Faculty Complaints and Grievances

Reporting Student Academic Misconduct

Those actions which constitute Academic Misconduct on the part of a student include, but are not limited to, cheating, receiving unauthorized aid in the preparation of coursework, and plagiarism. A full listing and description can be found in the Student Rights and Responsibilities section of the student handbook Section XIII; 1-7. Faculty members are encouraged to report Academic Misconduct through the Create Care reporting system so that a permanent record may be created for future reference and in cases of student appeals.

A simplified process for reporting violations has been created through the development of an electronic form specific to academic misconduct. Faculty members can meet the requirement of providing students with an informal administrative hearing by meeting with the student, notifying them of the alleged violation(s), explaining the charge, and giving the student the opportunity to respond. If, after the hearing, the faculty member concludes that the student has committed academic misconduct then they may assign an appropriate sanction.

Questions related to this process should be addressed to the Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs.

Faculty Grievance

A grievance is a formal complaint filed by any faculty member (ref. Faculty Handbook)—including both full- and part-time faculty—about a specific issue, to include complaints reasonably related to the terms and conditions of a petitioner's employment, complaints concerning violations of academic freedom, procedural and policy matters, including insufficient consideration, related to salary, or promotion, or tenure, or the job performance evaluation of a petitioner, discrimination against a petitioner based on race, color, sex, religion, creed, national origin, handicap, or sexual orientation (Note: discrimination claims must involve the university’s Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) officer, who will either make a recommendation to the Faculty Hearing Committee or respond to one from it. If the EEO officer finds that the claim is not attributable to discrimination, the claimant may file a further grievance with the Committee.), any matter referred to the Faculty Hearing Committee by the president or by the Board of Regents.

Pre-Grievance Efforts

Faculty members who feel they have a grievance must make timely and good-faith efforts to resolve the issue through the university hierarchy before resorting to the faculty grievance process. The university encourages faculty members contemplating a grievance to discuss the issue with colleagues who can offer advice or guidance such as current or past executive officers of the Faculty Senate, campus AAUP officers, or other knowledgeable persons.

The university encourages parties to a grievance to allow an outside mediator to attempt to resolve the issue. Such mediation does not preclude the formal Grievance Process (ref. Faculty Handbook), thus time spent on mediation does not count against the 60-day window for filing a formal grievance.

Formal Grievance Process

A claimant may appeal the decision of the provost, a chair, or dean to the Faculty Hearing Committee. Claimants may not appeal decisions of the president. Thus, faculty members wishing to have the Faculty Hearing Committee make a recommendation must appeal to it prior to appealing to the president.

Section IV.A.3 of the Faculty Handbook provides details related to the processes related to filing a formal grievance. If you have questions about the process you can contact the Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs.