In such cases the student should ask the faculty member to reconsider the grade. If a mutually satisfactory agreement is not reached, the student may request that the chair form a committee of three faculty peers of the faculty member who assigned the grade. The faculty member or the student may challenge, and have replaced, one of the three members of the committee without giving a reason for the challenge. The committee meets separately with the faculty member and the student to explore the full particulars of the case. A nonparticipating observer of the student's choice may attend the meeting.
Every effort is made to avoid an adversarial relationship.
At this time, the faculty member has an opportunity to take the recommended action, if any. If the matter is not resolved at this point, the chair considers the committee recommendation and makes a recommendation to the dean. The decision of the dean is not subject to further appeal. If the dean decides that a change of grade is appropriate, and the faculty member refuses to make the change, then the dean may direct the registrar to do so. A graduate student is dismissed upon accumulating either grades of F in two courses or nine credits of unsatisfactory grades in graduate courses.