Student Grievance and Appeals Policies and Procedures

UNCG provides several means which a student may address complaints and grievances. Students are advised to put their concerns in writing and carefully document the events that led to the complaint or grievance. As it is sometimes confusing as to which of the routes listed below should be followed, students are advised to contact the Dean of Students Office for advice on which procedure to follow. Concerns should be expressed as soon as possible after the event occurs; some of the procedures below have specific deadlines for filing grievances or complaints.

Please note: some items require the Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader, which can be downloaded from the Adobe web site.

Normal inquiries or concerns such as those involving admission requirements, educational
programs, etc. should be addressed directly to the appropriate office at the University of North Carolina Greensboro.

For complaints that do not fall into the categories above, follow the Grievance procedure (PDF)

Informal Review Process

A student who believes that he/she has been treated with substantial unfairness should initially attempt to resolve the matter by the end of the academic semester (fall, spring, or summer) following the academic semester when the alleged incident occurred (e.g. if the incident occurred during spring semester, the initial attempt must be completed by the last day of the final summer term) by communicating in writing allegations to the administrative officer most directly concerned, excluding the person accused of the improper act. This officer is likely to be a Director, a Department Head, Dean or Vice Chancellor. In the case of an allegation against a faculty member, the Dean shall be the first avenue of appeal. The final step in the informal review for all students shall be the Vice Chancellor to whom the accused ultimately reports.

The officer should attempt immediately to discover the truth of the allegation and in the case of valid complaints, should seek resolution by discussion, counseling, mediation, or agreement of the parties, or by administrative action. The nature of the grievance and any information about it should be treated with the utmost confidentiality and with sensitivity to the issues involved.

At the end of efforts to resolve the grievance, the officer should record the complaint in a written statement identifying the grievant, the conduct complained of, the name of the accused person, the outcome of the information inquiry, and should forward one copy of this report to the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs.

If the issue is still not resolved, please follow the Formal Review Process (PDF)

If you are taking any UNCG courses, and you have a complaint about your experience with UNCG, you have two options:

  1. You can follow the UNCG process for student complaints located above. You may also contact The Southern Association of Schools and Colleges Commission on Colleges, UNCG’s regional accrediting agency.
  2. If you are residing outside of North Carolina while attending UNCG, in many cases you can file a complaint in the state where you are residing. As required by federal regulations, we direct you to a list of resources compiled and updated by the State Higher Education Executive Officers. (PDF)