Grade Appeals

To appeal a grade that you received in one of our Comparative Literature courses, you may take the following steps:

 Step 1:

• Contact the instructor of the course in question and
  • State your concern;
  • Ask them to clarify the criteria they used to determine the grade;
  • Ask if reconsidering the grade is an option and, if so, on what grounds.
  • You may put all of this in writing, if you want to proceed in a more formal way. A more informal way is to ask the instructor for a conversation at a time that is convenient to you both. Grade appeals should be submitted within 14 days of receiving the graded assignment or course grade in question.
  • Most grade disputes are quickly and easily resolved in this way and at this level.

 Step 2:

• If things are not resolved in step 1, the next step is to contact the Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) and request their assistance in resolving the matter. The grade appeal must be submitted to the DUS within 14 days of receiving the course instructor’s response. The DUS will issue a ruling within 4 weeks of receiving the request.
• At this second stage, the DUS will consult with you and the instructor separately in order to get your and their respective perspectives on the matter in question.
• They will follow up by proposing a resolution to the issue in question.

 Step 3:

• The final step (which is rarely necessary) is to appeal to the Department Chair to adjudicate the matter. In cases where the grade appeal concerns a course that the DUS was directly involved in teaching, the grade appeal should be submitted to the Department Chair at the outset.