MSU Denver has a new complaint policy that gives students a safe procedure to resolve conflicts with faculty or staff.
The Student Engagement and Wellness office has been working on the complaint policy for four years, according to Emilia Paul, associate vice president of student engagement and wellness.
Before this policy was created and approved, there was no real procedure for students to make complaints.
“Prior to having a policy, very honestly, students ended up in the president’s office trying to resolve their issues,” Paul said. “He’s not the appropriate person for things that happen at the front line level, and students would get frustrated because they would get sent back.”
According to the new policy, first the students must contact the faculty or staff member with whom they have an issue (faculty members are the professors and teachers at the university, and staff are the people who work in different offices.)
They have 15 days from the time of the incident to do so. The student needs to set up a meeting with the person in question in order to start a resolution. If a resolution is met, it needs to be documented via email and sent to both the student and the next level supervisor.
If the student is not satisfied with this meeting, or the faculty or staff member does not contact the student back within five days, the student then moves on to contact the faculty’s chair or the staff member’s next level supervisor.
This process continues on up the chain until it reaches the dean or the highest level supervisor.
Once the students get to this level, they must submit a complaint form. The dean or supervisor has five days to acknowledge receipt of the form, and then 15 days to perform a review of the complaint. This is the last step in the process, and the decision made is final. There is no appeal process.
“Facts of cases do come to light. That’s part of the process, that’s part of the questions, that’s why we have so many levels involved is to get to the bottom of the issue,” said Jake Kasper, coordinator for student conflict resolution services and academic integrity.
The policy also says that any student who submits a complaint against a faculty or staff member in good faith will not be penalized for what they say.
Paul also said that they will be keeping track of the complaints in order to make sure that if one area is getting more complaints than others, they can make sure to fix whatever is not working.
This includes the policy itself. The policy is up for review in July 2014, and students can make suggestions on changes at any time.
“I am an advocate for fair process,” Kasper said, “Students cannot perform at their best if they’re dealing with conflicts, if they’re dealing with personal issues. This is a service to help them be better students and more successful in the university.”
Full details of the student complaint policy can be found at msudenver.edu.
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