From time to time, students may have concerns regarding a peer, faculty or staff member’s conduct within or beyond the classroom. It is important that students, faculty, and staff have a common understanding of how such concerns may be expressed.
Addressing Concerns to an Individual
Some concerns students have regarding interactions with peers, faculty classroom conduct or meetings with staff result from poor communication or misperceptions of interactions. Many such problems can best be resolved through discussion between individuals. If a student has a concern and they feel comfortable, they should contact the student, faculty or staff member as quickly as possible to request a meeting to respectfully discuss the matter. Everyone should be willing to listen to legitimate concerns and to rectify the problems.
Students may choose to consult with another faculty or staff member for advice prior to any conversation.
Addressing Concerns to Administration
Some concerns may not be appropriate for discussion with the individual student, faculty or staff member, may be related to larger systemic issues, or may not be resolved through discussion with the student, faculty or staff member. In these cases, students may report a concern using any or all of the following processes:
- Student of Concern Form
- Mid and Final Course Evaluations
- Exit Survey given at time of graduation
- Student Experience survey in the spring
- Academic and Student Affairs and other departmental surveys
- Utilizing the Tell Brown online submission form available 24/7
- Assistant or Associate Dean for Social Work, Public Health or Social Policy (for faculty concerns)
- Assistant Dean for Student Affairs (for staff concerns)
- Associate Dean for Diversity, Inclusion and Equity (for incidents of bias, micro-aggressions, etc.)
- The Bias Report and Support System
Student concerns are taken seriously by the administration. In no circumstances will retaliatory actions against a student for submitting such a concern be tolerated. Once a concern is received, an administrator will review and determine whether it should be referred to another administrator or department. If the student submitting the concern has identified themselves and indicates a wish to meet to discuss further, an administrator will contact the student to discuss the matter further, discuss the student’s formal and informal options to address the concern and, if appropriate, refer the student to additional resources.