Extracted from the College By-Laws

Appendix 3: Appeals

Extracted from the College By-laws:

VI:PAPPEALS

1Application

i.This By-law applies to undergraduate, graduate and visiting students of the College, and to associate members of the JCR and MCR; and refers to all such people as ‘students’.

ii.For these purposes, ‘student’ also includes a group of students, or a Common Room (as, though not only, where a group or Common Room is held responsible for misbehaviour under By-law VI:D.6). References to ‘student’ in this By-law shall accordingly, where appropriate, be read as references to the group or Common Room, or to its representative(s).

2Rights of appeal

i.A student who is affected by a decision of a College officer, or who is the subject of a decision by the Disciplinary Committee or the Academic Disciplinary Committee, may appeal against that decision to –

(a)The College’s appellate tribunal, as defined in 3 below; and thereafter

(b)The Appeal Tribunal of the Conference of Colleges, subject to the Tribunal’s own regulations.

ii.A student also has such rights as he or she may hold under external provisions, notably a right to appeal to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator.

3The appellate tribunal

i.The College’s appellate tribunal (hereafter in this By-law referred to as ‘the tribunal’) shall be –

(a)If the appeal is against a decision of the Disciplinary Committee or the Academic Disciplinary Committee that the student be sent down: the Governing Body, convened by the Rector.

(b)If the appeal is against a decision of the Disciplinary Committee or the Academic Disciplinary Committee to any other effect than that the student be sent down: the Appeal Committee, convened by the Rector, and consisting of the Rector, one other fellow, and one other person who shall not currently be a member of the Governing Body of the College.

(c)In all other cases: the Appeal Committee, convened by the Sub-Rector, and consisting of the Sub-Rector and two other fellows. The Sub-Rector may alternatively nominate another senior fellow to act in his or her place.

ii.A person who has had a hand in the decision appealed against, or who is the tutor or college adviser of any student involved in the matter –

(a)Shall not be a member of the Appeal Committee.

(b)If a member of Governing Body, may participate in the Governing Body’s hearing of the appeal up to the point of determination, but shall not participate in the determination itself.

iii.If the Rector or Sub-Rector declines to act as convener of the tribunal on the ground in ii above, he or she shall nominate another senior fellow to act in his or her place.

4Appeal procedure

i.A student who wishes to exercise his or her right of appeal shall give notice to that effect to the convener of the relevant tribunal. This notice must normally be given within one week of the decision appealed against, and in writing. It must state the grounds on which the student believes that decision unsatisfactory.

ii.Once the convener has received the student’s notice –

(a)The tribunal shall meet to hear the case. In the case of the Appeal Committee, the hearing shall take place as soon as practicable; normally within two weeks of the convener’s receipt of the student’s notice. In the case of the Governing Body, the hearing shall take place at the next scheduled College Meeting to which the matter can conveniently be brought, unless the Rector convenes a special College Meeting for the purpose.

(b)In advance of the hearing, the convener shall supply the members of the tribunal with a note of the decision appealed against, the student’s notice, and any other relevant documents. The convener shall at the same time supply the student with a copy of all documentation with which the members of the tribunal are provided.

iii.The tribunal shall –

(a)Give the student the opportunity to make a personal appearance before it (accompanied, if he or she wishes, by another person of his or her choice), or to ask a representative of his or her choice to appear before it on his or her behalf. The student and his or her companion or representative shall withdraw before the appellate body takes its decision. The tribunal may also interview any other person it wishes; he or she too shall withdraw before the tribunal takes its decision.

(b)Consider the matter fully, and decide whether the appeal should be allowed.

iv.If the tribunal allows the appeal, it may substitute any outcome which –

(a)Would have been available in the relevant circumstances to the college officer or Committee whose decision is the subject of the appeal; and

(b)In the view of the tribunal, bears no harder on the appellant than the outcome appealed against.

v.The tribunal’s determination shall be put in writing and communicated to the student.

5Reporting

A report shall be made to Governing Body, via the Michaelmas Term meeting of the Junior Relations Committee, about the about the use made of this By-law over the preceding academic year. This report shall be presented in such a way as not to disclose the identity of the students involved.