Grade Appeal
The administration, following legal and academic freedom precedents, may not overrule an academic evaluation by a member of the PAU instructional faculty so long as that evaluation has been given within the scope of the course, in good faith, and done so on a rational basis. In sum, only grades apparently based upon non-academic criteria or a violation of PAU policy may be overturned by administration.
Informal Procedure: When students at PAU are dissatisfied with a student evaluation received in a course, their first step must be to communicate or meet with the instructor for clarification and review of the grade within five (5) days of when final grades are posted in the course. If no resolution is reached, students may use the formal procedure described below.
Formal Procedure: If a student believes that non-academic criteria have been used in determining their grade, or that the instructor has otherwise breached PAU policy in assigning the contested grade, the student may appeal the instructor’s evaluation in writing to the Department Chair within fifteen (15) working dates of an attempt at an informal resolution of the matter. If the resolution of the Department Chair is not satisfactory to the student, the student has fifteen (15) working days to appeal the decision to the Provost. The Provost will have forty-five (45) working days to respond to the appeal. If the appeal is approved, then a hearing with the Institutional Grievance and Appeals Committee (IGAC) will be scheduled.
Only grades apparently based upon non-academic criteria or a violation of PAU policy may be overturned by any of the adjudicating groups (Department Chair or IGAC). The written decision of each adjudicating body should be explicit and clear in their outcome regarding overturning or upholding the course grade.
The student’s written appeal at each step of the appeals process must specify the nature of the disagreement and include copies of all documents supporting the grievance. The student bears the burden of showing that non-academic criteria were used or that PAU policy was otherwise breached. The instructor will be consulted by each body of the appeals process (Department Chair and IGAC) for additional information, and will be given an opportunity to respond. All documents will be shared equally with both the student and the instructor. In addition, all materials related to the formal appeals process will be stored in the student’s file. After reading the grade appeal policy students may use the embedded link to access the Grade Appeal Form.