 
Carlson School of Management
Procedure for Resolving Student Concerns
about Courses, Instructors, and Grades
Effective Fall 2008
If a concern about a class in the Carlson School of Management arises, the School asks that the student follow the chain of responsibility and contacts outlined here. You must follow the below steps in sequence to resolve your issue.
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Follow these steps in order, to resolve your issue.
A.) Students with concerns related to differential treatment due to factors such as race, gender, or disability should contact the central office that handles such concerns:
B.) With other concerns, the first step is to try to resolve the concern by contacting the course instructor. You will be best received if you are:
- specific in the details of your situation and
- clear, consistent, and professional in your communication.
Students who are uncertain how to approach an instructor may contact the Student Conflict Resolution Center http://www.sos.umn.edu/students/ for a free consultation.
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There are often multiple perspectives on a situation and multiple pieces of information to consider. Presenting a concern to someone does not guarantee that the person will agree with you. Please be aware that concerns about how a particular item of work was graded can be resolved only with the instructor. Other individuals (such as departmental coordinators and department chairs) cannot re-grade work and assign a different grade. Other individuals in the chain of responsibility can assist a student if the student has a concern about a violation of policy, inadequate instructor record keeping, or instructor conduct that they have been unable to resolve with the instructor. |
 
If a student is unsuccessful in working with the instructor to resolve concerns about violations of policy (including the grading policy), inadequate instructor record keeping, or instructor conduct, the student may then contact the departmental program coordinator. As a third step, the student may contact the department chair. The department chair will only intervene if it appears that the department coordinator did not appropriately handle the case.
In the case of some concerns about instructor conduct, the nature of the concern may make directly contacting the instructor inappropriate. If this is the case, the student should contact the departmental program coordinator. Likewise, if the instructor is the coordinator, the student may talk to the department chair. If the chair is the instructor, the student should contact Associate Dean of Faculty and Research Sri Zaheer.
Decisions of the department chair shall be final. In those cases where the process begins with the department chair or Associate Dean of Faculty and Research, the Associate Dean’s decision shall be final.
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