Departmental Nonacademic Probation and Dismissal Policy Procedures*

In addition to the university-wide requirements for academic standing, academic departments may establish additional requirements (e.g., ethical/professional standards), violation of which might determine an individual graduate student’s standing with regard to probation and dismissal from a graduate program.

To this end, departments with such requirements must put these in writing and place them on file in the departmental office and the Graduate College.

Departments must make all reasonable efforts to inform graduate students of the existence of such policies/standards and disseminate them to students upon their admission to graduate study in the program/area.

Subsequent changes in policies/standards must be communicated by the department to each student in the program and to the Dean of the Graduate College. The new regulations will not apply retroactively to the disadvantage of students already in the program.

Departments must provide information to students which outlines: required courses applicable to the various departmental programs of study, examination procedures and other formal evaluations, departmental policies with regard to awarding and renewing assistantships, time limits on programs of study (if less than seven years), registration policies, grade point requirements, requirements for changing from one degree program to another within the department, and other matters as are appropriate. The nature of the departmental advisory system should also be explained to incoming students.

I. Departmental Nonacademic Probation:

If a student is failing to meet departmental nonacademic standards and probation or suspension is being considered, the department must:

A. warn the student of this in writing and specify in what way(s) the student is failing to meet the departmental standard(s);
B. advise the student (in writing) of the consequence(s) of failure to address the problem(s) cited, satisfactorily.
C. provide the student with a reasonable amount of time (e.g., a minimum of ten school days) within which to respond to the notification (e.g., the right to review) and indicate to the person(s) to whom a response should be made;
D. provide the student with a reasonable amount of time to meet the standards or remediate prior to being placed on departmental probation and suspension.

If a student is to be placed on departmental probation, the department must:
A. provide, at the time of its imposition, a written explanation of this status, and its time limits;
B. indicate the impact of departmental probation on the pursuit of future graduate course work in the program of study;
C. give the student a reasonable amount of time within which to respond to the notification of probation (e.g., right to review) and indicate to whom a response should be made;
D. provide an explanation of the departmental reinstatement procedure(s);
E. establish departmental procedures for handling reviews.

The department should also notify the Dean of the Graduate College and the Registrar in writing and indicate the impact of the student’s nonacademic probationary status on the pursuit of future graduate course work in the program of study. The Dean of the Graduate College and the Registrar should be notified when the student has been removed from probation.

II. Departmental Dismissal:

A student may be dismissed for her/his failure to meet: the conditions of admission, conditions of departmental probation, pre-announced departmental grade point requirements or other standards. If a student is dismissed from a graduate program, the department must:

A. notify the student of this in writing, specify what the student has done to merit departmental dismissal and its time limits;
B. indicate the impact of departmental dismissal on the pursuit of future course work in the program of study;
C. give student a reasonable amount of time (e.g., a minimum of ten school days) to respond to the notification of dismissal (e.g., right to review) and indicate to the person(s) to whom a response should be made;
D. provide an explanation of departmental reinstatement procedures (as appropriate).

The department should notify the Dean of the Graduate College and the Office of the Registrar in writing and indicate the impact of the student’s nonacademic dismissal on the pursuit of graduate course work in the program of study. The Dean and the Registrar should be notified when the student’s dismissal has been removed.

Departmental policies/procedures for nonacademic probation and dismissal must be approved by the Graduate Dean and offered a fair and expeditious review.

III. Graduate College Review of Departmental Dismissal:

Questions involving judgment of performance will not be reviewed beyond the departmental level. If, however, the student feels there has been unfairness or some procedural irregularity concerning probation or dismissal, the student may request a review by the Graduate College. This review may be conducted by the Dean of the Graduate College (or his designee).

*This policy does not preclude enforcement of any other university policies (e.g., policies regarding the academic standing of graduate students, academic ethics policies, grievance procedures for graduate students and graduate assistants).