Student Concerns

In general, student grievances are classified as academic, non-academic, or procedural, as follows:

• Academic grievance are allegations of error in academic judgment, or of arbitrary, biased, capricious, or unfair assessment or evaluation of a student’s academic work, or other matters pertaining to academic courses, programs, or degree requirements.
• Non-academic grievances involve allegations of alleged bias or prejudice, or abuse of supervisory authority, unrelated to academic courses, programs, or degree requirements.
• Procedural grievances involve allegations of procedural error (i.e., the failure to follow established written policies and procedures) in the course of dealing with issues that arise in the course of seminary life.

The following understandings and procedures shall inform and guide grievances processes. The seminary administration has authority in general to establish policies governing the academic and community life of students, faculty members, and staff members. The seminary seeks to exercise its authority reasonably and fairly. Accordingly, students have the right to question whether decisions are reasonable, fair, and consistent with established policies and practices.

The grievance procedure is to be used for the resolution of all academic, non-academic, and procedural grievances against particular actions or decisions of faculty members or administrative staff members of St. Tikhon's Seminary that are perceived by students to be arbitrary, unreasonable, or unfair;

1. Actions or decisions are grievable only if they involve an error in professional judgment or conduct, procedural irregularity, or a misapplication or misinterpretation of seminary policy, rules or regulations, or federal or state law.
2. The grievance process may not be used to challenge standing seminary policies and procedures of general applicability.

Additionally, the grievance procedure may not be used to grieve:

1. Allegations or claims based on purchases or contracts.
2. Allegations or claims against faculty members or staff members that are unrelated to their function or role at the seminary.
3. Disciplinary matters and appeals related to the Code of Student Conduct (issues of grievance related to the Code of Student Conduct are governed by the policies set forth above in Section 4.2); or...
4. Matters for which other procedures have been established by seminary policy.

Who May Grieve. Matriculated and non-matriculated students who are currently enrolled in courses or programs at St. Tikhon's Seminary, or who were participants in a seminary-sponsored educational event or function at the time of the incident being grieved, may use the grievance procedures outlined below. The person(s) filing the grievance must be the alleged victim(s) of unfair or unreasonable treatment. Grievances cannot be filed on behalf of another person.

Other Remedies. The existence or use of the grievance procedure outlined by this policy does not preclude or bar students from seeking resolution of issues or filing claims in other appropriate forums or jurisdictions, as may be defined by civil or ecclesiastical law (canon law).

Time Limits. Ordinarily, students are expected to seek redress of grievance promptly, but in any case no later than two months, or sixty days after becoming aware, or receiving notice, of an adverse action, decision, or occasion giving rise to the grievance, unless otherwise specified by existing seminary policy. A student’s right to initiate grievance proceedings ceases six months after graduation, or from the end of the student’s last semester of enrollment. The administrator with jurisdiction over the grievance may reasonably extend this time limit for good cause (i.e., an active effort at an informal resolution of the issue at hand), if the student makes a request for extension within the initial 60-day limit.

Grievance Process. The overriding consideration in dealing with grievances is fairness. This requires that all parties are aware of the evidence that is being considered, and are given an opportunity to be heard during the process. It also requires that individuals whose judgment is being questioned shall not sit in judgment of their own decisions or actions.

The grievance process is normally divided into three stages: informal inquiry, formal review, and appeal, with increasing formality at each successive stage of the process. At each stage in the process, parties to a grievance are entitled to be accompanied by a friendly advocate, normally selected from among the students, faculty, or staff of the seminary, for advice and support. Such an advocate, however, may not participate in any formal proceeding or act on behalf of the aggrieved in any capacity.

(Note: Students should be aware that the process of procedural review and appeal established by this policy is not constituted or construed as legal proceedings, but is a mechanism to offer students a structured and fair opportunity to be heard by fellow students, faculty members, administrators, and officers of the seminary. Representation by legal counsel is ordinarily not permitted, or may be permitted only with prior written consent by the president of the seminary, in extraordinary circumstances. However, if legal counsel is to be present for the student, the seminary reserves the right to have legal counsel present as well.)

Informal inquiry is initiated when the aggrieved student goes directly to the individual whose decision or act is being questioned. Initial communication may be either in person (e.g., a conversation) or in writing (e.g., a letter asking for clarification or explanation of the decision or act being questioned). Informal communication is generally an effective mechanism for resolution of disputable issues, permitting an initial airing of differences in perception, together with an assessment or evaluation of conflicting points of view. A course instructor or member of the staff or administration is normally expected to informally respond to the student inquiry within ten seminary business days of the initial request with clarification or reason for the decision.

Students who are not satisfied with the outcome of an informal inquiry may, within ten seminary business days after receiving a response to their initial informal request for clarification, or a reason for an allegedly unfair decision, initiate a formal review by submitting a written request to the appropriate authority, indicating the grounds on which the request is being made, and detailing the results of efforts undertaken at the informal level.

1. If the grievance is a grade grievance, or another academic grievance pertaining to matters and issues of educational policy, or is a non-academic or procedural grievance pertaining to general matters and issues of seminary policy, the written request for formal review should be directed to the dean.
2. If the grievance involves allegations of administrative or procedural error, or instances of alleged bias or prejudice, or abuse of supervisory authority, the written review should be directed to the rector.

If petitioning for formal review, the student must, in his/her written request, observe the following conditions:

1. State how the decision or action being grieved is arbitrary or unfair, or harmful to the grievant, and list the seminary policies, procedures, or regulations, or state or federal laws, if any, that have been violated, if known.
2. Name the respondent person(s) against whom the grievance is being filed.
3. State how the respondent(s) are responsible for the action or decision.
4. Describe informal efforts that have been previously undertaken to bring the matter to an equitable resolution, and the results of such informal processes.
5. State the requested remedy.

If on the face of the written request it becomes clear that the matter at hand cannot be grieved under this procedure; or that the person filing the grievance has no grievance rights; or the grievance has not been filed within the proper time limits, the dean shall so indicate in a letter to the grievant. Otherwise, within ten seminary business days, the dean or a designee shall provide to the student a formal written response indicating what action, if any, will be taken in response to the student’s written request.

In the case of grade grievances, the dean (or his designee) may, at his discretion, meet with the student and/or instructor together or separately to discuss the matter. All documents and any tape recordings that are part of the dean’s review will be compiled into a record of the grievance. A detailed written record of such discussions shall be kept, on the basis of which the dean (or designee) shall prepare a written decision and send it to the student, faculty member, and the rector of the seminary, who shall make a final determination regarding the grievance. A meeting is then held in which the rector, dean, faculty member, and student will discuss the final decision made concerning the grievance. If the matter is appealed beyond the rector, the record shall be forwarded to the office of the president of the seminary. Note: These procedures are set forth to guide only the formal grievance of final grades. Test scores and interim grades are not deemed appropriate for formal grievance.

In no event shall persons who review a grade grievance substitute their subjective judgment about academic quality for the judgment of the instructor. However, grievances may be substantiated if it is determined on the basis of the evidence that the grade was based on a factor other than academic merit, or if there has been a clear error in grading based on objective criteria.

Students who are not satisfied with the outcome of a formal review at the level of the rector, may initiate an appeal to the president of the seminary, which constitutes the third and final stage of the grievance process. Written notice of appeal must be submitted to the president within ten seminary business days after receiving from the rector a response to the written request for formal review. The written notice of appeal must:

1. Identify the parties to the grievance.
2. Provide a brief statement of the grounds for appeal, which should contain a list of alleged errors in the decision or decision-making process.
3. To the extent possible, state which federal or state law(s), seminary policy(ies), procedures or regulations have been violated by each of the alleged errors.
4. Indicate what remedy is requested.
5. Be signed by the appellant and dated.
6. Include a copy of the decision being appealed.

Appeals received more than ten days after the student’s reception of the rector’s decision (or delivery of the decision was attempted) will not be allowed, and the decision made by the rector shall be final.

In considering the merit of an appeal, at his sole discretion, the president of the seminary may:

1. Ask parties to the grievance to submit written statements of their positions for purposes of appeal, and render a decision based on review of the record of the case, together with any written appeal statements submitted by the parties at the president’s request. In this case, no right to a hearing or oral presentation in appeal shall be presumed or granted.
2. Constitute a four-member Ad Hoc Grievance Committee to hear the grievance and to submit recommendations to him.
3. In such a case, Committee members shall include two students and two faculty or staff members who are not part of the same office or immediate administrative unit as the respondent(s), had no personal involvement in earlier stages of the grievance procedure, and have no personal interest in the outcome of the proceeding.
4. Within ten seminary business days after receiving from the president notice of being constituted, the Ad Hoc Committee will review any facts supporting or opposing the allegations by documents or personal testimony from all parties to the grievance, including the aggrieved student(s), respondent(s), and any witness(es). All parties shall be permitted to attend in person any hearings or proceedings of the Committee, and provided with the opportunity to rebut allegations against them. Aggrieved students shall also be permitted to bring with them a friendly advisor, who may be a member of faculty or staff. The chosen advisor shall not ordinarily be allowed direct participation in the proceedings. The Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee shall be permitted to grant, for good cause, reasonable time extensions to all parties to the proceeding. Formal rules of evidence will not apply, and the Committee may consider any evidence it believes to be relevant and reliable. Any hearings must be tape recorded so that all persons can be clearly heard.
5. Within sixty calendar days after the conclusion of Committee proceedings, the Chair shall issue a written report of the Committee’s findings. The report shall address and resolve all material factual issues in the dispute, note any procedural errors in the formal review, and issue a conclusion regarding the alleged misapplication or misinterpretation of seminary policy, or state or federal law, and recommend remedies as appropriate. An official record of the proceedings, including copies of all correspondence with the parties, all evidence submitted to the Committee (documentary evidence that the Committee declined to consider must be so marked and segregated), the recording or transcript of the hearing, and anything else considered by the panel in reaching its recommendation shall be attached.
6. The report and official record shall be delivered to the president, with copies of the report to be sent to the parties. Dissenting members of the Committee may file a minority report at the same time.
7. Within five seminary business days after receipt of the Committee Chair’s written report, the president of the seminary or his designee will notify the aggrieved student(s) in writing regarding the outcome of their appeal.

In all cases, the decision of the president of the seminary shall be deemed final, and no further internal appeal shall be permitted.

Ex parte communication occurs when one party shares information with another party without including all parties to the grievance. Because ex parte contact or communication is always subjective and one-sided, once a student has requested a formal resolution of a grievance, no ex parte communication between parties to grievance procedures concerning the merits of a case should be permitted. Discussion of the grievance or evidence outside the grievance process is inappropriate and should be avoided. All communication should be in writing, and distributed simultaneously to all parties. The rule against ex parte contacts also applies to communication with everyone who is responsible for deciding appeals.

All persons involved in any aspect of grievance proceedings are expected to maintain strict confidentiality regarding such proceedings. State and federal law govern the privacy rights of students, faculty, and staff. Disclosure of any information shall be on a “need to know” basis, and always should follow the seminary’s policy on confidentiality. Any questions about disclosure of information should be directed to the president of the seminary in writing.

In any particular case, the president of the seminary may approve modification of the grievance procedures detailed in this Bulletin if the modification is for good cause, and does not violate due process rights, policies of the Orthodox Church in America, or the policies, regulations, and procedures of St. Tikhon's Seminary.

It is the policy of the seminary that all constituencies of the seminary shall carry out their respective responsibilities in a collegial manner with Christian love, mutual respect, collaboration, and in good faith toward the furtherance of the seminary’s Mission. Thus, a Conflict resolution guideline has been developed to offer and encourage prompt, open, and structured communication to address conflicts among constituencies that may arise in the seminary Community. While conflict should normally be resolved in an informal manner, in certain instances formal action may be necessary, when formal processes do not resolve a conflict. For this purpose the seminary has in place policy to deal with such a situation.

The purpose of the conflict resolution policy is to provide a basic protocol to resolve disputes among constituencies by establishing a process to mitigate and preclude the risk of unsatisfied individuals and/or community groups seeking the achievement of goals and direction without advice and consent of the community and thereby, potentially or actually, aggravating conflicts or disturbances to the operation, mission, and vision of the seminary. The goal of this policy is to foster Christian community and promote transparency in communication while seeking to curtail any groups efforts to disenfranchise the Institution or the Community and its members, by seeking redress or taking actions that are may detrimental to the person, St. Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Seminary, and/or the seminary community.

In furtherance of its commitment to achieving the Mission in a fair, ethical, and protected environment, St. Tikhon's Seminary prohibits retaliation against any member of its community for reporting or inquiring in good faith about what the member believes to be wrongful or unlawful activity, or noncompliance with policies and procedures, or for participating in an investigation related to the same. The seminary considers such reporting, inquiring, or participating to be protected activities in which all members of the seminary community may freely engage.

Students must first exhaust the institution's internal grievance procedures before filing a complaint with the state. Students may lodge a complaint with the Pennsylvania Department of Education against any institution located in Pennsylvania. Complaints may be filed by students from any state with the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE), which serves as the SARA State Portal Entity (SPE):

Pennsylvania Department of Education
Division of Higher Education, Access, and Equity
607 South Drive, Floor 3E
Harrisburg, PA 17120
Phone: 717-783-6786
Email: RA-HigherEducation@pa.gov

SARA complaint process information: https://www.pa.gov/agencies/education/programs-and-services/instruction/postsecondary-and-adult-education/state-authority-of-distance-education/state-authorization-reciprocity-agreement-sara