As an experiment, I tried revising the procedure by which students are to complain about professors, since my chairman had asked me to look at that section anyway to find out what he was supposed to be doing and I couldn't figure that out just by reading the document. (I did realize after poring over it for long enough that the answer isn't there-- the document is not self-contained, and it makes mention of other procedures in different, vaguely specified, documents that have the answer to my chairman's question.) I think I was able to replace 10 pages of procedure with just the one page below. The students in my regulation class, G406, helped improve the one page further, and provided one explanation for why the current procedure is so long and poorly written: it is actually meant to deter student complaints. Anyway, you may compare the existing ten pages and my version, and decide which is better. I will circulate this to BFC members, and I predict that there will be overwhelming opposition to my version, as being too simple and leaving too much opportunity for the university administration to treat students unfairly.

I would replace lines 639-1159, pages 14-24 of "Part II: Student Complaint Procedures" with:

A. Complaints Against Instructors and Administrators

1. If a student believes his rights were violated by someone ("the violator"), the first step should ordinarily be an informal complaint to that person. The student may also ask the Dean of Students Office for advice if he wishes.

2. The student may make a formal complaint only after talking with the violator, and must make the complaint within 21 school days after an impasse is reached. If there is a good reason for not contacting the violator, the student may skip the informal complaint, but must make any formal complaint within six months after the student has learned or should reasonably have learned of the violation.

3. A formal complaint must be in writing, signed and dated by the student. A copy will be given to the violator. The complaint should be made to the chairman of the department in which the course was taught. If the course is not taught as part of a department, the complaint should be made to the head of the unit in which it is taught. The chairman or head will immediately forward the complaint to the appropriate decisionmaker for resolution. This decisionmaker might be himself or might be another person or committee, depending on the rules of the academic unit.

4. The decisionmaker will read the complaint and notify the the student and violator of his decision in writing (or by email) within 21 school days of the chairman or head's receipt of the complaint. If the decisionmaker fails to do this, or the student or violator is dissatisfied with the decision, either party may appeal in writing to the Dean of Faculties within 18 school days of the nonresponse or unsatisfactory response.

5. The Dean of Faculties will respond in writing to the student and the violator within 21 school days. The Dean of Faculties may delegate investigation to a committee, may hold hearings, and may use other means of collecting and processing information, at his discretion.

6. If the student or the violator wishes to appeal the decision of the Dean of Faculties to the Chancellor, he must do so in writing within 7 school days of learning the decision. The Chancellor will receive copies of the entire written record of the controversy, but will make his decision without personal discussion with the student, the violator, or witnesses. The Chancellor will respond in writing to the student and violator within 28 school days. There is no appeal from his decision, but his decision could be to send the case back to a previous level for further investigation, in which case each level of appeal may be repeated based on any new information discovered.

The existing Section 5, "Disciplinary Sanctions" lines 1037-1054, ought to be moved to the very end, because it is now inserted in the middle of the sections on procedure for no apparent reason.

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