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Student Grievance Committee

A. Purpose, Organization and Purview - The purpose of the Student Grievance Committee (SGC) is to hear grievances brought by students against faculty, administrators, and/or staff. The Chair (a tenured professor) and six faculty members (tenured faculty with at least three holding the rank of full professor) are elected by the Faculty Organization.  A student representative is appointed by the Student Government Association.    

The SGC Chair shall appoint three faculty members from the SGC Committee and the student representative to form a Grievance Review Committee (GRC) for each grievance as needed.  The SGC Chair shall designate one of the three faculty members as GRC Chair. 

The Student Grievance Committee shall review any student complaint alleging one or more of the following:

1. Arbitrary and capricious action on the part of a faculty member, including but not limited to, evaluation or grading.*

2. Violation of standards of professional behavior on the part of faculty, administrators and/or staff.

3. Violation of due process according to generally accepted norms of the University community.

4. Any behavior that violates the University's Policy on Faculty, Student and Institutional Rights and Responsibilities for Academic Integrity (Board of Regents' Policy III-1.00; see University of Maryland, Baltimore Student Answer Book) on the part of faculty, administration, or support staff.

B. Procedures

1. A grievant must submit to the SGC Chair a written grievance petition, which includes:

a. A statement that the grievance falls within the purview of the Committee.

b. Facts that clearly delineate and support the grievance, attaching copies of all relevant documentation.

c. A description of the specific steps that the grievant has taken in an attempt to resolve the conflict through established institutional channels before submitting a grievance to the Committee. The grievant is encouraged to keep and present in support of the grievance a written record of all meetings and what she/he finds to be an unsatisfactory resolution of each step, if such is the case. These steps usually should include the following.

(1) For Grievances Against Faculty:

(a) An interview with the faculty member whose action is the subject of the grievance.

(b) Failing resolution in the interview with the faculty member, a meeting and discussion of the matter with the grievant's advisor

(c) Failing resolution with the advisor, an interview with the SGC Chair. 

(2) For Grievances Against Administrators & Staff:

(a) An interview with the grievant's advisor.

(b) Failing resolution in the interview with the advisor, an interview with the SGC Chair.  

d. In cases of a grievance against the SGC Chair, the next senior-in-rank SGC Committee member shall assume the Chair of the SGC Committee on a pro tem basis for this grievance.

e. There may be situations where the above-established channels cannot be followed due to the nature of the allegation, e.g., allegations of sexual harassment, fears of retaliation from a faculty member. In such situations, the student may go directly to the SGC Chair. 

2. After the above steps have been completed, a written grievance petition shall be submitted to the SGC Chair within 30 calendar days of the action/incident or, if later within 30 days of the grievant's knowledge of the action/incident. If the grievance involves a grade, the written request must be submitted to the SGC Chair as soon as possible and not later than the end of the first week of the semester following the award of the grade. Following the Spring Semester, grievances must be filed no later than 30 days after the last day of the semester.

3. Upon receipt of the grievance, the SGC Chair will:

a. Review the petition to determine whether or not the alleged act constitutes a grievance, which would fall within its purview of the Student Grievance Committee. If the SGC Chair does not believe the petition to fall within its purview, two additional members of the Student Grievance Committee will review the petition to assist in this decision. The process continues if a majority votes to hear the grievance. Failing a majority, the SGC Chair will inform the grievant of the vote and the rationale for the decision to dismiss the grievance.

b. When a petition is determined to fall within its purview, the SGC Chair shall notify the person (or persons) named in the grievance (Respondent) and provide the Respondent with a complete copy of the grievance petition.  

c. The SGC Chair shall offer mediation of the grievance to the parties of the grievance. If mediation is to be used, all parties must accept it and a resolution will be offered by the SGC Chair.  Mediation is not binding and does not preclude continuation of the grievance by the grievant.

d. If the above fails to resolve the grievance, the SGC Chair shall appoint three faculty members from the SGC Committee and the student representative to form a Grievance Review Committee (GRC) for each grievance as needed.  The SGC Chair shall designate one of the three faculty members as GRC Chair. No SGC member may be appointed to a GRC committee if the member is the respondent of the alleged grievance.

4.  The SGC Chair will notify the Respondent when all of the above has failed to produce a solution and request a written response from him/her within ten business days of the Respondent's receipt of this notification. This respondent’s written response is shared with the grievant.

The response should include, but is not limited to:

a. Reasons that the grievance does or does not fall within the purview of the Committee.

b. A statement that established institutional channels has or has not been used.

c. Facts, policies, and procedures that clearly delineate and support the action that has been grieved.

5. After receipt of all documents, the SGC Chair will notify the GRC Chair of the grievance and provide him/her with copies of all documentation received.  

6. The GRC Committee will convene within ten business days, if practical, to consider the grievance petition and response. It may request additional information from the Grievant and the Respondent.

7. The GRC Committee may request Grievant and Respondent to appear before the Committee. If requested to appear before the Committee, a party may choose to bring an advocate. An advocate may not be an attorney.
Note: Grievant has the option of deciding whether the committee's student representative shall participate in the meeting. 

8. After hearing the facts and reviewing the statements, the GRC Committee will vote to sustain or deny the grievance. A simple majority vote is required. The GRC committee recommendation should be completed or a status report generated within thirty days of its receipt of the grievance petition. The SGC Chair will be informed in writing of the GRC Committee's recommendation.  The SGC Chair shall deliver the GRC report to the Dean and may consult with her/him about the grievance.  The Dean shall determine final action and notify the grievant and respondent of his/her decision in writing.   If the grievance was filed against the Dean and the report indicates the GRC Committee sustained it, the recommendation is forwarded instead to the President of the University for decision and final action.

9. The required timetable set for the grievance review and recommendations may be suspended for the period of June 16 to August 31 as determined by the SGC Chair.

C. Decision

The Dean (or the President, if the grievance is against the Dean) will consider the GRC recommendation and the documentation prior to making a decision on the grievance. The Dean (or President) may accept, modify or reject the GRC recommendation. The Dean's (or President's) decision, which is final, will be sent in writing to the grievant, the respondent(s), the SGC Chair and the GRC Chair. 

*Through its Policy III.-1.20, the Board of Regents' has determined that the term "arbitrary and capricious grading" means 1) the assignment of a course grade to a student on some basis other than performance in the course; 2) the assignment of a course grade to a student by unreasonable application of standards different from the standards that were applied to other students in that course; or 3) the assignment of a course grade by a substantial and unreasonable departure from the instructor's initially articulated standards.

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