Complaints

Complaints

At American College of Education, our aim is to build strong, professional connections between our faculty and students. When our students succeed, then our communities improve. Our aim is to set a positive tone for learning and to help our students meet the high expectations we have for their growth as educators. We seek to go above and beyond to provide assistance with course materials, research, and other requirements of graduate study. Nevertheless, we do understand that occasional disputes may arise.

This policy addresses formal procedures for resolving problems related to violations of legally prohibited actions, College policies, academic status, records, and disciplinary actions, including the following:

• Criteria and procedures for the decision were not published
• Inconsistent published criteria and procedures
• Published criteria and procedures were not followed
• The decision was substantially influenced by factors other than the published criteria; i.e., the decision was discriminatory on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, or handicap in admissions, employment, or the provision of services
• Ethical behavior standards were violated
• An illegal act was committed

Students are expected and advised to first pursue a resolution to problems informally. The recommended informal procedures are as follows:

• The student initiates a good faith effort to resolve the issue through discussion with a faculty or staff member or an administrator in the department where the issue originated.
• If the issue is not resolved, the issue is the student may elect to elevate the issue/s into the formal procedure.  

If the problem is not resolved informally, the student must file a written complaint with documentation of specific facts of the issue. If the student contacts a president’s cabinet-level officer of the College, the official may consult with the president and human resources to determine if the activity is illegal in nature and warrants the involvement of law enforcement authorities, if college representative should be placed on administrative leave during an investigation, or if the issue should follow the formal complaint procedure as described below.

The formal complaint procedure requires written expression by a student of requesting resolution of an issue involving misinterpretation, misapplication, discriminatory application, or violation of an ACE policy, procedure, or academic standard or legally prohibited action.

• All formal complaints will be recorded in a confidential log managed by ACE administration, and forwarded to the College official responsible for the area in which the issue occurred.
• The confidential log will include the following:

• The date of the complaint
• The nature of the complaint
• The steps taken to resolve the complaint
• The decision
• The information will be made available to regulatory agencies upon request for the purpose of investigating individual complaints elevated to the agency; or to provide mandated reporting assurances that ACE has procedures in place for timely and fair resolution of complaints.

1. The College official will have thirty (30) days from the time stamp on the complaint form to investigate the formal complaint, and render a decision.  The decision will be communicated to the student.
2. The student may appeal the decision in writing to the Academic Dean within 10 business days.
3. A final decision will be rendered within 30 days from the date the appeal is received.