GRIEVANCE POLICY

POLICY STATEMENT

The Agathon UAF Grievance Policy is published and followed in order to ensure a transparent and equitable process for addressing learner complaints, disciplinary actions, and appeals.

Grievance Policy 

Agathon UAF defines a legitimate grievance as a claim that an academic action, decision, or disciplinary action involved alleged unfair or irresponsible behavior including violations of Agathon UAF policies, relevant to any incident involving a faculty member or administrator.

Because assigning a grade or evaluating a student’s academic performance involves the faculty’s professional judgment and is part of the faculty’s teaching responsibilities, disagreement with a faculty member about a grade or evaluation is not a justifiable grievance. A just cause for complaint must include other legitimate grievances, such as arithmetic errors or bias, that the student believes affected the grade or the evaluation.  

Procedures Used to Initiate Grievance:  

Step 1: Informal Process  

Agathon UAF encourages students to make every effort to resolve directly with the involved parties. The student must request, in an email, a meeting with the party (ies) involved within 30 days of the event(s) being grieved. The meeting should take place within 10 days from the reception of the student’s email. If appropriate or necessary, the VP of Learner Success shall participate in the informal effort to resolve the grievance 

Step 2: Formal Procedure  

If informal discussions do not result in a resolution, the student may initiate the formal grievance procedure by submitting a written complaint within 10 days of an informal attempt to resolve the grievance. The VP of Learner Success will lead an investigation of the grievance (if the VP of Learner Success is the subject of the grievance, another executive leader will lead the investigation), report findings to an ad hoc Grievance Committee of at least 3 faculty members (who are not subjects of the grievance), which committee will rule by majority vote on the grievance. The VP of Learner Success will notify the student of the decided outcome within 15 days.  

 Step 3: Appeal Procedure  

If informal and formal steps have not resulted in a satisfactory outcome, the student may within 10 days after notification of the decision by the Grievance Committee appeal that decision by written appeal to the Vice President of Learner Success, who will conduct an investigation and report to the Executive Faculty who will rule by majority vote on the appeal. The VP of Learner Success will notify the student of the decided outcome within 15 days. The ruling of the Executive Faculty shall be final.