To comply with federal regulations and North Central Association of Colleges and Schools' policy, Missouri State University-West Plains has established a Record of Student Complaints policy. Complaints may be filed using the Student Complaint Form (PDF 36KB) - (You need a PDF reader similar to Adobe® Reader® to view and print this document). The University maintains records of the formal, written, signed student complaints addressed to and submitted to the offices of the Chief Executive Officer (Dr. Dennis Lancaster; 417-255-7900 or DennisLancaster@MissouriState.edu), the Chief Academic Officer (Dr. Michael Orf 417-255-7272 or MichaelOrf@MissouriState.edu) and the Chief Student Services Officer (Dr. Angela Totty; 417-255-7255 or AngelaTotty@MissouriState.edu). These confidential records are kept in the separate offices of these three officials. Information recorded on Student Complaint Logs includes the following:
- The date the complaint was first formally submitted to an appropriate officer;
- The nature of the complaint (e.g., dispute about a grade, allegation of sexual harassment, etc.);
- The steps taken by the institution to resolve the complaint;
- The institution’s final decision regarding the complaint, including referral to outside agencies;
- Any other external actions initiated by the student to resolve the complaint, if known to the institution (e.g., lawsuit, EEOC investigation, etc.).
Information maintained in the Student Complaint Logs is completely subject to the University's Policy Regarding Personally Identifiable Student Records. When requested by authorized persons, internal or external, logs will normally be provided in redacted form. A sample Student Complaint Log appears below:
Student Complaint Log
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| Complaint Number |
Complaint Date |
Complaint Topic |
Action Taken by University |
Final Decision |
External Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
In addition, the Missouri Department of Higher Education serves as a clearinghouse for postsecondary student complaints. The MDHE complaint policy may be found at http://dhewd.mo.gov/documents/POLICYONCOMPLAINTRESOLUTION-reviseddraft.pdf. This webpage contains information about the complaint process and includes instructions for how to file a formal complaint. Note that the policy provides that a student who wishes to file a complaint with the department must first exhaust all formal and informal avenues provided by the institution to resolve disputes.
Policy developed January 1998
Policy amended September 2011