Student tribunals process

Pursuant to the Policy on the Establishment of Tribunal Hearing Pools (BD-6)., faculty members and staff members may be appointed as members of the Tribunal Hearing Pool for a period of two (2) academic years. Faculty members of the Tribunal Hearing Pool attend first-level hearings as well as appeal hearings and, along with other members of the Tribunal Hearing Pool, hear and vote upon the outcome of cases presented to them. A total of thirty-five (35) faculty members may be appointed to the Tribunal Hearing Pool at any one time.

The university’s Senate has final approval of all faculty appointments to the Tribunal Hearing Pool.

Five (5) members of the Tribunal Hearing Pool are university administrative and support staff, nominated in accordance with the relevant policy. Currently, such members only attend some hearings under the Code of Rights and Responsibilities (BD-3). The Board of Governors has final approval of all staff appointments to the Tribunal Hearing Pool.

Pursuant to the Policy on the Establishment of Tribunal Hearing Pools (BD-6), a total of twenty-five (25) students, including fifteen (15) undergraduate students and ten (10) graduate students, may be appointed to the Tribunal Hearing Pool for a period of two (2) academic years. Members of the Tribunal Hearing Pool attend first-level hearings as well as appeal hearings and, along with other members of the Tribunal Hearing Pool, hear and vote upon the outcome of cases presented to them.

Undergraduate students are nominated by the Concordia Student Union and graduate students are nominated by the Graduate Students’ Association. The university’s Senate has final approval of all student appointments to the Tribunal Hearing Pool.

Once a student has been appointed, it is within the discretion of the Office of Student Tribunals to select that student to sit on a particular hearing panel (depending upon availability, appropriateness, conflict of interest, etc.) and to decide to attribute to that student up to a six (6) credit tuition waiver at the Quebec tuition rate for that academic year.

Pursuant to the Policy on the Establishment of Tribunal Hearing Pools (BD-6), interested and qualified lawyers may be appointed by the university’s Senate to the Tribunal Hearing Pool as non-voting Chairs for a period of two (2) academic years. Chairs are in charge of ensuring that first-level hearings as well as appeal hearings are run in a fair manner.

Interested lawyers should contact tribunal@concordia.ca.

If you are appointed to the Tribunal Hearing Pool, when appropriate, you will be: (i) asked for your availabilities; and (ii) scheduled accordingly. Usually, two cases are heard at each sitting of the tribunal. When appropriate, the Office of Student Tribunals will generally schedule members of the Tribunal Hearing Pool for one or two sittings per month, for a total time commitment of four (4) to eight (8) hours per month, plus the time that it takes to review the documents submitted for the panel’s consideration prior to the hearings.

There are three different advocacy centres at the university:

• the university’s Student Advocacy Office (514-848-2424, ext 3992, open to all students)
• the CSU Student Advocacy Centre (514-848-7474, ext 7313, open to undergraduate students), and
• the GSA Advocacy Center (514-848-2424, ext 7900, open to graduate students)

It is strongly recommended that you consult an advocate prior to your hearing and, if your hearing will be conducted orally (i.e. an Academic Hearing Panel under the Academic Code of Conduct, a hearing under the Code of Rights and Responsibilities (BD-3) or a Graduate Academic Appeals Tribunal under the Graduate Academic Appeals Procedures, etc.), that you be accompanied by an advocate at your hearing.

Hearings are your opportunity to explain your version of the case to a panel composed of individuals including a Chair, professors, students and/or staff. It is at the hearing panel’s discretion, based upon the evidence and arguments presented before it, to rule in your favour or against you.

It is strongly recommended that you consult an advocate well in advance of any hearing so that you may properly prepare your presentation and prepare for questions that you may be asked during the hearing.

Generally speaking, delays for hearings depend upon the volume of hearings that are pending and the availability of panelists and Chairs. That said, kindly contact the Office of Student Tribunals at tribunal@concordia.ca for further information as to when you can expect your hearing to be scheduled. Please note that no hearings are held in July, August and during final exams.

You may cancel your request for a hearing only if you were the one who requested it in the first place (not if your hearing was requested by your Faculty’s Dean or Code Administrator). In this former case, you must communicate your request in writing as soon as possible to the Office of Student Tribunals at tribunal@concordia.ca. If the hearing is cancelled pursuant to this request and the charge against you was under the Academic Code of Conduct, whatever sanction was imposed by your Faculty Code Administrator will be the sanction imposed upon you.

Some hearings are held without the student present (i.e., Re-evaluation Appeals Panel, Appeals Authorization Panel etc.). In the case of those hearings, you may only submit arguments and evidence in writing.

All hearing panels may proceed in your absence. If you do not attend your hearing and the hearing proceeds in your absence, any decision made by a hearing panel in your absence is binding upon you. If both you and your advocate fail to attend your oral hearing, the sole admissible ground for an appeal is the consideration of the reasonableness of your reason for not appearing.

Pursuant to Article 38 of the Academic Code of Conduct, from the time that a charge of academic misconduct is laid until the final determination regarding the charge, a notation of “PEND” appears on a student’s academic record in order to note that both the grade in the course and the sanction are pending.

When the Secretary of Tribunals at the Office of Student Tribunals receives a request for a hearing, she will send you an email informing you of the appropriate time in which your hearing is expected to be held. Generally speaking, delays for hearings depend on the volume of hearings that are pending and the availability of panelists and Chairs. Please note that no hearings are held in July, August and during final exams.

When the date is scheduled for your hearing, the Secretary will contact you again to inform you of the date and time of your hearing, and to request that you submit any evidence that you may have along with the names of any witnesses that you intend to have testify at your hearing.

The deadline for submission of evidence and witness lists is 10 business days (or approximately 2 weeks) before your scheduled hearing date. You are encouraged to inform your advocate of your hearing date and to consult your advocate in the process deciding what evidence to submit and what arguments to make at your hearing.

Five business days (about a week) before your hearing date, you will receive a package by registered mail with a copy of all evidence submitted by you and by the Associate Dean, a list of all witnesses in your case, a list of all panelists in your case, a copy of the Academic Hearing Panel procedures and a copy of the Academic Code of Conduct. It is your responsibility to provide a copy of this package to your advocate.

You are asked to come to your hearing on time. Please note that if you fail to attend your hearing, it can proceed in your absence. Any decision made by a hearing panel in your absence is binding upon you. If both you and your advocate fail to attend your hearing, the sole admissible ground for appeal is the consideration of the reasonableness of your reason for not appearing.

It is strongly recommended that you be accompanied by your advocate to your hearing.  Hearings normally last approximately 1 to 1.5 hours, but can take more or less time depending on the case. You will be presenting your case to a panel of 5 panelists (3 professors and 2 students) as well as a non-voting Chair who is an external lawyer charged with ensuring that your hearing is fair, and the Secretary, who will record the hearing and take notes on what is said at the hearing. At the hearing, both you and the Associate Dean will have the opportunity to present your respective evidence and arguments.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the Associate Dean and you will be asked to leave the room so that the panel can make a decision about your case. The Academic Hearing Panel has the authority to uphold or dismiss the case against you. If it upholds the case and this is your first offense, they will impose one or more of the sanctions set forth in the Academic Code of Conduct. The Academic Hearing panel may choose to impose a different sanction than the one that was imposed upon you by your Faculty Code Administrator. If it upholds the case and this is not your first offense (e.g., this is the second offense upheld against you under the Academic Code of Conduct), it will be up to the Provost to decide what sanction to impose. Any student found to have committed a second offence is normally suspended or expelled from the university.

You will be informed of the panel’s decision in writing within 10 business days (or approximately 2 weeks) following your hearing.

Not necessarily. It is important to differentiate between your academic record and your transcript. Your academic record is for the university’s internal use only. However, your transcript is the document sent, at your request, to individuals and entities external to the university.

When a charge of academic misconduct has been upheld against you, the sanction imposed upon you is reflected on your academic record with the additional notation for academic and disciplinary reasons. However, this notation does not appear on your transcript.

If a sanction of suspension is imposed, the following notation appears on your academic record and transcript: Required to withdraw for academic and disciplinary reasons. May not resume studies until [date]. This notation will be removed from your transcript on the date of resumption of studies but will remain upon your academic record.

If a sanction of expulsion is imposed, the following will appear on your academic record and transcript: Required to withdraw for academic and disciplinary reasons. May not apply for re-admission.

If an offence was upheld against you and the sanction affected your final grade in a course, that sanction will affect your GPA, whether or not the course has been discontinued or repeated.

The decision will include a statement that you or the Associate Dean may request authorization to appeal your decision within 15 business days (or approximately 3 weeks) following the transmission of the Academic Hearing Panel’s decision.

If you do not want to appeal the decision of the Academic Hearing Panel do not take any action and, following the expiry of the 15 business day delay, if the Associate Dean has not filed a request for authorization to appeal, the Office of Student Tribunals will send written notice to the Associate Dean and the Registrar indicating that no appeal has been filed and that the sanction imposed by the Academic Hearing Panel can be implemented.

If you do want to appeal the decision of the Academic Hearing Panel, please see About appeals under the Academic Code of Conduct.

Either party (the Student or the Associate Dean) may request authorization to appeal.

Once the decision of the AHP has been sent to the student and the Associate Dean, they have 15 business days to submit to the Secretary of Student Tribunals a written request for authorization to appeal the decision of the AHP.

On these grounds:

• discovery of new evidence after the AHP (i.e., something that could not have been brought to the AHP);
  the presence of serious and prejudicial procedural defects of the AHP (e.g., an issue with what occurred at the AHP which harmed the Appellant’s case); and
• if the hearing occurred without the student being present, the reasonableness of the student’s reason for not attending the AHP.

The request for authorization to appeal must explain why the person requesting the appeal (the “Appellant”) believes that authorization to appeal should be granted.

First, a copy of the request for authorization to appeal is provided to the other party (the student or the Associate Dean, as the case may be) who may submit a response to the Secretary of Student Tribunals within 10 business days. A copy of that response will be sent to the Appellant, who may respond within 10 business days.

When the Secretary has received all responses, an Appeals Authorization Panel will be scheduled to make a decision on the request for authorization to appeal.

The Appeals Authorization Panel is made up of two professors, one student and a non-voting Chair, who is an outside lawyer.

No. No member of the Appeals Authorization Panel will be the same as those who sat on the previous AHP.

No. Decisions with respect to requests for authorization to appeal are based on written record only. Therefore, neither the student nor the Associate Dean may attend the panel that makes the decision on the request for authorization to appeal. This is why it is extremely important that requests for authorization to appeal and responses be written clearly.

The Appeals Authorization panel has the authority to either grant or deny the request for authorization to appeal.

If the panel denies the request for authorization to appeal, the original decision of the AHP will be applied.

If the panel grants the request for authorization to appeal, normally the case will be sent to another panel, the Appeals Panel. However, if a request for authorization to appeal is granted based on the discovery of new evidence or the reasonableness of the student’s reason for not attending the AHP, the panel may instead choose to send the case to a new AHP.

Normally the decision, which is made in writing, shall be sent to the parties within 10 business days following the meeting of the panel.

Yes. The decision of the Appeals Authorization Panel is final.

An Appeals Panel is made up of two professors, one student and a non-voting Chair. These members are different from those who sat on the AHP and the Appeals Authorization Panel. 

Before the hearing, the Appeals Panel receives all material provided to all previous panels in the case as well as a recording of the AHP.

Yes. The parties (student and Associate Dean) may attend the Appeals Panel.

The parties may solely present arguments about if and how the AHP’s original decision would have been different if there was no prejudicial defect or if the new evidence was provided to the AHP.

The Appeals Panel can confirm, reverse or modify the AHP’s original decision, or if the appeal is based on new evidence, the Appeals Panel can send the file to a new AHP.

Normally the decision, which is made in writing, shall be sent to the parties within 10 business days following the meeting of the panel.

Yes. The decision of the Appeals Panel is final.

You may only request a Re-evaluation Appeals Panel if you have submitted an ‘Academic Re-evaluation Request’ to the Birks Student Service Centre within the delays outlined at Article 9 of the Academic Re-evaluation Procedures and received a final decision in this regard from your Department Chair.

You must send your request for a Re-evaluation Appeal Panel to tribunal@concordia.ca within fifteen (15) days after the date of transmission of the Chair's decision.  Your request must clearly state in writing the grounds for your request. Please note that the only grounds pursuant to which a Re-evaluation Appeals Panel may grant a student’s request are:

• When the student’s request for a re-evaluation was refused by the Department Chair and, as such, no re-evaluation was ever conducted:
  • The appeal may be based on either substantive grounds or on the presence of serious and prejudicial procedural defects in the Chair’s consideration of the re-evaluation request.
• When the student’s request for a re-evaluation was granted by the Department Chair and, as such, a re-evaluation was conducted:
  • The appeal may be based upon either substantive grounds or on the presence of serious and prejudicial procedural defects.

Additionally, if you want to request a a re-evaluation appeal, you must submit all supporting documents to the Office of Student Tribunals, including a copy of the original request for re-evaluation (from the Birks Student Service Centre), the document that you wish to be re-evaluated, the decisions of the Department Chair and the re-evaluator where applicable, the course outline, and any other documents that you deem appropriate to your case.

No. Re-evaluation Appeals Panels make their decision based solely upon the written record submitted. It is therefore important that you submit all of your arguments and supporting documents in writing.

No. The decision of the Re-evaluation Appeals Panel is final.