Grievance Procedures

Students are entitled to have a process whereby they can grieve a decision made about a grade or a faculty member or departmental decision that they believe negatively impacts their progress toward their degree.  To provide a fair hearing to a student grievance the following steps should be followed.

1. The student should seek to determine if the issue could be resolved with the faculty member involved. 
2. If unresolved with the faculty member, the formal steps of the grievance procedure are as follows:
3. The student must inform either the Graduate Chair or the Department Chair of their wish to appeal a decision.
4. The appeal should be done in writing and orally.  Then the Department or Graduate Chair will form a committee of three departmental faculty members to gather information about the grievance and make a report and recommendation to the full graduate committee.
5. The graduate committee will consider the recommendation and make a judgment about the merit of the student’s appeal.
6. Unless there are unusual circumstances, the graduate committee will make a decision about the grievance within four weeks of receiving the recommendation.

Specific Procedures and Policies for the Appeals Processes for the list below can be found in the Graduate Bulletin (http://www.unl.edu/gradstudies/bulletin/probation-termination-and-appeals).

1. Grounds for Probation and Termination of UNL Graduate Students,
2. General Appeal Procedures for Academic Matters Concerning Graduate Students, and
3. Appeal of Grades in Graduate-level Courses.