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Department of Philosophy

(Revised: April 1, 1986)

Composition of the appeal board.

  1. The Chairman shall appoint for each academic year, two faculty members who shall, for that year, be members of the appeal board. For each case which is brought to the board, a student shall be selected randomly from a pool of students who has expressed willingness to serve on the board. The student shall be a graduate student if the grievance is from a graduate student, an undergraduate if the grievance is from an undergraduate. The student so selected, and the complainant's counselor or temporary counselor (see below II) shall sit on the board for the duration of its consideration of that case.
  2. If a member of the appeal board or the student's counselor or temporary counselor is identical with the instructor against whom the grievance is being lodged, a substitute member shall be appointed by the committee to take the instructor's place on the committee in all deliberations pertaining to that case. If the student's counselor or temporary counselor is one of the regular members of the board, the grievance shall be heard by only the two regular members and the student appointee.

Appeal Procedures
  1. A student may initiate a grievance by speaking with his/her academic counselor if the student is a philosophy concentrator or graduate student, otherwise by speaking to any philosophy counselor (undergraduate counselor if the student is an undergraduate, graduate counselor otherwise). If the student is not a philosophy concentrator or graduate student, the counselor through whom the grievance is initiated shall become the student's temporary counselor for the duration of the appeal. If the student's counselor is identical with the instructor against whom the grievance is being lodged, the student may initiate a grievance through any other counselor.
  2. Before a formal hearing is begun, the (temporary) counselor shall be satisfied that the student has discussed the problem with the instructor. If the instructor is unavailable for discussion (e.g., no longer on the staff, on leave, dead) the counselor may waive this requirement. If instructor and student agree on a resolution of the dispute the committee (which may act without a student member in this case) shall approve this resolution of the dispute.
  3. Formal appeal procedures will begin only after the student has submitted a written complaint to the (temporary) counselor. Normally such complaints must be submitted within one month of the time grades were available to the student. Except in extraordinary circumstances, the Board will consider only grievances involving a final grade for a course. Normally, therefore, a student with a complaint about a grade should be told that he/she should not file a grievance complaint until after the course is complete and the final grade has been submitted by the instructor to the Registrar. A student who wishes formally to file an earlier complaint should accompany it with what he/she considers to be compelling reasons for an exception. The Chair of the Grade Appeals Board will be empowered to convene the Board for an extraordinary meeting in mid-term.
  4. Within ten days of the time at which the written complaint is received, a student member shall have been selected and the appeal board shall meet to discuss the grievance and to determine what further materials it needs in order to consider the appeal. The complainant may or may not, at the discretion of the board, be present at this meeting. Subsequent to this meeting, the board will meet with the complainant and the instructor to discuss the complaint. These two meetings may be held contiguously, but at any rate the board shall notify in writing both the student and the instructor of place of the second meeting. The complainant may waive his/her right to attend this meeting, but must do so in writing. If the instructor is unavailable (e.g., on leave, dead) the second meeting may take place without the instructor present, provided that, if feasible, the instructor is provided with a copy of the student's complaint and is given an opportunity to reply to it. The board may, at its option, postpone the second meeting until such time as the instructor will be available, provided that the interests of the complainant are not adversely affected thereby.
  5. Hopefully these meetings will result in a resolution of the grievance which is satisfactory to both the complainant and the instructor. If so, the board will send a written report to the Chairman of the Department, the LS&A Office of Student Academic Affairs, the complainant and the instructor, detailing the procedures followed and the resolution agreed upon. The board will consider such measures as a change of grade, a drop or retroactive drop of a course, partial credit, or, as a last resort, arbitration. (N.B. Since only the instructor can authorize a grade change, late drop, etc., arbitration must be agreed upon in advance by both instructor and student.) If no resolution is reached, the board shall send a written report to the same parties, detailing the procedures followed and the extent of its agreement or disagreement with the positions of the complainant and the instructor. The board may at its discretion prepare a letter setting forth its view of the instructor's conduct and forward the letter as a matter of record to the Department Chairman for inclusion in the faculty member's personnel file. A letter may be prepared for the student with a copy for the student's file.
  6. The board's findings may not be appealed at the departmental level unless it is the board's view that substantial new information is available. The complainant may, however, appeal to the LS&A Office of Student Academic Affairs.

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College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
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