Grievances

The School of Integrative Studies academic grievance processes currently in place vary based on the type of grievance and the desire by the person pursuing the grievance to handle it informally or formally. Below is an outline of current practice.

Informal Processes

The vast majority of concerns, issues, or grievances of SIS (BIS, EVSS, HDFS, INTS) students are handled through informal channels. For example, if you have a concern regarding advising information or process, you can contact the SIS office to discuss your situation and options (sisinfo@gmu.edu). Our informal processes are usually problem-solving processes where tools or options are suggested to address issues.

Additionally, problems concerning courses and course formats can be addressed through final course evaluations. The final evaluation provides feedback to both the faculty and the administration of the school to identify potential problems.

Formal Processes - Grade Appeals of BIS, HDFS, or INTS courses: 

The School of Integrative Studies follows the College of Humanities and Social Science Grade Appeals process. 

• Students must first contact the instructor in writing (email is acceptable) with a detailed explanation of their concern about the grade. The explanation must deal with the fairness of grading policies or procedures, or the accuracy of the assigned grade.
  • If the faculty member is not available, contact the chair of the department that offers the course.

• If the faculty member does not reach an agreement with the student to adjust the grade, the student can submit a grade appeal along with all relevant evidence to the department for further review (SISinfo@gmu.edu). The department chair (or designee) will review the request to determine if there is merit. This includes communicating with both the student and faculty member and requesting from both parties, all relevant documents and evidence related to the appeal.
  • Evidence includes but is not limited to: syllabus, assignment instructions, grading rubrics, copies of student assignments, email communications, Blackboard user reports, and any other documents or reports which provide details about the issue in question.
  • If the department chair (or designee) determines the appeal does not have merit it is reported to the undergraduate Associate Dean for their review, before notification is sent to the student. If the Dean agrees there is no merit, no review is conducted and the grade remains. 

• If the department chair (or designee) finds merit,  a faculty committee is formed to review the full appeal and supplemental documents thoroughly. The committee meets separately with the faculty member and the student to explore the full particulars of the case. A nonparticipating observer of the student's choice may attend the meeting. The faculty member or the student may challenge and have replaced one of the three members of the committee without giving a reason for the challenge. The committee issues a written recommendation which includes the reasons for its findings.
  • If the review committee supports the appeal, the faculty member has an opportunity to take the recommended action. If the matter is not resolved at this point, the chair (or designee) considers the review committee’s recommendation and makes a recommendation to Associate Dean for their review. The decision of the dean is not subject to further appeal.

• CHSS Academic Affairs will review an appeal of the department decision in cases where the procedures listed above were not followed or if there is new information to be considered which was not provided during the initial review.
• Grade appeals must be submitted in writing to the instructor before the last day of classes for the following semester (spring for fall classes, fall for spring and summer classes). 

Please refer the University’s Catalog (Section AP.3.9) for a full explanation of the grade appeal process.