Appeals Policy

Authority

The Appeals Committee is a committee of the Faculty Council of the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science. All appeals shall be heard in accordance with the University’s General Regulation 6.14 governing appeals of decisions and the Faculty’s Regulation 10 governing appeals of admission, re-admission and promotion decisions.

Principles

As stated in the General University Regulation on Appeals of Decisions, the principles of natural justice shall be applied to the appeals processes and decisions. These principles include, but are not limited to, such practices as all parties to the appeal receiving timely and adequate notice, all parties to the appeal having the opportunity to submit arguments and supporting documentation and all parties to the appeal being made aware of the evidence considered by the committee.

No person shall sit in judgment on an appeal if that person has been previously involved in a decision-making process related to the matter under appeal or if that person has any conflict of interest, bias or reasonable apprehension of bias. For the Appeals Committee, this includes members of the Executive of the Committee on Undergraduate Studies and members of the Admissions Committee. With respect to each specific appeal against a promotion decision, it also includes all faculty members in the department of the student (or all coordinators/ASM-CEs in the case of promotion from a work term). Committee members with such a conflict of interest must formally abstain from voting on the case in question and such abstentions must be recorded in the minutes of the meeting.

It is recognized that this is only one step in a larger appeals process that is available to students.

Membership

a. An academic staff member representative elected annually from each department within the Faculty. Voting alternates should substitute for these representatives when they are not available.

b. A student representative appointed by the Engineering Student Society.

c. A representative of the Office of Co-operative Education.

d. The Registrar or delegate.

e. The Associate Dean (Undergraduate Studies) who will serve as a resource to the committee (non-voting).

f. A secretary who will record the minutes and handle communications (non-voting)

Procedures

a. Committee Chair: The Committee shall choose its own Chair annually in September or October. The Chair shall be responsible for arranging and chairing all sessions of the Committee. The Chair shall be an academic staff member elected by the voting members of the Committee. If the Chair of the Committee is not participating in the meeting, the Chair shall designate another Committee member to chair the meeting.

b. Submission: Appeals shall be submitted to the Secretary of the Appeals Committee in writing through the Undergraduate Studies Office of the Faculty, in accordance with University General Regulation 6.14.4 and Faculty Regulation 10 which outline the information required in letters of appeal.

c. Scheduling: The Chair will call and schedule meetings of the Appeals Committee on an asneeded basis, when appeals have been received. The Secretary shall notify members and the appellant of the hearing date. All hearings shall proceed as scheduled unless a postponement is granted by the Chair in advance of that date. A request to postpone the appeal shall be made as far in advance of the hearing date as possible. Students may request additional time to gather supporting documentation. Such requests will not be unreasonably denied. Requests for postponements made on the hearing date shall be granted only where it would be unfair to proceed.

d. Timeframes: There are no fixed timelines for the hearing of appeals. However, in the interest of fairness, appeals should be heard and decisions provided as soon as is reasonably practical.

e. Distribution: The Secretary of the Appeals Committee shall distribute appeals and other relevant documents to Committee members in a secure manner. This shall normally be in an electronic format.

f. Anonymity: Information that identifies the student will be redacted from the material distributed to voting Committee members to the extent possible, unless the student explicitly waives the right to anonymity.

g. Quorum: The quorum required for an appeal to be considered is the Chair (or delegate), the student representative (or delegate) and any two other voting members.

h. Hearings: The Committee shall conduct the hearing in the following manner:

  • It shall examine all documents submitted by the party making the appeal;
  • It shall examine the student’s academic record;
  • It may examine any other written evidence;
  • It may interview other individuals as it deems necessary.

i. Decisions: The decision of a majority of the voting members of the Committee present throughout the process shall constitute the decision of the Committee.

j. Communication: The Committee shall deliver written reasons for its decisions, which shall be prepared by the Chair. The Secretary shall transmit this correspondence to the student and to the Office of the Registrar in a secure format, normally by e-mail.

k. Further Appeals: When a student’s appeal is unsuccessful, the correspondence from the Chair shall include advice about any possible next level of appeal.

Calendar Regulations

See University General Regulations:

Approved by Faculty Council on 30-10-2013 and revised 24-11-2014