If a student wishes to appeal, or challenge, a course grade, the following in-house administrative procedure will be used. If for any reason the procedures are not followed, the vice president of academic and student success services will decide whether or not the appeal can be continued. To continue the appeal, the student must complete steps one (1) through (3) within the first twenty (20) working days of the beginning of classes in the semester immediately following receipt of the grade in question. Working days are defined as those days the administrator or faculty members involved are employed and on duty at the college.
Step 1. The student must discuss the grade with the instructor who assigned it.
Step 2. If the matter has not been satisfactorily resolved and the student wishes to continue the appeal, the student must file a written appeal to the instructor’s division dean and discuss the grade with the instructor’s division dean. (If the instructor who assigned the grade is also the division dean, then the vice president of academic and student success services will perform the role of division dean in hearing the student’s appeal to this point.) The division dean will attempt to mediate the disputed grade with the faculty member and the student and make a recommendation for a solution. If both parties agree to the division dean’s recommendation, the appeal is concluded.
Step 3. If either party disagrees with the recommendation, the student may continue the appeal to the next step by filing a written appeal with the vice president of academic and student success services. The student must send a copy of the appeal to the faculty member and the division dean.
Step 4. Within five (5) working days of receipt of an appeal, the vice president of academic and student success services shall select by random drawing a committee of one student and two full-time faculty members to consider the appeal. Neither the instructor who assigned the grade, the instructor’s division dean, nor the vice president of academic and student success services may serve on this committee. The student on the committee should be picked at random from a pool of ten students. Each spring the two divisions will elect five full-time students to go in a pool.
Step 5. The committee shall meet promptly and establish appropriate procedures of operation to conduct a hearing and consider the appeal. The committee will consider any written information from previous steps and give both the student and the faculty member an opportunity to present any additional information. Notifications of the date, time, and location of the hearing will be communicated to the student and the faculty member by the vice president of academic and student success services. Within fifteen (15) working days after it is established the committee shall reach its decision and communicate its recommendation in writing to the vice president of academic and student success services, division dean, faculty member, and the student.
In meeting its charge, the committee shall be limited to a study of the student’s grades earned in the one class of the grievance. The committee cannot make a decision that infringes upon a faculty member’s rights and academic freedom as outlined in the P&HCC Faculty Handbook.
Step 6. If the matter is not yet resolved to the student’s satisfaction, the student may make a written appeal to the college president within five (5) working days after notice of the committee’s recommendation. The decision of the college president is final and the case is considered closed.