint shall be an undergraduate if the complaint involves an undergraduate; the student member hearing a complaint shall be a graduate student if the complaint involves a graduate student.
    c. If a member of the Standing Committee on Appeals is involved directly in the complaint, replacement shall be appointed by the Chairman of the Department.

IV. Procedures for Hearing a Complaint (Standing Committee on Appeals)
  1. The 3 or 4 members of the Committee hearing a complaint will treat the information and materials which are involved as sensitive and confidential.
  2. Prior to the hearing, the Committee will receive from the Department chair all relevant written materials in his possession.
  3. The Committee chair will contact both instructor and student to arrange a mutually satisfactory hearing date, and may do this either in person or by telephone. The chair will invite each to collect, prepare, or organize any relevant written materials to be submitted to the Committee. The date and time of the hearing, and the other arrangements, are to be confirmed by letter.
  4. At the hearing, both sides will present their information to the Committee. The nature of the complaint will already be plain from the materials made available by the Department chair. Presentations at the hearing will be made as follows:
    a. Presentation by complainant (20 minute limit)
    b. Presentation by other party (20 minute limit)
    c. Rebuttal by complainant (10 minute limit)
    d. Rebuttal by other party (10 minute limit)
    e. Questions asked by Committee of both parties (30 minute limit)

    If either party wishes to submit written materials of any sort at the hearing they should be offered during the original presentation (a) or (b).

  5. Following the hearing, the Committee will conduct its deliberations in private. These will remain confidential. A written summary of the procedures, findings, and recommendations will be prepared and transmitted to both parties, to the Department chair and the Dean's office as soon as possible following the end of the Committee's deliberations. All materials collected by the Committee will remain in the Departmental files as a record of the hearing.

Did you find what you were looking for?
If not, please email us at SAA.Webmaster@umich.edu.

College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Student Academic Affairs
1255 Angell Hall, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1003
Phone:(734) 764-0332 Fax: (734) 764-2772

lsa

University of Michigan | College of LS&A | Student Academic Affairs | LS&A Bulletin Index

This page maintained by LS&A Academic Information and Publications, G415 Mason Hall

Copyright © 2001 The Regents of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 USA +1 734 764-1817

Trademarks of the University of Michigan may not be electronically or otherwise altered or separated from this document or used for any non-University purpose.