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Any student may petition
through appropriate channels for a given request at any point
in the educational continuum. Unless otherwise stated, review
will follow the same process as outlined in the Field section.
A student
may grieve a grade either on the basis of due process or on
the basis of an evaluative judgment. A student must clarify
on which basis a grievance is being pursued.
A student
who receives a failing grade or a marginal pass and who believes
that due process has not been followed may petition to the
Dean for a review of the circumstances. If the investigation
reveals that due process has been followed, the student shall
be so notified. If the investigation reveals that due process
has clearly not been followed, the Dean, in consultation with
the appropriate Sequence Chair, will grant to the student
an opportunity for re-examination, submission of another paper,
repetition of the specific course requirement, or the possibility
of re-taking the course. The Dean will report to the Academic
and Field Work Performance Standing Committee meeting on the
petition, the circumstances, and the outcome of the investigation.
Should, however, the investigation reveal that the circumstances
were ambiguous in regard to due process, the Dean will then
convene the Academic and Field Work Performance Standing Committee,
which will review the case and make a determination of the
due process issue with recommendation for outcome to the Dean.
Other faculty involved (for example, the instructor or Sequence
Chair) may be invited to attend as non-voting participants.
In addition, the student may request to have an advocate of
his or her choice who is a member in good standing of the
School community as a non-voting observer. The faculty member
involved shall be informed of the nature of the complaint
and the procedures that will be used in the investigation
of it.
When an instructor
or student has identified a concern with the student's academic
work which either would like assistance with, before either
contacts the Chair of the Committee (the Chair of Social Work
Practice Sequence), he or she should first consult the Chair
of the Sequence in which the academic problem has arisen to
discuss the advisability and purposes of calling a consultation.
If the consultation is still desired by either party, he or
she should then contact the Committee Chair.
Following the initial
investigation, the Dean decides if the Fairness Grievance
requires further investigation and asks for a Committee finding
and recommendation.
Normally the responsibility
for evaluating and grading a student's work rests solely with
the instructor. Only in the rare event that professional responsibility
has been neglected or abused beyond reasonable doubt should
the judgment of another person or persons be substituted for
that of the instructor.
If, however, a student believes he or she has evidence that
an instructor has been unfair in the assignment of a course
grade, he or she may express dissatisfaction with the instructor's
handling of the grade in the manner detailed below.
The student must first discuss the concern with the instructor
to clarify the reasons for the grade or to see if some agreement
over the grade can be arrived at informally.
If no clarification or agreement is possible, the student
may then express dissatisfaction to the appropriate Sequence
Chair. The Chair will discuss the matter with both student
and instructor and try to achieve a resolution. If a resolution
is not achieved, the Chair or the student may elect to take
the matter to the Dean. The Dean may elect to make a decision,
but if she or he believes a more thorough investigation is
necessary, the Dean may activate the summer Academic and Field
Work Performance Standing Committee. The Committee shall make
a recommendation for final disposition based on its finding
to the Dean.
Both the instructor and student will be informed of the proceedings
in a timely fashion, and shall have the right to attend the
Standing Committee's meeting. The student may bring a Smith
advocate, and the Chair of the Sequence shall be invited to
further safeguard both the rights of the student and the rights
of the instructor.
If the issue debated is the fairness of a course grade based
on written course assignments, the Chair of the appropriate
Sequence, in consultation with the Chair of the Committee,
shall appoint a full- or part-time faculty member from the
Sequence to read a blind copy of the materials in question
(with comments eliminated) and to submit a grade with any
comments the reader wishes to make to the Committee. The Committee
may use this grade as one factor in their determination.
If the Committee decides in favor of the student's grievance,
the Dean, in consultation with the Committee, may grant the
student an opportunity for re-examination, submission of another
paper, repetition of the specific course assignment, or the
possibility of re-taking the course. If a recommendation is
made that a student be given an opportunity to re-do an assignment,
the instructor who gave the original grade shall be informed
of the Committee's finding and be asked whether he or she
would be willing to grade a revised assignment. If the instructor
declines, the Chair of the Committee, in consultation with
the Chair of the Sequence, shall obtain an independent evaluation
of the student's work for the purpose of assigning a grade
for the course.
A student who wishes to grieve a first semester grade must
report this decision to the Sequence Chair by the end of the
first week of second semester. For grievances related to second
semester grades, the student must report this decision to
the Sequence Chair no later than one week after notification
of the grade. Either the Dean or the Standing Committee will
make its recommendations by the end of the third week in September.
If an opportunity to re-do an assignment is offered, both
the student and instructor grading the assignment will be
expected to act in a timely fashion. A written record of the
final outcome will go into the student's record only upon
request from the student.
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About
the Handbook
Table
of Contents
Introduction
Master's
Program, Summer
Master's
Program, Winter
The
Academic and Field Work Performance Standing Committee
Administrative
Policies & Procedures
Other
School Policies
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