Petition, Appeals, and Grievances (Academic)

During a student's academic career, there may be occasion to file a petition, an appeal or a grievance.

Petition: A petition is used to request an exception to an academic policy. The exception to academic policy must be due to the situation being outside the circumstances for which the policy was intended.

Appeal: An appeal is used to either request a change in grade, dispute academic dishonesty, or appeal the decision of a petition or academic suspension.

Grievance: A grievance is an assertion that the university has not followed published policy, has applied policy incorrectly or non-uniformly, or that the policies and/or actions of the university are unjust.

Students must begin with the awareness that the university follows generally accepted college and university practice in the development of academic policies, the operation of classrooms, and use of grading techniques. These differ widely from professor to professor and from college to college. Indiana Wesleyan University allows its instructors independence in following generally accepted practices.

A student who has an appeal or grievance related to a course grade or academic policy should follow these procedures outlined below.

Academic Petition

If a student wishes to request an exception to an academic policy, the steps for an academic petition are as
follows:

1. Students must complete a General Academic Petition, available in the RAS Office in the Barnes Student Center or on the RAS portal page. This form requires the signature of the student’s  academic advisor as well as the Division Chair of the division that oversees the policy or course in question.
2. Students must submit the completed document to RAS who will forward the petition to the appropriate academic leader.
3. The academic leader will issue a final ruling on the petition and RAS will inform the student of the decision.

Appeal of a Petition

A student may appeal the outcome of an academic petition under limited circumstances, namely if new information that could affect the outcome has become available that was not previously available. The appeal must include additional information, appropriate justification, and/or relevant documentation that further explains why the appeal should be granted. To file an appeal, students must submit a Formal Academic Grievance / Grade Appeal form available from the Academic Affairs Office. Appeals will be reviewed by the appropriate academic leader.

Appeal of Grade

If the student feels that an instructor has not followed the published grading policy or if the student feels there was an error in grade calculation, the student is encouraged to discuss their concerns with the faculty member directly or through the facilitation of the Division Chair. This must be done within 10 business days of when the grade was made available to the student. After that conversation, if the student still feels the grade was unjust due to error or inconsistency with those grades assigned to other students, the student may file a formal appeal. The steps for a formal appeal are as follows:.

1. The student must complete and submit the Formal Academic Grievance / Grade Appeal form, available in the Academic Affairs Office (AAO) in the Jackson Library. If the grade concern involves a faculty member, the student must provide evidence to request a review with the Division Chair of the academic unit that offers the course in question. If the grade concern involves the Division Chair, then appropriate academic leader from the area in which the course is offered will conduct the review. If the grade concern involves an academic leader, then another appropriate academic leader will conduct the review.
2. The appropriate academic leader will notify the faculty member of the review and seek to mediate the dispute. The appropriate academic leader will then review the details of the case with the student and faculty member (separately).
   1.  If the dispute is over a grade received on a specific project or examination, the academic leader will request a second evaluation of the specific project or examination, with the grading rubric, by two faculty members with knowledge of the academic discipline. The faculty members will submit their evaluations to the academic leader within 10 business days.
   2. If the dispute is over a course grade, the academic leader will review the course information including but not limited to, course syllabus, grading policies and grade calculations.
3. Once the academic leader has received and reviewed all information, they will make a judgement as to whether the grade has been misevaluated by more than one full grade. If so, the grade may then be changed. If a Division Chair conducts the review, the recommendation will be forwarded to the appropriate academic leader. The decision of the academic leader will be final in all grade appeals. If the complaint involves academic leader, then another appropriate academic leader will conduct the review. All decisions on appeals will be completed within 10 business days of receipt of the faculty review.
4. A student may appeal the outcome of this process to the VPAA if new information that could affect the outcome has become available that was not previously available or if the decision included institutional error or gross inconsistency. The appeal must include additional information, appropriate justification and/or relevant documentation that further explains why the additional appeal should be granted.

Academic Dishonesty Appeal

To appeal the finding of academic dishonesty:

1. Students must complete the Formal Academic Grievance / Grade appeal form available from the Academic Affairs Office, in Jackson Library.
2. The form is then submitted to the appropriate Division Chair for review (if the Division Chair is also the faculty member then the appeal is submitted to the Academic Dean). Appeal forms must be submitted within 10 business days of official notification of Academic Dishonesty.
3. The Division Chair conducts a review of the information and makes a decision on the appeal, within 10 business days of receipt of appeal. If the Division Chair overturns the appeal, the student will be notified of the decision.
4. If the Division Chair denies the appeal, it will be forwarded to the appropriate academic leader. The academic leader may choose to meet with the student and/or faculty member. The decision will be final in all appeal cases. All decisions will be completed within 10 days of receipt of denial from Division Chair.
5. A student may appeal the outcome of this process to VPAA if new information that could affect the outcome has become available that was not previously available. The appeal must include additional information, appropriate justification and/or relevant documentation that further explains why the additional appeal should be granted.

Grievance

If a student believes that the university has not followed published policies regarding academic decisions or actions of the university are unjust, the student may file a grievance. If possible, students are encouraged to first pursue the informal procedure

(Title IX Violations, sexual harassment or illegal discrimination issues have separate and particular processes for resolution Any such issue should be immediately reported using the University’s Incident Reporting Form https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?IndianaWesleyanUniv&layout_id=0

1. The student should contact the person who has made the decision for a full explanation of the university policy, or the federal or state policy, and how the policy was followed. If the university policy has been followed, that should resolve the complaint.
2. If the complaint is not satisfactorily resolved, the student may request a meeting with the Division Chair.
3. If the complaint is not satisfactorily resolved with the Division Chair, the student may request a meeting with the school's academic leader.
4. 4. If the complaint is not satisfactorily resolved with the academic leader informally, the formal procedure may be initiated.

B. Formal Procedure

1. The informal resolution may be ended at any time and the complainant may begin the formal procedure by submitting a written grievance form within 30 days of the policy decision. Grievance forms are available in the Academic Affairs Office.
2. The student may then make a request within 15 working days for a meeting with the School Dean to review the formal grievance.
3. If the complaint is not satisfactorily resolved with the school dean, the student may then request within 15 working days a hearing with the VPAA.

The decision of the VPAA will be made within 15 working days of such a request and will be final in all academic policy disputes.

The complainant will be notified of results at each step of the grievance process. All grievances, with all papers, recommendations, and decisions related to federal or state regulations, will be reported to the VPAA in whose office all files will be kept..

Because grievance and appeal processes are private university administrative hearings, legal counsel or representation is inappropriate.