An appeal is a formal process where students can challenge a decision made under specific policies - at UW, students can appeal decisions made under Policy 33 – Ethical Behaviour, Policy 70 – Student Petitions and Grievances or Policy 71 – Student Discipline. This process allows students to seek a review of decisions related to non-academic or academic matters. The appeal process typically involves:
- Filing a Notice of Appeal
- Review and/or Hearing
- Decision
Filing an Appeal
A student wishing to proceed with an appeal must file a Notice of Appeal within 10 working days of receiving a decision. Before completing the Notice of Appeal, you should consider the following:
- What are you appealing? A student can appeal the finding, the penalty, or both.
- What policy applies to your case? Students may appeal decisions under Policy 33 – Ethical Behaviour, Policy 70 – Student Petitions and Grievances or Policy 71 – Student Discipline
- Is this decision appealable? Not all matters are appealable - read the applicable policy to ensure you are able to appeal.
- What are your grounds for appealing? While you may disagree with a decision, you must establish applicable grounds to appeal. Policy 72 states the following as appropriate grounds for appeal:
- Fundamental Procedural Error: There was a significant mistake in the process that unfairly impacted the student.
- Bias: The decision or hearing was influenced by unfair prejudice against the student.
- New Information: Important new evidence has come to light that was not available before the decision was made, despite thorough efforts to find it.
- Weight of Evidence: The evidence provided was not given proper consideration.
- Severity of Penalty: The punishment given is too harsh compared to the nature of the offence, as identified by the student.
AND - Impact on Outcome: Any of the above issues could have significantly changed the result of the original hearing.
- Who are you appealing to? There are two appeal bodies - Faculty Committees on Student Appeals and University Committee on Student Appeals.
Faculty Committees on Student Appeals
A Faculty Committee on Student Appeals (FCSA) has jurisdiction to hear an appeal concerning:
- a grievance decision in an academic setting made by an associate dean under Policy 70 - Student Petitions and Grievances
- a decision on a reassessment challenge under Policy 70 – Student Petitions and Grievances
- a decision of an Associate Dean under Policy 71 - Student Discipline where the penalty imposed does not include suspension for more than three consecutive terms or expulsion
NOTE: Decisions made under Policy 33 - Ethical Behaviour, Grievances against a decision issued by a student support unity, Student Discipline decisions resulting in suspensions of greater than three consecutive terms or expulsion, or decisions issued by the Vice President & Provost cannot be appealed to FSCA.
A decision issued by FCSA may be appealed to UCSA.
FCSA Membership
The size and composition of an FCSA shall be determined by each faculty, provided that there shall be student and faculty members.
A tribunal formed to hear an appeal shall consist of the three members: chair of the FCSA, a student member and a faculty member.
When appealing a matter to FCSA, your appeal should be directed to the Office of the Dean for the applicable faculty.
University Committee on Student Appeals
The University Committee on Student Appeals (UCSA) has jurisdiction to hear and make final adjudication of student appeals concerning:
- a discipline penalty imposed under Policy 33 - Ethical Behaviour
- a grievance decision in an academic support setting made under Policy 70 - Student Petitions and Grievances
- a decision of an Associate Dean under Policy 71 - Student Discipline where the penalty imposed includes suspension for more than three consecutive terms or expulsion
- a decision of the Vice-President, Academic & Provost under Policy 71 - Student Discipline
- a decision of a Faculty Committee on Student Appeals
- any other matter concerning a student referred to it by the Senate or Board of Governors
Decisions of the UCSA chair and/or UCSA tribunals are final.
UCSA Membership
UCSA shall consist of 15 members:
- the chair
- 12 members appointed by Senate for overlapping two-year terms
- six faculty members (one from each faculty); Faculty members on UCSA will not hold the position of department chair/school director or higher during their time on the committee.
- six student members (4 undergraduate and 2 graduate)
- two senior academic support staff members appointed by the provost for overlapping two-year terms; one of whom will serve on a UCSA tribunal when a non-academic appeal is heard.
A tribunal formed to hear an appeal shall consist of the chair of the UCSA, a student member and a faculty or staff member.
Submitting your appeal
All appeals require the submission of a Notice of Appeal (Form 72A [Word Doc]) and all relevant and allowable supporting documentation.
Supporting Documentation
At time of submission, all documentation must be included with your appeal. Documentation must be authentic, original where possible, and must have been previously available to the original decision maker. Examples of common documentation include:
- Confirmation of Medical challenges: normally in the form of a Doctor's Note or confirmation from AccessAbility Services
- Formal reports from a professional: may be a letter of support or a document containing information specific to your circumstances
- Official proof of travel: such as train tickets or airline boarding passes
- Employment letter: Confirmation of employment, reference of behaviour or change in employment
- Public or official notification of death: proof of the passing of a loved one when their passing is related to the circumstances of your appeal
- Communications related directly to the appeal: emails, text message, social media messages, audio or video recordings of conversations
Before submitting, review all your documents and consider how each piece relates to your appeal. Remember that all submitted documentation must be complete and verifiable, and connected to your appeal circumstances.
Notice of Appeal
Your Notice of Appeal serves to inform the deciding party, either FCSA or UCSA, of what you are appealing and applicable policy, the grounds on which you are appealing, details of your appeal, and the relief you are seeking. You will also need to identify witnesses (if any), if you intend to bring a support person (if applicable), a copy of all previous decisions related to the matter, and a list of your supporting documentation with copies of the documentation included with your submission.
Details of Appeal
This section of your Notice of Appeal is where you have the opportunity to explain your appeal and tell your story.
- Grounds of Appeal: Explain your grounds of appeal and your circumstances as they related to the grounds.
- Your Argument: State your arguments. What aspects of the original decision do you disagree with and why? Why should your circumstances impact the decision making and result in a different outcome?
- Relating your Evidence: Connect your evidence to the content of your appeal. This is a great time to review your documentation again to ensure it is complete, verifiable, and related.
While it's important to be thorough in your explanations, it's equally important to be concise. Your details of appeal should be comprehensive and include all relevant details but consider your audience and their lack of prior knowledge of your circumstances. Avoid the use of jargon or abbreviations and provide definitions for any terms specific to your area of study or research.
Relief Requested
In this section, you can state the relief you are seeking in your appeal. The relief needs to be relative to your appeal and reasonable in its application. The relief also needs to be a kind of relief that can be given by the committee.
The Procedure
The initial procedure for submitting an appeal to both the FCSA and UCSA follows the same path with one main difference - who the appeal is submitted to.
- For appeals to the Faculty Committee on Student Appeals, submit your Notice of Appeal and all supporting documentation to the Office of the Dean for the Faculty.
- For appeals to the University Committee on Student Appeals, submit your Notice of Appeal and all supporting documentation to the Secretariat.
Submitting your Appeal
Your Notice of Appeal needs to be submitted to the appropriate office within 10 working days of the decision. The chair of the appeal committee will review the appeal submission for completeness within 5 working days of receipt of the appeal. If updated documentation or changes are needed in the appeal, you will be notified. A copy of the complete appeal will delivered to the respondent within the same time period.
The next stage in the Reply (Form 72B [Word Doc]) from the respondent, which is to be filed with the committee chair within 15 working days of the respondent receiving your appeal materials. In the Reply, the respondent will include supporting documentation, a list of relevant documents, any potential witnesses and the name of any colleagues accompanying the respondent. A copy of the Reply will be shared with you within 5 days of the committee chair receiving the respondent's reply package.
Chair review
On initial consideration of your appeal, the committee chair determines if the appeal will proceed to tribunal.
Decide not to Proceed
The chair may decide not to proceed with an appeal if the appeal is "substantially incomplete or inaccurate, or the documents provided are substantially incomplete" or submitted after the deadline and no request for an extension is made.
When an appeal package is missing documentation or is incomplete, you will be contacted by the chair and provided an opportunity to make corrections withing 10 business days. However if the chair determines the appeal lacks necessary information to proceed (such as the grounds or involved parties cannot be identified), the chair may suggest an alternative timeline.
If you fail to make the necessary corrections, the appeal will be dismissed and you will receive notification 1 working day after the period allowed for corrections.
Decide to Proceed
If the chair determines the appeal is to proceed, they will appoint a tribunal within 5 working days and all parties will be notified by the chair within 2 working days of the appointment of the tribunal.
Within 10 working days of the tribunal appointment process completing, the tribunal will meet virtually to review all documents related to the appeal. They will also decide how the appeal will proceed: oral hearing, written hearing, or dismissal without a hearing.
Dismissal of Appeal without a Hearing
A tribunal may dismiss an appeal after review of the documents without a hearing if they determine:
- it determines that the tribunal does not have jurisdiction; or
- it determines that the appeal is clearly without merit or is frivolous or vexatious or commenced in bad faith; or
- it determines that the Notice of Appeal does not raise a valid ground of appeal or does not assert evidence capable of supporting a valid ground.
When an appeal has been dismissed without a hearing, the chair will notify all parties of the tribunal's intention to dismiss and invite written submissions from the parties in response to the tribunal's intention to dismiss within 5 working days of the notification.
If the decision is made to dismiss the appeal, the chair will notify all parties in writing within 5 working days of the decision.
Written Hearing
A written hearing is where the tribunal convenes to review the appeal in detail and determine an outcome of the appeal. This is generally done when the credibility is not a significant factor, and/or the material facts are not in dispute.
Oral Hearing
An oral hearing is a formal process that requires the participation of all parties in a formal review of the appeal details, evidence, and witnesses. Please review Policy 72 and the sections Oral Hearing in both Appendix A (FCSA) and Appendix B (UCSA).
Following the hearing, the tribunal will discuss the matter in a closed session and determine the outcome of the appeal. You will be notified of the decision as soon as possible. A written report will also be issued to all parties, normally within 5 working days, and include:
- the membership of the tribunal;
- the background of the appeal;
- the tribunal’s findings of fact; and
- the tribunal’s decision with reasons.