Introduction
Southeastern Technical provide accessible services, and offers excellent educational programs and quality services. The College recognizes that disagreements with the general public may sometimes arise and encourages the parties involved to resolve the conflict informally whenever possible. If a resolution cannot be reached, a formal process provides an impartial and equitable way to resolve those conflicts.
The intent of this process is to provide a systematic way in which to express and resolve misunderstandings, complaints, or grievances about dissatisfaction with College services.
Procedure
The following procedure outlines the rights of
members of the public to file informal and formal complaints against
Southeastern Technical College (STC). It furthermore delineates STC
procedure for responding to these complaints.
Definitions and Limitations
1.
Definitions.
a. Verbal
complaints are considered informal and the Procedure of Informal
Complaints is to be followed.
b. Written
complaints received from the Complaint Form are considered formal and
the Procedure for Formal Complaints is to be followed.
2. Limitation.
This procedure does not apply to the following appeals or grievances.
Procedures for these appeals or grievances are contained in other procedure statements:
a. Academic grade
appeal
b. College Human
Resource Procedures
c. Any formal
appeal or grievance covered by another TCSG or STC procedure (e.g., Code of
Conduct, Financial Aid, Satisfactory Academic Progress, etc.)
d. All other
appeal and grievance procedures explicitly described in the
TCSG Policy Manual
3. Procedure of
Informal Complaints
a. Informal
(verbal) complaints--Members of the public are to be dealt with through
a face-to-face discussion between the complainant and the responsible
college administrator supervising the area. If through this process a
mutually satisfactory resolution of the complaint cannot be reached, the
complainant may put the complaint in writing using the Complaint Form
available from the College and move to the Procedure on Formal
Complaints or the complaint will be considered inactive.
It is the responsibility of the administrator involved in an informal
complaint to write a memorandum for the record detailing the nature of
the complaint and the resolution. The administrator is to retain such
memoranda in a file accessible to his/her supervisor upon request.
4. Procedure for
Formal Complaints
a. The
complainant obtains a Complaint Form from the Office of Student Affairs.
b. The complainant
completes the form and returns it to the Office of Student Affairs.
c. The Vice
President for Student Affairs will review the form and assign it to the
appropriate division for response.
d. Formal
complaints by members of the public are to be dealt with by the
responsible college administrator supervising an area.
e. The
administrator handling the complaint is to gather information as
necessary. Information must be gathered from the complainant.
f. A written
response is to be sent to the complainant within 15 working days of
receiving the Complaint Form from the Vice President for Student
Affairs.
g. If the
complainant is not satisfied with the response, he/she may file a
written appeal to the President within 10 calendar days of receiving the
response. In such cases, the President will gather information and
provide a final written response to the complainant within 30 working
days of receiving the appeal.
h. The decision of
the College President is final.
i. The
Vice President for Student Affairs will maintain a file of all public
formal complaints and responses.