Department of Rhetoric Undergraduate Appeals and Grievances

Grades are considered the jurisdiction of academic departments and are matters of academic judgment. If you do not agree with your grade, you should begin by attempting to settle the matter informally through discussions with your instructor or GSI during office hours. You may also contact the department chair and Ombudsperson, or another mutually acceptable third party who is uninvolved in the grade grievance process and can attempt to mediate the dispute informally. If you cannot resolve the matter informally, the University has devised formal grievance procedures for you to follow that must be initiated within a one-year time limit of the last day of the semester in which the course in question was taken.

The grounds for a grade grievance are: 

• application of non-academic criteria, such as: considerations of race, politics, religion, sex, or other criteria not directly reflective of performance related to course requirements;
• sexual harassment;
• improper academic procedures that unfairly affect a student’s grade

General information about grading and the appeals policies can be found here. The full text of the University’s Grade Grievance procedures can be found here.