Appeal
After a decision is render in a Student Conduct grievance process, an appeal may be filed by the Respondent(s) or Complainant(s), if either party disagrees with the Student Conduct Officer’s (SCO) decision. There are criteria for an appeal to be considered before an appeal is granted or not.
The appeal must be submitted within 5 working days of the SCO’s decision. It can be submitted either in writing using the appropriate appeal form and must be delivered to the Office of the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs in C Building- C 237 or submitted using the online appeal form.
The VCSA (or his or her designee) shall serve as the Appellate Officer or shall assign an appropriate trained Appellate Officer to the case. The Appellate Officer shall have the sole authority to determine whether or not an appeal warrants further review.
A copy of the appeal will be sent to the non-appealing party and the assigned SCO to allow them to respond, if they chose. The non-appealing party and the assigned SCO will be given 5 working days, to submit a response to the appeal. If no response by the non-appealing party and the assigned SCO is submitted, the Appellate Officer shall make a final determination on the information provided by the appealing party.
An appeal that has been accepted for review shall be limited to a review of the verbatim recording of the SCO meeting and all supporting documents for one (or more) of the following reasons only:
a. There was a material deviation from the written procedures that substantially jeopardized the fairness of the process; or
b. There was new information that was unknown or unavailable at the time of the meeting, would have resulted in a substantially different outcome; or
c. There was a demonstrable bias by the SCO (this option is only available in cases where there is a digital recording of the SCO’s meeting and it is available to review); or
d. The sanction was substantially disproportionate to the severity of the violation, given the facts and relevant information.
If an appeal is granted, then the designated Appellate Officer shall consider the basis for the appeal and make a determination on the issue presented that fairly addresses the alleged appeal issue ONLY. Decisions of the Appellate Officer when an appeal is granted are as follows:
a. Assign to another SCO and re-notice the student in accordance with the procedures (start the whole grievance process over).
b. Consider the new information presented and make the final determination of responsibility.
c. Issue appropriate sanctions that are consistent and proportionate to the severity of the violation.
The Appellate Officer may request written clarification from the parties or involved faculty or staff (investigators, previous decision maker) that the Appellate Officer deems appropriate to make a determination regarding the appeal request.
The decision of the Appellate Officer (or the assigned SCO, when the case is assigned by an Appellate Officer for an appellate purpose) when made in any circumstances listed above, shall be final and binding upon all involved parties.
If an appeal is denied by the Appellate Officer, the matter shall be considered final and binding upon all parties involved.
Flow Chart
