Meiklejohn House

Governance

Grade appeal policy and procedures: Integrated Liberal Studies (ILS)

ILS adheres to the College of L&S’s Policy and Procedures for grade appeals.

Students who seek to appeal a grade should familiarize themselves with the policy governing grade appeals in the College of Letters & Science. In brief, this policy only permits changes to grades in cases of clerical error, miscalculation, some other inconsistency, or discrimination against individuals based on their protected status or affiliation with someone of protected status.

For students who believe they have been discriminated against in the grading process, please see UW information on allegations of discrimination in the awarding of a grade.

To maintain equity and consistency, students cannot, for example, petition to improve a course grade by offering to rewrite a paper, turn in additional work, or retake a final exam. Having a grade changed in a course is not a possibility unless such options are:

  1. available to all students in a given course, AND
  2. stated explicitly in the course syllabus

Once a student has familiarized themselves with L&S policy, and if they still wish to appeal their grade, the student must follow the process in the order listed below within the semester/term immediately following the term in which the course is taken.

  1. The student will first discuss the grade appeal with the instructor of the course.
  2. If the student and instructor do not come to an agreement, the student will provide a formal written grade appeal to the director of the ILS program. The written appeal must include the following: the class; instructor; copy of the course syllabus showing grading guidelines and any relevant rubric(s) pertaining to the assignment(s) in question; the actual submitted work for any assignment(s) in question, with the grade and any comments given for those assignment(s); the overall grade received; date and conclusion of meeting with instructor; the specific reason(s) for appealing the grade; and email address and telephone number where they can be reached for follow-up. Note: the documentation must demonstrate how the student was either incorrectly graded for the work they did or treated in a way that was inconsistent with the standard grading policy/practice for all students taking the same course.
  3. The director of the ILS program will review the submitted documentation and make a decision as to whether the submitted documentation demonstrates that the student was either incorrectly graded for their work or treated in a way that was inconsistent with the standard grading policy/practice for all students taking the same course.  When a decision is made, the chair will notify the student in writing of their decision.
  4. If the director’s decision supports the original decision made by the course instructor, the student may then make a formal written appeal to the L&S Associate Dean for Teaching & Learning Administration. The decision of the Associate Dean for Teaching & Learning Administration is final.