Open Letter: University Complaint System Requires Reform for Graduating Students
On April 24, 2015, I filed a complaint against a group of students who had participated in the blocking of a class during the April 1st strike. My complaint took over a month to be processed, due to the university’s policy that no student complaints will be processed during finals.
However, once my grievance was finally processed and communicated to those I was complaining against, the university told me that it would not go to trial and would eventually be suspended. The main reason for this: I was graduating.
Such news is deeply unsettling and revealed a major flaw in the university’s ability to enforce its own code of conduct. No graduating student can take proper action against a code violation if said violation is done close enough to that student’s graduation.
It was further explained by the university that any complaint issued against a student who was graduating would also be dropped once said student had graduated. This is due to the fact that once a student graduates, they are no longer perceived as a “member” of the university (and thus cannot be tried).
What this means is that there is a window for graduating students during the final month of their last semester during which Concordia’s code of conduct no longer applies in the same way as it does a non-graduating student.
A student’s ability to file a complaint against other students through the Office of Rights and Responsibilities is essential to creating a safe and comfortable learning environment in our classrooms. As the complaint system is set up now, it is remarkably easy for students to file complaints and the tribunal system seems fair.
However, the fact that graduating students cannot see a complaint through to trial or will not have to face trial if they have been complained against is insane and undermines the entire system.
The system needs to be streamlined. Have complaints be processed during finals period and wait until the end of finals to communicate the complaints. This would give time for a trial to take place between the end of finals and graduation. Unless this is fixed quickly, students will continue to be at the mercy of potential code violations that may never be answered for.
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