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[resis]

Faculty definitely mess up sometimes, and of course I believe student grievance procedures are an important mechanism for protecting students from those mess ups. But if there's a chair out there who has seen anything close to a balance between frivolous and legitimate student grievances, I'd be shocked.

This week I'm obligated to show a student (who without any doubt plagiarized from a web site) how to file a grievance against a faculty member who had the audacity to follow policy and give the student an 'F' in the course. Maybe this is something funny about my institution, but yes, I'm the one who instructs the student on how to file the grievance and then I also act as the first (and probably not the last!) hearing officer. It's simply maddening to spend time showing this student how to waste my and other people's time.

So do you have any specific things you say to the blatantly out-of-line students that successfully discourages them from pursuing grievances?

[sinatra]

Sometimes the best answer is make them go through the process and find out that department heads will not support them.

[stitch]

The parking office at my alma mater had a policy that if your ticket appeal was found to be frivolous you would be subject to an additional fine.  I don't know how often they actually imposed said fine...

Not sure that that would translate to academic appeals...

[resis]

Sometimes the best answer is make them go through the process and find out that department heads will not support them.

Good point. Given the few replies and large number of views for this thread, that may be the only thing to do.

[anthroid]

Sometimes the best answer is make them go through the process and find out that department heads will not support them.

Good point. Given the few replies and large number of views for this thread, that may be the only thing to do.

I often warn students that challenges or grievances will not prevail unless they can demonstrate that their complaint is based on demonstrable unfairness (that is, they were treated differently than other students) or unprofessionalism on the part of the professor.

That usually keeps me from hearing from the students with groundless complaints.  Just had one last week.  A student wanted to grieve against one of my faculty members because the student really, really, really needed a C in a class from last semester and was only 32 points away from one (on a 200 point scale).  I explained the grounds for a grade challenge (which she couldn't meet, clearly) and she swallowed and decided to take the course again.

[engineer_adrift]

I find that talking their case through with them while laughing gets the point across.

"No, really, you want me to get your grade changed for you when you were four standard deviaitons below the class mean and did not submit your final exam?  Ha Ha Ha.  That's a good one!  Thanks for the laugh.  Here's the door - don't let it hit you on the way out...."

Best
E_A

[patchouli]

Is this student's grievance based on the defense that s/he did not plagiarize?  If that is the case, and there is definite proof, could you argue that this would be considered academic dishonesty, as well?

If the student is just filing a grievance because s/he doesn't want the well-earned F, then this is some crazy place you're at.

Give 'em the form to fill out, but you might add a brief lecture on "academic reputation" while it's being completed.

[sibyl]

I don't think there's any way to prevent people from "wasting your time."  A long time ago I had a mentor who told me that these people aren't preventing me from doing my job; they are my job.

Students with concerns need to have somewhere to go with them, and unless your institution has an ombudsman or something, then this is where they go.  It's also true that we are not infallibly able to evaluate grievances at face value, and sometimes what seems frivolous actually hides a serious problem.  If you take the time to sit with them and explain the grievance process, and explain the standards for successful grievances ("there are six faculty members on the committee and four of them will have to agree that this grading policy is unusual by institutional standards"), and let them decide whether they want to pursue it further, then you have done well by the student and by the faculty. 

And if the student takes the time to submit a grievance, the good news is that it shouldn't take long to resolve.

Good luck.