Academic Appeals Policy

The following policy applies to undergraduate student appeals for exception to some University academic policy, waiver of academic requirements or dispute over student grades.  Note: The conditions under which a grade dispute may enter the appeals process are described in the Grade Appeals Policy. 

1. Requests for exceptions to some academic policies and procedures described in this chapter may begin as Academic Petitions, which are submitted to the attention of the Senior Associate Director of Academic Advising and are decided by the Academic Petitions Committee. The Academic Petitions Committee reserves the right to refer petitions to the Academic Appeals Committee for disposition.
   1. Student petitions on academic issues must be filed using the Academic Petition form. It is the student’s responsibility to provide all necessary supporting documentation with the petition when submitted for review. The Academic Petitions Committee will consider information from the instructor, as well as information from any other source deemed appropriate for consideration of the petition.
2. If a student wishes to appeal a petition decision they may advance an academic appeal to the Academic Appeals Committee. All requests for readmission from dismissal start as academic appeals. The deadline to submit an appeal of a petition decision is three (3) months after receiving a petition decision.
   1. Student appeals on academic issues must be filed using the Academic Appeals form. It is the student’s responsibility to provide all necessary supporting documentation with the appeal when submitted for review. The Academic Appeals Committee will consider information from the instructor, as well as information from any other source deemed appropriate for consideration of the appeal.
   2. The student may resubmit an appeal by the Academic Appeals Committee only if new information is available after a decision has been rendered.
3. The decision of the Academic Appeals Committee is considered final. If the student believes that procedural due process was not followed, they may request a review by the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate (senateexec@ut.edu), which will render a decision as to whether the Academic Appeals Committee afforded procedural due process to the student in its consideration of the appeal.

Please note: Documents submitted in languages other than English may not be able to be reviewed by the Committee.