The two most common grounds for dismissal of a graduate student are (1) inadequate academic progress, or (2) a disciplinary violation resulting in a University sanction.

Graduate students whose cumulative grade point average or the average for the most recently completed semester (including the summer semester) fall below 2.33 are placed on probationary status; many departments may have more stringent standards. Although graduate programs may notify students in writing, probationary status applies whether or not a student has been notified. The period of probation extends to the end of the next semester in which the student is enrolled. Once students are placed on probationary status, they have one semester to improve their grades. If the next semester again results in probationary status, this results in dismissal; students will be notified once final grades have been received and posted to their records.

Also, a student who is failing to meet departmental or university requirements, such as failing to meet grade requirements, failing to pass required examinations by the required time, or failing to advance to candidacy or defend her/his thesis within the required time, may be dismissed without warning. (It is, however, a good practice for graduate programs to notify students who are approaching required milestones.) In other situations, when a student is judged not to be making adequate academic progress, s/he must be warned of the possibility of dismissal and given clear information about what must be done within a specified time period to alleviate the problem. These expectations must be reasonable and consistent with expectations held for all students similarly situated in the program. If the student does not meet the stated requirements within the time frame specified, s/he may be dismissed by the graduate program.

It is difficult to give a precise and general definition of “adequate academic progress” for graduate students, due to the tremendous variation among different graduate programs. Nevertheless, some general principles do apply. Most graduate programs consist of two stages. The first stage, preceding candidacy, typically consists of explicit requirements and milestones, such as course requirements, certain exams, and the like. In this stage, adequate academic progress typically means compliance with the requirements and milestones of the program. The second stage, post-candidacy, is often referred to as “all but dissertation” (ABD). In this stage, graduate students are expected to write and defend their theses/dissertations. As the second stage typically lacks explicit intermediate milestones, it is harder to assess academic progress during this stage. It is extremely important for graduate programs to make their expectations explicit for post-candidacy graduate students. Graduate programs must provide students, upon entry to the program, with written guidelines of all program requirements. Graduate program must also establish mechanisms for assessing academic progress of graduate students on a periodic basis and should offer graduate students a written assessment of their academic progress periodically.

Dismissal of a graduate student requires that the student be notified of his/her dismissal from the graduate program. Such a notice is distinct from the earlier warning, which let the student know of the possibility of dismissal. All dismissal notices, as well as warnings of possible dismissal, must be in writing, with a copy sent to the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies. Email communication is considered to be “in writing”. (Academic units should archive print copies of all email communications pertaining to student dismissal.)

Because of the severe consequences of dismissal from a graduate program, dismissed students must receive a 15-day notice of the dismissal. Such a notice may precede the trigger for the dismissal. For example, a program can notify a student 15 days before an examination that failure to pass the examination with a certain minimal grade would result in dismissal. In general, dismissal should not take effect during a semester in which the student is enrolled. Dismissals that take effect during a semester are exceptional and must be approved by the Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies. A dismissal will be held in abeyance until the petition and appeal process is concluded, as students may petition for a dismissal to be revoked as described below.

PETITIONS and APPEALS

Graduate students may petition for exceptions to academic requirements, regulations, and judgments. A course requirement is an example of an academic requirement. Allowed time to degree is an example of an academic regulation. Course grades and dismissals from programs are examples of academic judgments.

In general, petitions will be handled at the lowest appropriate level. A petition regarding requirements, regulations, or judgments of a graduate program will be handled at that level, that is, by the program. Such petitions need to follow procedures established in these programs. A petition regarding University requirements, regulations, or judgment must be submitted to the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies; such a petition must be accompanied by a recommendation from the program. When the program’s recommendation is negative, or when the petition requests a major exception—for example, an extension of allowed time to degree by more than 1/2 semester—the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies may also obtain the recommendation of the school overseeing the program (when relevant) and the Graduate Council with regard to such petitions.

Petitions for exceptions to academic requirements, regulations, and judgments should be viewed as unusual, rather than typical. Extensions of various time limits, such as time to candidacy or time to defense, will not be granted routinely. Students requesting such extensions will have to demonstrate their academic progress towards the goal, the unusual circumstances justifying their request, and a concrete plan for meeting the goal within the requested extension.

Petitions regarding academic decisions must be submitted in writing within 15 days from the time that the student knew or should reasonably have known of the decision being petitioned, or within 15 days after an informal effort to resolve the situation has not been successful. Petitions seeking exceptions to academic requirements or regulations should be submitted in writing at least 30 days before the requirement or regulation takes effect. For example, a petition to extend allowed time to degree should be submitted at least 30 days before the deadline in effect. Late petitions will be dismissed, except for unusual situations when a delay is justified. Petitions must be acknowledged in writing immediately upon their receipt by the receiving unit. Email communication is considered to be “in writing”.

A student is allowed only one level of appeal from a decision regarding a petition. In general, the appeal process will be resolved at the lowest level possible. When the petition is decided at the department level, the appeal must be submitted to the school. When the petition is decided at a school level, the appeal must be handled by the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies. When the petition is decided by the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, the student may submit an appeal to the Provost. An appeal must be submitted within 15 days from receipt of the decision that is being appealed. Late appeals will be dismissed, except for unusual situations when a delay is justified. Appeals must be acknowledged in writing immediately upon their receipt by the receiving unit. Email communication is considered to be “in writing”.

A petition/appeal should indicate the requirement, regulation, or judgment that is the subject of the petition/appeal, the specific exception requested, and the grounds for the request. An appeal must indicate why the decision involving the earlier petition was incorrectly decided. Grounds for a petition/appeal could be procedural errors by academic or administrative personnel or special mitigating circumstances. Disagreement over evaluation of academic quality without reasonable basis will not be considered as an appropriate basis for petitions/appeals. Petitions involving a violation of University policy or improper conduct by University personnel will be handled as grievances (see Grievances).

Petitions and appeals should be resolved within 30 days of their submission. When such resolution cannot be achieved within 30 days, students will be informed of the delay before the 30 days are over. A resolution of the petition or appeal must be achieved within 60 days. A lack of resolution of a petition within 60 days is an acceptable cause for an appeal.

An academic units directly managing graduate students (either a department or a school without departments) must establish standing a Petitions, Appeals, and Grievances Committee. A petition by a student will be handled by a committee consisting of at least three faculty members. The committee must be independent of the cause for the petition. Members of a student’s thesis committee must not participate in the handling of a petition by the student. (The department chair or dean may appoint ad-hoc members to the committee to ensure independence of the committee.) The committee will conduct an investigation of the circumstances and reach a decision regarding the petition. Their written report to the graduate director, and the chair (or dean) will describe the circumstances, the decision, and the rationale for the decision. The graduate director or chair (or dean) will convey the final decision to the student and include the committee report. (Redaction from the report is allowed to protect the privacy of other students.) For petitions submitted to the Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, the dean may in her or his discretion handle these in a similar manner by enlisting the assistance of a standing subcommittee of the Graduate Council, which will submit its report to the chair of the Council and to the Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.

An appeal handled by a school may be handled by the school dean or by an associate dean. The handling officer may convene an ad-hoc faculty committee or establish a standing committee. An appeal handled by the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies may be referred to a standing subcommittee of the Graduate Council, composed of three faculty members (representing diverse disciplines within the university) and a graduate student. Such committees must be independent of the cause for the petition. In general, officers or committees handling the appeal should not try to substitute their judgment for that of the unit handling the petition. Rather, their task is to consider whether the petition was handled appropriately, whether all relevant circumstances have been considered, whether University policy has been appropriately interpreted and applied, and whether the petition was decided reasonably.

All time frames in this procedure refer to academic calendar days, and exclude mid-term, inter-term and summer recesses. (This exclusion does not apply to a student who is enrolled during the summer.) All petitions and appeals, as well as responses to petitions and appeals, must be in writing. Email communication is considered to be “in writing”. (Academic units should archive print copies of all email communications pertaining to petitions and appeals.)

GRIEVANCES

Grievances are different from petitions and appeals. Petitions and appeals involve exceptions to academic requirements, regulations, and judgments. A grievance is a complaint regarding inappropriate conduct by other students, faculty members, or staff. Inappropriate conduct encompasses both inappropriate personal conduct, such as sexual harassment, as well as inappropriate official conduct, such as violation of University policies. Specific policies exist to address grievances based on discrimination or sexual harassment and these policies must be followed in situations involving these issues. Grievances against another student may be raised with the assistant dean of student judicial programs and addressed under the Code of Student Conduct. In other cases, a student may present a grievance in writing at the lowest appropriate level, typically the department or school. If a satisfactory resolution is not obtained at that level, the student may appeal the outcome of the grievance by presenting the problem at the next administrative level, such as the school, Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, Provost, or President. Grievances against non-faculty staff members may also be brought to the Employee Relations Director in Rice’s Human Resources office.

The procedures for handling grievances are analogous to those for handling petitions and appeals. Students submitting grievances must so indicate in their submissions.

PROBLEM RESOLUTION

During the course of graduate studies, problems that do not fall under the category of grievances, described above, may arise in the relationship between a graduate student and his/her department or his/her advisor. Students should attempt to resolve such problems by informing the appropriate faculty members and working together to resolve the problem. When attempts to resolve the problem informally are unsuccessful, the following problem-resolution procedure will be used:

1. The student will submit the problem in writing to the departmental chair, who will then attempt to resolve it.

2. If the student remains unsatisfied, the problem will be presented to a departmental committee for resolution. This committee will be a standing committee and not the student’s own thesis/dissertation committee. Both the student and the chair will submit a written record of their views to this committee.

3. If the student remains unsatisfied, the problem will be referred to a standing subcommittee of the Graduate Council and composed of three faculty members (representing diverse disciplines within the university) and a graduate student, with the Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies as an ex-officio member. A written report of proceedings at stage 2 will be presented to the Chair of Graduate Council for forwarding to the subcommittee, along with all other written materials generated during the investigation. The decision of this subcommittee is considered final.

The time frame for handling problem resolution is similar to that for handling petitions, appeals, and grievances. Students may seek guidance on any of these procedures through discussions with the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.

Office of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies6100 Main MS-13, Houston, Texas 77005-1827 Mailing Address: P.O. Box 1892, Houston, Texas 77251-1892

©2009 Rice University Rice Home Web Services University Calendar Rice A-Z Maps-Directions Feedback