Grievance Committee

Responsible Office: Faculty Senate

The Grievance Committee shall be responsible for the following:

Hearing and recommending appropriate actions on all matters referred by Dean and the Associate Dean of Student Affairs about-

a. Violation of student code of professionalism

b. Violation of faculty/staff code

c. Violation of university policies and procedures

d. Grievance about the university or university personnel not related to academic promotions

Chair: This person will be selected by the Dean with recommendation from the Faculty Senate and Associate Deans and will ordinarily serve for a maximum of three calendar years. The same person may become eligible to serve again provided that three years have elapsed since s/he last served as Chair of this Committee.

Members: Minimum of five faculty members (at least one faculty member must be a female) and two students. At least two of the faculty will be clinical faculty members (Department Chair and or preceptor)

Scope: On referral by the Dean or Associate Dean of Students Affairs, this Committee will review the incident involving student or faculty/staff of HCU and will recommend to the Dean the disciplinary or other action to be taken. This Committee shall deal with all grievances except those related to academic matters (eg: students’ grades and promotions) which are within the province of other committees.

(Refer to related documents below)

Purpose:

This Committee shall be responsible to conduct hearings on alleged infractions of University rules and recommend sanctions for individual(s) or group violations to the Dean.

Discipline in a university, by the very nature of the institution is educational; for that reason, formal rules of evidence shall not apply in disciplinary hearings.

Meeting Schedule: The Committee should meet on a needs-to-basis. All documents to be considered at such meetings must be circulated to members at least 5 working days before the meeting date.

Procedures:

Refer to Procedures of Grievance for the informal resolution process.

If informal resolution is not possible:

Associate Dean of Student Affairs or Dean will refer the case to the Grievance Committee. A summary of not more than one typewritten page stating the specific policy or policies violated or the exact nature of the grievance, along with supplementary materials if required, should be presented to the Chair of Grievance Committee. The Associate Dean of Student Affairs or Dean shall also send copies of previous records of conduct about the alleged.

1. Grievance Committee (GC). Chair of GC will send these copies to the GC

members and will arrange the hearing with all the concerned parties and the members

within 10 days (can extend to maximum of 20 days if the accused requests more time) of

receiving the information from the Dean. (GC student members’ conflict of interest

will be reviewed prior to the meeting).

2. GC will collect the following facts relevant to the investigation before the meeting:

* The original written complaint;

* A written rebuttal by the accused;

* Additional voluntary verbal statements from the individuals directly involved in the alleged incident. All such statements should be transcribed and signed by the individual providing the statement;

* Corroborating evidence presented by all parties. This may include witness statements in support of either party.

The accused is entitled to the following rights:

* As stated previously, the accused is to receive a copy of the written allegation;

* To be given reasonable notice of the hearing before the committee;

* To address the committee concerning the alleged incident;

* To have prior knowledge of the nature of the evidence to be used against him/her;

* To be accompanied by an advisor of his/her choosing. This advisor’s role shall be to consult and support the accused.

* To receive a fair hearing; and

* To have all proceedings undertaken with utmost confidentiality.

3. If the GC on the first hearing or the special GC finds insufficient evidence or reaches a split decision, the matter will be concluded by no action against the accused and all the relevant documents and materials will be placed in a confidential file.

4. If the GC on the hearing finds there is sufficient evidence to support the allegations, it may resolve the matter in one of several ways as mentioned below: (*) Recommendations are made to the Associate Deans of Student Affairs or Associate Dean of Basic Sciences or Clinical (Please refer to the procedure in relation to students and faculty).

* Issue an oral reprimand to the accused at the end of the review;

* Issue a written reprimand to the accused to be placed in his/her academic file;

* Suspension of the accused from the School of Medicine for a specified period;

* Dismissal of the accused from the School of Medicine; or

* Implementation of any other restitution, sanctions or remediation it deems appropriate including but not limited to, resignation from any class office or other school held positions, community service, participation in communication skill building, or substance or alcohol rehabilitation

Appeals against decisions of the Committee

All students, faculty and staff have a right to appeal the decision of the Grievance Committee to the Dean. Please refer to appeal procedure in Grievance procedure document.

Output

Written documentations/letters are issued based on the decision of the Grievance Committee including recommendations to the appropriate Associate Deans on the incident reported. The Appropriate Associate Dean issues a formal waring/suspension/dismissal letter to the student/faculty or staff under review.

Voting: – A quorum of four (4) Committee members or three (3) members and the chairperson is required to hear cases. All issues, findings, or sanctions in a case will be decided by majority vote of the quorum.

Conflict of Interest – If the case of any student is referred to the Committee with whom any member of the Committee has an actual or perceived conflict of interest, the member will declare this to the Chair and the Chair may ask that member to excuse himself/herself in accordance with this section and shall not have access to any of the materials for the case from which they are excused.

Grievance Committee

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