UCSC students looking to change complaint form policy
A group of UC Santa Cruz students are pushing for reforms to what they believe are systemic problems with the way students are able to file complaints against professors.
They say while they cannot stop people from being abusive, they hope to empower students to make sure no one gets away with it.
“I’m disappointed that he portrayed such egregious behavior against members of the student body,” said Evan West, a third-year UCSC student who had a class with Achlioptas.
West said he never saw examples of the inappropriate behavior first hand, but did hear stories from other students. He is concerned not just with the accusation, but with how long it took the university to take action.
“They made complaints, and then for six months, no one reached out to investigate their complaints,” said West.
Not until, he said, a petition was put out by student unions calling for administrators to listen. West and his colleagues say that petition got things moving, and now they want more.
“It certainly won’t be the last case unless we make some sort of active changes to the way reporting these abuses work,” said Nimesh Poudel, a third-year UCSC student.
They believe there can be a lot of fear when students bring a complaint against professors. They said the current complaint form for a Faculty Code of Conduct violation is shared with the accused.
That information contains contains the student’s name, number and address.
“Especially if they’re in a position of power over you like an advisor or a mentor, that could get difficult really quickly,” said West.
“It definitely affects all students on the campus, and it is an unsafe environment for all students,” said Simran Chawla, a senior at UCSC.
One of the reforms these three students are proposing is a separate complaint form filed on behalf of students by an administrator.
They are bringing these types of ideas to administrators, other professors and students, and hope it expands to other UC campuses.
KION was not able to reach administrators at UCSC for comment on this story. The lawyer for Professor Achlioptas said he is confident that due process will exonerate him when the investigation is over.
The dean of the UC Santa Cruz Baskin School of Engineering, Alexander L. Wolf, released a statement on May 30: “I want to stress the importance of recognizing that allegations are not conclusive, and that we are obliged to maintain a system, as imperfect as it may be, that seeks to be fair and impartial. I have no doubt that students, faculty, and university administrators all have a shared goal and a common interest in supporting that system at the same time as actively finding ways to materially improve it.”
If you would like to contact Fiat Justice, the group the students interviewed have formed as part of their efforts, you can email them at: fiatjusticeucsc@gmail.com
