Section 7B: Student Complaints

Section 7B: STUDENT COMPLAINTS

Common Circumstances for Student Complaints

Most complaints that students bring to the chair of a department are related to their classroom experience--complaints about the teaching of a class, grading, availability of the faculty member, the faculty member’s relationship with the student. Complaints may relate to a grade for a particular assignment or for the whole course. They may also relate to the student’s perception of the conduct of a class (e.g., professor uses language or material which the student finds objectionable; student believes professor wastes class time; student perceives that professor demeans him or her; student perceives that she or he is being harassed; student perceives that students are treated and/or evaluated differently based on personal characteristics rather than academic criteria, etc.). Students may also complain if a professor has accused them of plagiarism. Complaints may involve accusations of sexual harassment. Various policies cover these situations, and the chair should become acquainted with them through the online Policy Manual.

Reasons why a particular student appears in the chair’s office at a particular time also vary. Sometimes students have been considering a complaint for some time. In other situations, students appear immediately after an event and may be angry, tearful, or otherwise emotionally distressed.

Chair’s Role

The chair’s role is to avoid pre-judging the situation while finding out what the student’s concern is, what remedy the student seeks, what steps the student has taken already to resolve the concern and produce the remedy, and what the student wishes/expects the chair to do in the situation.

If the student is distraught, this may require some patience and effort by the chair to help the student calm down and tell his or her story. The situation has its pitfalls. A chair that tries to be neutral may appear to the student to be hostile or indifferent. A chair who tries to be open and positive simply about hearing the student’s story may appear to be siding with the student. Later, if the chair has to make a decision that is not in favor of the student’s point of view, the student may feel betrayed.

Having someone listen may be the main goal for some students. At the same time that the chair works to be an attentive listener, he or she must make sure that the student realizes that the chair cannot make any quick decisions or judgments. The chair must observe the rights of all parties and make sure everyone involved has a chance to respond.

The chair also needs to make the student aware of any policies and procedures that cover the situation. If, for instance, the complaint concerns a course grade after the course is over, the online Student Handbook outlines the procedure. If the grievance does not fit this category, the student still needs to follow a procedure that includes the faculty member, usually with the student seeing the faculty member and discussing the situation.

In cases where a charge of academic dishonesty has been made by a faculty member and the student feels that it has been made unfairly, the chair may wish to consult the Code of Conduct Policy and the Dean of Student’s Student Conduct and Academic Integrity pages, for information on procedures available.

In certain situations, a student may be unwilling to meet with the faculty member. Students may also ask for confidentiality. Obviously, the student’s right to confidentiality must be observed even if confidentiality is not specifically requested. However, when the chair assures a student of confidentiality, the chair also needs to explain that in a business environment, this does not mean telling no one. Rather it means that the situation will be discussed only with appropriate persons, such as the faculty member involved, and/or the Dean, Provost, University Attorney, or other officials who may need to be consulted. At the same time, the chair should keep in mind that, generally, no action should be taken without the student’s knowledge.

In the case of an accusation of sexual harassment, the situation may be more complicated than in other kinds of complaints. Once an official of the university is aware of such charges, there is a legal obligation to contact the Title IX office. See also the Clery Act Compliance Policy and the Faculty Guide for Addressing Student Behavior.

Special Situations

Although there are common broad categories into which many student complaints fall, each situation has individual characteristics and no simple set of guidelines can be uniformly applied. The chair should proceed with deliberation, gathering facts, making sure that appropriate procedures and policies are followed and that he or she understands the remedy the student seeks. Because some situations can have serious legal implications, the chair should not hesitate to consult with his or her Dean in confidence about how to handle a problem.