Grading Appeals Policy

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Section 3.3
POLICY STATEMENT FOR THE GRADING APPEALS COMMITTEE
College of Arts & Sciences
Revised September 1992

I. MANDATE

The Grading Appeals Committee of the College of Arts & Sciences is established on this campus in accordance with the Bylaws of the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska. The Committee draws its mandate from Chapter V, Section 5.3, which reads:

Each college or school shall provide for a faculty-student appeals committee for students who believe that evaluation of their academic progress has been prejudiced or capricious. Such procedure shall provide for changing of a student's evaluation upon the committee's finding that an academic evaluation by a member of a faculty has been improper.

II. THE COLLEGE COMMITTEE AND THE DEPARTMENTS

While the Committee does not wish to prescribe exact procedures to the departments of the College (even if it had the authority), the procedures of each departmental grading appeals committee should ideally reflect those of the College Committee. Students should submit their appeal during the regular academic semester following the semester in which they received the disputed grade.  Departments are not obligated to hear appeals during Summer term, although they may if they wish.  Each departmental grading appeals committee as a whole should hear both the student and the faculty member concerned in a case in a timely manner, and gather documentary evidence that will be of relevance in arriving at a decision. The departmental committee should render its decision to the student and the faculty member in writing no longer than three weeks after the student initiates an appeal, provided that the appeal is made during a regular academic semester. Because of the possibility of an appeal to the College committee, the departmental committee should keep a record of its deliberations as well as copies of all documents concerned with the case.

III. POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

A. Organization. The Grading Appeals Committee of the College of Arts & Sciences should consist of six voting members, three of them representatives of the full-time teaching faculty, one graduate student and two undergraduate students. The members of the Committee shall serve staggered terms as follows:

1. The full-time faculty members shall serve staggered three-year terms.
2. (a) The committee chair is chosen by the committee at the last meeting of the preceding academic year.
   (b) The committee chair must be a tenured member of the faculty.
3. The graduate student shall serve a two-year term.
4. The undergraduate students shall serve staggered two-year terms. Undergraduate students will be appointed by the Dean at the recommendation of the Student Advisory Board. The graduate student will be appointed by the Dean upon the recommendation of the Graduate Student Association or the Dean of Graduate Studies. The Committee will routinely invite a liaison member of the Dean's Office staff to be present during consideration of a case. He or she will not have a vote.

In cases involving a member of one of the departments represented on the Committee, that department's representative will be disqualified from the College Committee's deliberations, although he or she may appear to provide evidence. In the case of the disqualification of a faculty member, the Dean of the College will appoint a replacement from another department for the duration of that particular case. In the case of the disqualification of a student member, a replacement will be provided by appropriate action of the College Student Advisory Board, the Graduate Student Association or the Dean of Graduate Studies, as is appropriate to the situation.

B. Scope of inquiry. The Grading Appeals Committee, through an examination of evidence and consultation with both parties in the case of a disputed final course grade, attempts to protect students against arbitrary, capricious or prejudiced evaluation by the instructor, that can be shown to have had an impact on the course grade. It should be recognized that the Grading Appeals Committee cannot undertake to resolve disputes about a particular student's knowledge of a particular subject matter. Indeed, the disqualification of a faculty member from a particular hearing involving a student in his or her department makes it impossible for the Committee to take a stand on a purely academic issue. Its responsibility, rather, is to ensure due process in grading procedure.

The Committee recognizes that there is no clear and final means by which it may decide what cases to accept. Obviously it cannot adjudicate minor complaints. Some cases carry serious consequences for the student. The Committee acknowledges that even the difference between a B and a C might sometimes carry considerable weight in determining such matters as whether or not a student will be able to retain a scholarship. But the Committee, regardless of the grade involved, cannot take a role in any case purely on the ground that failure to change a grade will prevent graduation or cause the loss of financial assistance. Rather, in accepting an appeal, the Committee must be satisfied that there is reason to suspect that the awarding of the grade may have involved a denial of due process, through arbitrary, capricious or prejudiced action on the part of the instructor or elsewhere in the department.

Aside from any bases for accepting an appeal so far described, the Committee will not adjudicate appeals involving violation of law, violation of University rules or regulations, disruptive or insubordinate behavior or cheating on examinations, although students may appeal the grade assigned in such cases .  (For further information on student conduct violations, please contact Student Affairs or the Academic Senate Office.)

C. Method of operation. A student or faculty member wishing to appeal to the Grading Appeals Committee of the College of Arts & Sciences should present to the Dean of the College or to any one of the faculty members on the committee a written statement of the grounds of his or her appeal at least two weeks in advance of the time a hearing is desired. Unless there are special circumstances, the committee will not hear appeals during the summer. The statement should provide the following data:

1. An account of the facts surrounding the awarding of the grade.
2. Evidence that the appellant has sought to resolve the case in consultation with the other party.
3. Evidence that the appellant, failing to resolve the case in consultation with the other party, has attempted to resolve it within the confines of the department by recourse to the Departmental Grading Appeals Committee.
4. Evidence that the appellant has carried through the appeal with the greatest expedition possible under the circumstances. The College Grading Appeals Committee will normally only accept appeals which have been initiated in the semester following the awarding of the grade.

The appellant should be as specific as possible in respect to the evidence he or she introduces, giving dates, places and times when memory provides them and supplying documentary evidence when this is available. The statement should not be a vehicle for unsubstantiated charges. It is intended as a source of information for the Dean, members of the Committee, and the other party concerned.

D. Appeal procedures

1. Upon receiving the appellant's application, the Dean or Committee chair will forward it to the Committee as a whole.
2. When an appeal is received, the College Committee will request from the appropriate departmental committee all records of its deliberations, including documentary evidence gathered in the case.
3. Whether an appeal was brought by a student or a faculty member, the opposite party will be notified that an appeal has been filed, and that he or she has a right to examine a copy of the appeal.
4. This notification will include notice of the right to a hearing before the Committee if the appeal is accepted.

Upon examination of the case, the Committee may take one of the following courses of action:

1. It may reject the case, providing the appellant is given written reasons for its refusal to hear it.
2. It may refer the case back to the instructor or department, or to the student, suggesting that a resolution lies within the power of the student and faculty member or the student and the department.
3. It may accept the case unconditionally. The Committee will:
   (a) Solicit additional information from the faculty member, student and/or the departmental committee in written form to address those questions and issues identified by the College Committee as in need of further clarification. If clarification of departmental committee material is necessary, the Committee must request it from both the student and the faculty member.
   (b) If necessary, supplement this information with interviews with the chair of the departmental committee or all of its members, with the faculty member and the student, and any other parties whose testimony is relevant to the case. Both parties may request a hearing. If one party requests a hearing, the same courtesy will be extended the other party.
   (c) Consider the full body of evidence.
   (d) If it is decided there is a clear preponderance of evidence in favor of either the student or the faculty member, render its decision accordingly.

E. Decision. The decision of the Committee will be rendered within three weeks after the College receives the appeal, provided the appeal is made during a regular academic semester. The decision will be communicated in writing to both the student and the faculty member, and the letter to the party whose position was rejected by the Committee will provide reasons and justification for the decision. An additional copy of this letter will be sent to the Dean of the College for his/her record.

F. Right to appeal. The charge of the College Committee is to stand as the final appeal committee (College Bylaws, Appendix: Section 1.f). The Committee, recognizing the possibility of a mistaken or misinformed decision, will advise each student or faculty member ruled against in an appeal that he or she may petition in a timely manner as determined by the committee to re-open the case. The basis for re- opening the case will be the submission of significant new evidence or interpretation of evidence that was not considered in the earlier appeal.

G. Procedure for grade change. Committee decisions which result in a change of grade will be communicated in writing to the Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences. It will be the responsibility of the Dean to make the change of grade.