Provost, SGA provide forum for academic grievances

Following three semesters of the Week Preceding Final Exams (WPFE) policy, the Office of the Provost has collaborated with SGA to create the Student Academic Grievance Reporting website at http://www.provost.gatech.edu/reporting/, where students can report academic grievances and professors’ violations of the WPFE policy, effective this semester. After receiving these reports, representatives from the Office of the Provost follow up with the appropriate professors regarding the grievances and violations.

“The issue has been that the majority of violations occurred because the professor did not know what the policy was,” said Amit Khanduri, Director of Academic Affairs and a third-year MGT major.

The text-based violations reporting form simply requires a description of the academic grievance and allows students to ask questions and to address concerns of potential violations.

Approved in Fall 2009 and implemented in Spring 2010, the WPFE policy blocks major tests and quizzes during WPFE (also known as “Dead Week”) for courses with traditional final exams.

For courses with nontraditional final assessments, only homework assignments, lab reports and other assessments are allowed to be due during WPFE.

All assignments due during WPFE must be detailed on the course syllabus prior to the semesterly drop date for receiving a ‘W’ in a course.

Prior to the implementation of this website, students would have to go through several levels of leadership to address potential violations of the WPFE policy, sometimes having to reach the chair of the respective school to accomplish anything.

The intent of the new website is to take the burden of following up with the appropriate leadership and reporting mechanisms off of the student.

The ability to report academic grievances will close on Sunday, Dec. 18, after final exams. Students can visit http://www.sga.gatech.edu/undergraduate/WPFE/ for more details regarding the policy.

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