Academic Complaints

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If a student feels she or he has been graded unfairly, he or she should:

  1. Talk to their professor to see if they can understand why they received the grade they did.
  2. If the student still has a question about their grade, they should make an appointment with the chair of the department. The student should bring materials relating to the assignment (the assignment sheet, syllabus, grading rubrics, and the graded work) to the meeting with the department chair. The chair will review these materials and facilitate a discussion between the student and the professor.
  3. If the student remains unsatisfied, they should call the Office of Academic Affairs (217.245.3010) to set-up an appointment with the Dean of Faculty.The student should bring the same materials to the Dean’s office. The Dean will review the materials, talk to the chair and the professor, and will determine the best course of action to follow. If a student has any other sort of complaint about the academic program (faculty members’ teaching or mentoring, courses and so forth), she or he should:
    1. Contact the Dean of Faculty (217.245.3010) to make an appointment. When they come to the office, they should bring as much information about their complaint as possible (dates and times of incidents, emails, texts, etc.) to help document their concerns.
    2. The Dean will discuss the situation with the student and together determine the best course of action to follow.
    3. If appropriate, the Dean will investigate the complaint, seeking information from the student, faculty and/ or staff members and others, as appropriate.
    4. The Dean will attempt to determine the accuracy of the complaint and what actions should be taken in response to it. These actions may vary widely, depending on the type of complaint and the findings of the Dean.

If the student’s complaint is about the Dean or someone in the Office of Academic Affairs, the student should contact the President’s Office (217.245.3001) to make an appointment. The complaint process would be similar to that described above.