Procedures for Student Grievances or Complaints
The official university policy for student grievances or complaints is listed in the Student Handbook, available online at http://www.georgian.edu/publications/. The guidance offered below is related to how the grievance or complaint is managed by the university systems and by key offices and functions.
Stakeholders
- Academic Standards Committee
- Provost Council
- Title IX Task Force
- Office of Student Accounts
- Office of Financial Aid
- Office of the Registrar
- Office of Public Safety
- Office of Residence Life
- Office of Student Life
- Faculty Advisors & Department Chairs
General Guidance
A student makes a complaint to an office or university official about any number of matters. The university official will refer the student to the appropriate policy for the type of matter and ask the student to follow the policy. In matters where the university official is unclear on the appropriate policy, the student will be referred to the associate provost for student services and support. As a general reference, students should be referred to the office/person that manages the area of complaint (financial aid issue to the director of financial aid, grading issue to the instructor, etc.).
Student grievances submitted anonymously will be addressed by the appropriate official; however, the ability to resolve the matter completely may be obstructed by the limited information shared by the student.
See Guidance For Specific Areas of Concern section below for more information.
Phase 1: Grievance Record
The university attempts to maintain a record of the number and type of grievances reported by students. After each semester, office managers will collect a list of grievances and outcomes reported through the semester and submit them to the associate provost for student support and services. The list will be collected and annotated into a bi-annual report for the purpose of looking for systemic complaints and grievances that can be addressed. This report of all grievances (not including student names or identifiers) will be reviewed each semester by the Provost Council for consideration of process and policy improvements and changes. The report includes type of grievance, area of concern, the governing regulation/policy, and general outcome.
Phase 2: Adjustment of Policy or Procedure
When there is policy or procedure identified as needing review due to a student grievance, the associate provost for student support and services and the provost, in collaboration, will suggest that a review of the policy or procedure be conducted by the appropriate committee. For example, an academic policy for grading and/or degree earning will be submitted to the Academic Standards Committee, a policy related to residence life would be referred to the Office of the Dean of Students, and a policy for gender-based discrimination would be referred to the Title IX Task Force.
Guidance for Specific Areas of Concern
- For Complaints Regarding FERPA, Title IX, or Student Conduct: Please refer to the FERPA, Title IX, or the Student Conduct Section of GCU’s Student Handbook. For sexual misconduct, please refer to the Sexual and Gender-Based Misconduct Policy related to sexual misconduct. Contact the following:
(1) Title IX coordinator
(2) Deputy Title IX coordinator - For each area of concern listed below, you will find a list of the appropriate people to contact and the appropriate order in which to contact them to address your concerns.
Concerns related to the academic experience, e.g., instructor methods, grades, class requirements, etc.:
(1) Faculty member
(2) Chair of the department
(3) Dean of the school(s)/Provost
Concerns related to finance, e.g., refunds, outstanding obligations, fees, deferred payments, billing, etc.:
(1) Office of Student Accounts
(2) Director of student accounts
(3) Vice president for finance and administration
Concerns related to student activities, e.g., clubs, honor societies, student events, programs, etc.:
(1) Coordinator of student engagement and residence life
Concerns related to security issues, e.g., lost and found, ID cards, parking, violations, threats (personal or non-personal), property damage, thefts, etc.:
(1) Campus Safety (Gatehouse)
(2) Director of Campus Safety
(3) Director of human resources
Concerns related to residence life:
(1) Resident assistants
(2) Graduate assistant
(3) Coordinators of residence life
(4) Director of campus life
(5) Dean of students
Concerns about other students or community members or just the need to talk to someone:
(1) Counseling Center (in the Casino)
(2) Office of Student Success (in Jeffries Hall, Room 101)
(3) Dean of students
(4) Provost
(5) Any university personnel in a leadership role, i.e., athletic director/coach, director of residence life
- For Complaints about GCU
Attempts to resolve complaints should always occur first using processes internal to GCU (above). For complaints about GCU that cannot be resolved by following the processes described above, or for which those processes are not appropriate, contact:
1. State of New Jersey, Office of Secretary of Higher Education, P.O. Box 542, Trenton, NJ 08625-0542 or visit https://state.nj.us/highereducation/OSHEComplaintInstructions.shtml.
2. GCU’s institutional accreditor, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, 1007 North Orange St, 4th Floor, MB #166, Wilmington, DE 19801. Call 267-284-5011 or visit https://msche.org.
3. For students taking GCU distance education courses in states other than New Jersey: Complaints about GCU are governed by the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (SARA) policy, the full text of which can be found here: https://www.nc-sara.org/sara-student-complaints-0. After first attempting to resolve a complaint through GCU’s internal processes, non-California students should file their complaints with the SARA State Portal Entity for New Jersey: Eric Taylor, Esq., Director, Office of Licensure, New Jersey Office of the Secretary of Higher Education, P.O. Box 542, Trenton, NJ 08625; 609-984-3738; eric.taylor@oshe.nj.gov. Because California is not a member of SARA, California students should contact the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education at https://bppe.ca.gov/enforcement/complaint.shtml, or https://oag.ca.gov/contact/consumer-complaint-against-business-or-company. (Additional resource: Click here for a list of contacts for filing complaints for all states).