Taking action

Often, students can fix academic mistreatment issues by taking action themselves. Standing up for your rights can be scary, but is an educational experience itself. Issues will arise in your future schooling, career, and personal life, so learning to take action is a great skill to build.

The key is to be polite but persistent. For serious academic mistreatment cases, you deserve to have the case considered carefully.

Note: You won't always get the matter resolved to your satisfaction. But at least you tried! Often, issues get resolved when a light is shone on a problem.

Key steps:

Write a concise email
Send to relevant initial people
Gradually escalate if unresolved

See below for more details.

Taking action: What We Do

1. Write a concise email

The first step to resolving a case of academic mistreatment is to write a concise, factual email.

Be concise: The shorter the better
Stick to facts: Avoid accusations or judgements. Quote school policy if relevant.
Describe the impact and desired resolution

Even if you plan to talk with a professor face to face, writing an email first can help keep your message focused. You can even glance at it during your conversation to remind you of key points—which can be especially helpful if you're nervous.

Sample email (from a real case)

Dear Prof. Jones,

I request that my final exam grade be recorded and my course grade updated.

I took the final exam for section 003 on Dec 8, with your TA as proctor. I scored 94%.
On Dec 12, you announced section 003's final exams would be ignored due to scoring 11 points higher than other sections. You stated that we likely cheated, that we'd receive an Incomplete (I) course grade, and that we'd have to take the final next semester. These actions seem inconsistent with the school's academic dishonesty process at (URL).
I studied hard and did not cheat, nor have I been presented with any evidence that I cheated.
Having to study for the final exam again next semester would be a burden. Receiving an Incomplete would also prevent me from taking the next class in the sequence.
I respectfully request that my final exam score be recorded and my course grade updated.

Due to the time-sensitive nature of this issue (since grades are due next week), I would appreciate a reply by end-of-business tomorrow. Thank you for your time.

Sam A.

Student ID: 123456

Phone: 312-555-4000

Taking action: Who We Are

2. Send to initially-relevant people

After writing a concise email, first send it to the people most-directly relevant to the issue.

If an issue within a class, that's usually the professor and/or TA
If a broader issue, it might be the department chair
- If there's a vice-chair and/or undergraduate advisor, cc them too

Emailing is nice (vs. talking): Emailing is clear, provides a written trail, and is less nerve-wracking for young students.

Talking is fine too, having the benefit of letting the person see your smiling face, and letting them ask questions that you answer. In that case, you might email asking to meet, and include a reason in 2-3 sentences. During the meeting, you might take notes, and send an email summary after, to keep a written trail.

If talking, remember:

Be concise. Rambling weakens your message. Stick to your points—you can just verbalize your email.
Stay factual. Don't accuse ("You didn't train the proctor"). Don't make judgements ("It's not fair"). Those can make the person defensive.
Stay calm and polite.
If the person seems taken aback or declines, give them a chance to ponder: "Would you be willing to think about this and email me tomorrow?".

Taking action: Who We Are

3. Escalate

If your initial request is denied or ignored, you can follow an escalation process, in which you email progressively higher-level people, asking for resolution. Students are often surprised at how effective this approach is.

You can just "Reply-all" to the initial email and add the higher-level person(s) to the To: field. You might simply prepend a short message to the original email, like "Dr. Smith, could you help resolve the matter below?"

Below is a typical ordering of people you'd contact during the escalation process.

Professor / TAs
Department chair / vice-chair (for undergrad affairs if exists) / undergrad advisor
College's associate dean (for undergrad affairs if exists)
College's dean
University's vice-provost for undergrad affairs
University's provost and perhaps president/chancellor

If still unresolved, universities often have an "ombudsman" whose purpose is to help with unresolved disputes. Some schools have a "student advocates" office as well.

You can find emails for the above people on the university webpages (department page, college/school page, university page).

How high you want to go depends on how important the matter is and how strong a case you have.

You can of course merge steps to speed things up. There's a risk of annoying the lower-level people, who might say "I wish you came to me before notifying ___." Folks don't want their "boss" to get complaints. But merging steps can also get matters resolved more quickly, if the matter is urgent.

Taking action: Who We Are