Grievance Procedure
A. For all timelines established herein, if a student will need additional time, an extension may be granted at the Vice President for Student Affairs' discretion.
B. Informal Grievance Procedure: Students with grievable issues should resolve those issues, if possible, on an informal basis without the filing of a formal grievance.
1. A student has 10 business days from the date of the incident being grieved to resolve the matter informally by approaching their instructor, department chair or any other staff or faculty member directly involved in the grieved incident.
2. Where this process does not result in a resolution of the grievable issue, the student may proceed to the formal grievance procedure below.
C. Formal Grievance Procedure: where a student cannot resolve their grievance informally, he or she may use this formal grievance procedure.
1. Within 15 business days of the incident being grieved, the student must file a formal grievance in the office of the Vice President for Student Affairs (VPSA) with the following information:
a) Name,
b) Date,
c) Brief description of incident being grieved,
d) Remedy requested
e) Signed, and
f) Informal remedy attempted by student and outcome
2. If the grievance is against the VPSA, the student shall file the grievance with the technical college president.
3. The VPSA will investigate the matter and supply a written response to the student within 15 business days.
4. If the grieved incident involves possible unlawful harassment, discrimination or retaliation for reporting unlawful harassment/discrimination, the investigation will be handled pursuant to the Procedure: Unlawful Harassment and Discrimination of Students.
5. If the grieved incident is closely related to an incident being processed through the harassment/discrimination or disciplinary procedures, the proceedings under the Unlawful Harassment and Discrimination of Student's procedure will take precedence, then the disciplinary procedure and then the student's grievance will be addressed. The grievance will not be processed until after the other procedures have run their course.
6. The VPSA shall be granted an additional 15 business days to investigate the grievance upon notice to the grieving student.
D. Appeal: The student may appeal the decision from the Vice President for Student Affairs to the technical college president. Only the student has the right to appeal.
1. A student shall file a written appeal to the technical college president within 5 business days of receiving the response.
2. The appeal will be decided based entirely on documents provided by the student and the administration, therefore the student must ensure that he or she has provided all relevant documents with his or her appeal.
3. At the sole discretion of the technical college president, grievance appeals at their institution may be held in one of the following two ways:
a) The technical college president may review the information provided by the student and administration and make the final decision; or
b) The technical college president may appoint a cross-functional committee to make the final decision.
c) The decision of either the technical college president or the cross-functional committee shall be made within 10 business days of receipt of the appeal.
4. Whichever process is chosen by the technical college president, the decision of the grievance appeal is final.
If a resolution is not reached at the institution level, or if you believe that the nature of the complaint or its impact on the system, as a whole, warrants an immediate review by the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) administration, contact the TCSG Student Affairs Coordinator at studentaffairs@tcsg.edu or call (404) 679-1692.
E. Retaliation against a student for filing a grievance is strictly prohibited.
Augusta Technical College not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, national or ethnic origin, sex, religion, disability, age, political affiliation or belief, genetic information, disabled veteran, veteran of the Vietnam Era, spouse of military member or citizenship status (except in those special circumstances permitted or mandated by law.