The college’s grievance procedure is clearly outlined in the student handbook and on HCC’s website. Rosters indicate a number of complaints have been received, however, no examples of actual student grievances were furnished to confirm that HCC follows its published policies and procedures. The On-Site Committee should review institutional documentation pertaining to student grievances to confirm that HCC follows its published policies and procedures. |
Students attending Hillsborough Community College have formal and informal avenues for resolving problems and complaints. There are two formal grievance procedures available to students: 1) Student Academic Grievance Procedure and 2) Student Non-Academic Grievance Procedure. In addition, students have the option of resolving problems through an informal Complaint Procedure. The following is a definition of each procedure:
- A Student Academic Grievance is defined as a procedure “ … by which a student can dispute the process in which a grade was determined, if the student believes that the grade has been awarded in error or if the student believes that the grade was prejudicially or capriciously awarded.
- A Non-Academic Student Grievance is defined as a dispute involving a non-academic issue with an employee of the College or with the College itself, which may include the violation of an administrative rule or procedure. A grievance will not involve administrative decisions regarding the operation of the College, such as but not limited to the scheduling of classes or the location of a classroom(s).
- A Complaint is defined as “…any written complaint, whether submitted as an email or in some other written form, will be accepted and acted upon as long as it contains the student’s name, contact information and a general description of the problem.”
During the 2005- 2006 academic years, the following Student Academic Grievances, Non-Academic Grievances, and Complaints were filed by students attending HCC:
Student Academic Grievances 7
Student Non-Academic Grievances 0
Student Complaints 316*
Total Complaints and Grievances 323
Summaries of the Student Academic Grievances- Table A , Non-Academic Student Grievances- Table B , and Student Complaints (including the resolution)- Table C are provided. A review
of the complaints and grievances are conducted by the Director of Student Services to ascertain if there are trends in the complaints. If trends are present, the report is given to the Vice President for Education and Student Development and recommendations are made to address the issues. For example, 103 of the student complaints in 2005-06 were on the one issue of food service. Discussions were held with some of the students at an open dialogue session and the administration reviewed contract provisions with the current food service vendor.
In summary, the number of grievances and informal complaints that were resolved by the College Administrators indicate that the College does follow procedures for addressing student written complaints. As evidence, Tables A, B, and C document the College’s responses to the student complaints. |
