Student Handbook - Academic Policies

End of Term Grade Changes

Grades are assessments, as fair and objective as possible, of the student’s work at the end of the term. Fairness demands that all students be held to the same reasonable deadlines, within the term. All instructors are expected to make fair and careful appraisals of each student’s work at the end of the term, and to submit grades to the Registrar no later than the due date specified by the Registrar for the final exam period.

Grades, once submitted, come within the protective domain of the College. Grade changes can only be made upon petition to and with the approval of the Subcouncil on the Standing of Students, the body authorized by the Academic Affairs Council to hear such requests.

Should a member of the faculty wish to change a grade for substantive reasons (other than clerical error), it is necessary to make a request to the Subcouncil on Standing of Students, which may be sent to the Dean of Studies. The Subcouncil will not accept a request without a full explanation supported with detail. Faculty may not allow a student to submit late or additional work in order to improve his/her grade, unless an official grade of Incomplete has been assigned.

The Subcouncil will grant a grade change appeal by a student only under extraordinary circumstances, namely when it can be demonstrated that the grade was inequitably awarded.

This is limited to one or more of the following:

1. the assignment of a grade on some basis other than performance in the course.
2. the assignment of a grade by applying more exacting and demanding standards than were used for other students in the course.
3. the assignment of a grade involving a gross violation of the professor’s own announced grading standards for the course.

A student wishing to appeal a grade in a course should do so no later than the end of the second week of the subsequent term. The student should confer with the faculty member who assigned the grade (if this faculty member is not available, and then they should meet directly with the department chair—see #2 below). The student should inform the instructor of their concerns and seek to fully understand the grounds and procedures the instructor has used in determining the grade. The aim of this conference is to try to reach a mutual understanding about the grade and the process by which it was assigned.

1. If upon meeting with the faculty member, as outlined above, the matter is not resolved within 2 weeks, the student may make a formal written complaint to the department chair, with a copy of this complaint being sent to the Dean of Studies.
2. If the issue is not yet resolved within a second 2-week period, the matter may be forwarded to the Dean of Studies, who will consult with the faculty member and/or department chair and after considering the relevant information, the Dean of Studies may deny the appeal. This decision is final. If upon review, the Dean finds sufficient grounds of an inequitable awarding of the grade to warrant an official hearing, the Dean may consult the Subcouncil on the Standing of Students.
3. If the Dean decides to consult the Subcouncil on the Standing of Students, the Subcouncil will consider the student’s letter of appeal, and any other relevant materials provided by the Dean of Studies, and make a determination regarding the appeal. The decision of the Subcouncil on the Standing of Students is final.

In no case will the Subcouncil on Standing of Students substitute its judgment on the merits of a student’s work for the bona fide judgment of a faculty member.