Procedure on Grade Disputes

Download as PDF

(A) INTRODUCTION

  1. The College strives to provide every student with a successful and positive educational experience. As part of its effort to resolve student grade concerns, the College maintains this Grade Disputes Procedure. This Procedure does not apply to issues covered by the Student Conduct Code or Student Judicial System.
  2. Nothing in this Procedure on grade disputes prohibits a student from seeking relief under the College’s policy and procedure prohibiting discrimination, harassment, sexual misconduct, retaliation or Title IX under Section 3354:1-60.01 & 3354:1-60.02; the Procedure on Student Complaints 3354-1-30-03.4; or any other procedure available to the Student. Pursuing a resolution under this procedure will not impact the result of any other procedure. However, it is important to note, pursuant to the tenants of Academic Freedom, all requests for a change of a recorded grade are resolved under this Procedure.

(B) DEFINITIONS

  1. In this procedure, "days" means weekdays other than College holidays, winter leave days, or days the College is closed due to weather, emergency, or other reason.
  2. Grade Disputes are challenges to final course grades. 

(C) GRADE DISPUTES

  1. Generally, responsibility for academic evaluation rests with the faculty member.
  2. Students are responsible for achieving academic performance standards established for each course in which they are enrolled.
  3. The grade dispute process is comprised of three levels (Levels 1-3).
  4. It is the student’s responsibility to take the required steps in the process, within the given timelines, or the right to dispute the grade is automatically and permanently waived.

  5. Level 1 grade disputes: the instructor

    a) All Level 1 Grade Disputes must be filed in writing by a student, with the instructor, no later than sixty days after the disputed grade is recorded by the Registrar and appears on the student’s permanent record..

    b) The student must notify the instructor in writing of their desire to dispute the final grade, and request a discussion. The instructor must schedule the discussion for a mutually agreed date to occur not later than ten days after receiving the written notice (email is acceptable). Discussion can take place in person, by e-mail, video conferencing, or by phone. The instructor must inform the student, in writing, their decision regarding the disputed grade. A student may proceed to Level 2 of the Grade Dispute process, if the resolution was not satisfactory to the student or the instructor did not respond to the student or schedule a meeting within the time frame allotted.

  6. Level 2 grade disputes: Faculty review panel

    a) If the student wishes to pursue the grade dispute to Level 2, the student shall submit a Grade Dispute electronically through the online portal found at (https://www.tri-c.edu/student-resources/student-complaints-and-concerns/grade-dispute.html) within ten days of receipt of the Level 1 decision from the instructor. If the instructor fails to respond to the student’s request for a discussion during the Level 1 process, the student will have an additional ten-day period to file the Grade Dispute Form. That would give the student twenty days starting with the date in which the original request for a dispute was made. The notice must state the students’ reasons for dissatisfaction with the outcome of Level 1, must provide evidence to support changing the grade, and must clearly and completely state specific changes to the student requests (These are required fields on the Grade Dispute Form. Incomplete responses will be returned to the student. However, the student’s deadline to submit the Level 2 dispute will not be extended by an incomplete submission that is returned to the student).

    b) Should the notice of the Grade Dispute, at any Level, contain allegations which, if true, could violate 3354:1-60-01 College policy on discrimination, harassment, sexual misconduct, retaliation and Title IX; 3354: 1-60-02 Discrimination, harassment, sexual misconduct, Title IX and retaliation complaint procedure, the faculty member, academic dean or designee shall immediately make a referral to the Office of Institutional Equity. The process taken by the Office of Institutional Equity will not affect any timelines outlined by this procedure. The Office of Institutional Equity will provide the results of its initial assessment or investigation status to the Level 2 or Level 3 panel, depending on when the allegation was raised, for consideration when evaluating the student’s request.

    c) A copy of the written notice to proceed to Level 2 shall be provided by the academic dean or designee to the Associate Dean and Instructor within ten days after receipt. The instructor will provide a written response to the Associate Dean within ten days.

    d) The Associate Dean or designee will appoint and convene, within twenty days of receipt of the student's written notice, a faculty review panel composed of three tenured faculty members, preferably from the field of the disputed class. If there are no tenured faculty members in that field, other tenure-track faculty members may be chosen. At least one faculty member will be from another campus or school. Faculty members who may have had responsibility for the grade in dispute will not be appointed to the panel. The panel will select its chairperson, who may remove or replace panel members in consultation with the Associate Dean in order to prevent bias in the process. All members must be present at each panel meeting; or the meeting must be rescheduled.

    e) The faculty review panel must offer the student and the instructor the opportunity to meet with the panel and deliver a statement or documents as evidence. The panel may meet with both the student and the instructor at the same time or may meet with them separately. The chairperson of the peer review panel will provide a minimum of five days’ written notice to the student and instructor of any meeting they are required to attend. The student, instructor, or any panel member may request that the chairperson postpone a panel meeting, if the requestor is unable to attend due to causes beyond the requestor's control.

    f) The panel shall have sole discretion to approve or deny the dispute

    g) The panel will review any information provided by the Office of Institutional Equity. In the event the initial assessment or investigation performed by the Office of Institutional Equity provides enough evidence to support the claim that there was a violation of college policy, the panel shall consider the preliminary initial assessment or investigation findings in making its decision. The panel may also permit the Office of Institutional Equity to make a formal presentation to the panel of its findings[PA1] [PA2] [PA3] [WA4] .

    h) The chairperson will report the panel's decision in writing to the associate dean or designee within fifteen days of the panel’s receipt of the charge to review the Level 2 grade dispute. In reporting its decision, the review panel will address each main point that the student has raised, state a rationale for the decision and provide copies of all documents reviewed and considered to the associate dean or designee.

    i) The Associate dean or designee shall notify, in writing, the student and instructor of the official decision and the action taken or to be taken in the matter, within ten days of receipt of the written report of the faculty review panel. The associate dean or designee shall upload copies of the decision, and all documents reviewed and considered to the software system used to track Grade Disputes.

  7. Level 3 grade disputes: College-wide academic appeals board

a) If the student or instructor wishes to appeal the decision to Level 3, he or she must file a written notice of the appeal with the Dean of the School in which the course resides. This notice must be filed within ten days from the date the Level 2 decision was sent. The notice will explain the reasons for the appeal. A copy of the written notice of appeal shall be provided by the Dean (or their designee) to the chairperson of the faculty review panel, and the student or instructor. The chairperson of the faculty review panel and/or the instructor/student may choose to respond in writing to the appeal notice.

b) The Dean or designee will request that the executive vice president for academic and student affairs convene, within ten days of receipt of notice of appeal, a College-wide academic appeals board. The board will be composed of three tenured faculty members, one academic administrator, and one student affairs administrator. The appeals board membership will be selected annually by the executive vice president for academic and student affairs from faculty members nominated by the joint faculty senate council (JFSC) who are acceptable to the executive vice president for academic and student affairs, and academic and student affairs administrative nominees who are acceptable to the JFSC. The academic administrator will chair the College-wide academic appeals board.

c) The Appeals Board will review any information provided by the Office of Institutional Equity, and any information provided or used in Level 2 In the event the initial assessment or investigation performed by the Office of Institutional Equity provides enough evidence to support the claim that there was a violation of college policy, the panel shall consider the preliminary initial assessment or investigation findings in making its decision. The panel may also permit the Office of Institutional Equity to make a formal presentation to the panel of its findings

d) The academic appeals board will review the Level 2 decision and supporting documentation but will not consider any new issues, information, or evidence.

e)  If it does not conclude its review within one month of its first meeting on the case, the academic appeals board will issue a status report to all parties involved in the case.

f) The academic appeals board will report its decision to the Dean (or their designee) and the Executive Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs no later than sixty days after having been convened. The academic appeals board's decision may deny or grant the appeal. If the appeal is denied, the decision of the board is final. If the appeal is granted, the board will refer the matter to a new faculty review panel to determine the resolution.

g) The Dean (or the Dean’s designee) will notify relevant parties of the decision of the academic appeals board within ten days of the receipt of the decision. Relevant parties are the student, the instructor, the faculty review panel, the associate dean or designee, the dean of student affairs, and the executive vice president for academic and student affairs.

(D) The President or the President's designee is hereby directed to take all steps necessary and appropriate for the effective implementation of this procedure.

 

Effective date: July 1, 2025

Prior effective date: January 1, 2024, September 3, 2010, March 25, 2019 

Procedure amplifies: 3354:1-30-03