CM-56 - Student Responsibilities and Rights

January 12, 2005

To: Vice Chancellors, Deans, Department Heads, Administrative Staff
From: John A. Rock, M.D., Chancellor

Preamble

The Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center (LSUHSC) in New Orleans is dedicated to providing its students, residents, faculty, staff, and patients with an environment of respect, dignity, and support. The diverse backgrounds, personalities, and learning needs of individual students must be considered at all times in order to foster appropriate and effective teacher-learner relationships. Honesty, fairness, evenhanded treatment, and respect for students’ physical and emotional well being are the foundation of establishing an effective learning environment.

Student Responsibilities

Students are responsible for complying with all policies/procedures, rules and regulations and other information published by the Health Sciences Center. In addition, students are expected to abide by all federal, state and local laws.

Students are expected to:

Exhibit the highest standard of personal, academic professional and ethical behavior.
Treat faculty, staff, peers, clients, patients, and others with dignity and respect.
Abide by the Code of Conduct that applies to their specific professional discipline.

Students who violate any of the above when involved in any school or school related activity/function, whether on or off campus, will be subject to disciplinary action.

Students Rights

Mistreatment and abuse of students by faculty, residents, staff or fellow students is contrary to the educational objectives of the LSUHSC in New Orleans and will not be tolerated. Mistreatment and abuse include, but are not limited to, berating, belittling, or humiliation; physical punishment or threats; intimidation; sexual harassment; harassment or discrimination based on race, gender, sexual preference, age, religion, physical or learning disabilities; assigning a grade for reasons other than the student’s performance; assigning tasks for punishment or non-educational purposes; requiring the performance of personal services; or failing to give students credit for work they have done.

Students have rights as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and all appropriate federal, state and local laws. Primary among those is the right to a fair and impartial hearing, if the student is accused of misconduct or violating university regulations. Additionally, students have the right to file a complaint for alleged mistreatment. The Health Sciences Center has existing policies and procedures that relate to the following: financial aid; sexual harassment; final grade appeal; student housing; parking; drugs; alcohol; firearms; student’s access to records, and privacy; computer/internet use; dress and professional conduct; health insurance; and liability insurance. Issues that relate to these specific policies, which may be found on the Health Sciences Center website, should be addressed to the appropriate office. The Office of Student Affairs of the appropriate school can help students with information about those policies.

Procedure for Addressing Student Complaints

If the Health Sciences Center or specific school already has a policy concerning the student’s complaint, procedures indicated in that policy should be used; if the Health Sciences Center or specific school has no specific policy, the following procedure should be used.

Specific school policies should include the following basic elements:

Informal Conflict Resolution

Discuss the conflict with the person against whom the complaint is made. In the event that the complainant does not feel comfortable doing so, the complaint should be directed to the Office of the Associate Dean for Academic /Student Affairs of the specific school.
The Associate Dean of Academic/Student Affairs will meet with the individual against whom the complaint has been made in an effort to resolve the conflict.

Filing a Formal Complaint

If the conflict can not be resolved informally, the complainant must make a formal written complaint to the Associate Dean of Academic/Student Affairs. The written complaint must include the following:

A statement of the complaint,
Identification of individual/office against whom the complaint is made,
The relief sought,
The complaint must be signed by the complainant.

Upon receipt of the formal written complaint, the Associate Dean of Academic/Student Affairs of the appropriate school must take immediate action to resolve the conflict.

If the conflict can not be resolved to the complainant’s satisfaction within a period of 10 working days, the matter will be referred to the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs of the Health Sciences Center by the Associate Dean. The referral will include the complainant’s formal written request plus a statement of actions taken by the Associate Dean to resolve this matter.

Referral to the Vice Chancellor of the Academic Affairs

The Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs:

May make a decision as to how the matter can be resolved. This decision shall be communicated to all concerned parties in writing;
If for any reason the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs chooses not to render a decision, he/she may empanel an ad hoc committee comprising three faculty members, at least one of which is from the pool of elected members of the Faculty Senate and two students appointed by the appropriate Student Government Association President. The Committee shall meet in an effort to resolve the matter within a period of 10 working days. The Committee may meet with the concerned parties and others who can provide information that is helpful in resolving the matter. The Committee meetings will be closed, and information provided during the meeting shall be held in strictest confidence.

The Committee shall reach a decision as to the resolution of the matter and make its written recommendation to the Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs within five working days. The Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, upon receipt of the Committee’s recommendation, will make a decision and communicate this decision in writing to all concerned parties and the Dean of the appropriate school. The decision of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs is final and non-appealable.