Graduate
Student Bill of Rights and Responsibilities
This document is a product of
UGGS in conjunction with the graduate school.
This is an ongoing draft of the bill of rights.
1) A graduate student has the right to be respected as a person of merit and junior colleague upon gaining admission to a graduate program.
a) This includes professional training including but not limited to: how to submit an academic article for publication in a professional journal, information on professional associations and conferences; and aid in job searches.
2) Graduate students have the right not to be discriminated against based on the student’s gender, race, age, sexual orientation, disability, religious, or political beliefs.
3) Official grievance and informal complaints procedures will be clearly
defined at the
4) Graduate students have a right to an accurate description of the availability and likelihood of financial and resource support within their program.
a) Graduate students on appointment should be provided with, and asked to sign, a contract containing the exact amount of payment for their stipend, payment dates, and specific information on tuition credits and percentage of insurance covered, prior to beginning their appointment. Approximations of any of these amounts are not acceptable.
b) Prospective and currently enrolled graduate students will be provided a thorough description of the requirements and qualifications necessary for academic employment, training, or financial support at the University of Colorado-Boulder
c) Assignments of office or lab space to departments and programs should consider the need for adequate graduate student space and equipment.
d) Funding shall not be denied a student mid-semester without exceptional reason.
e) The program shall make every reasonable effort to provide funding for students who change research advisors.
5) Graduate students have the right to specific and concrete requirements for achieving an advanced degree. These requirements should be communicated clearly to the graduate student, both upon entrance to the graduate program and after any significant changes or updates.
a) Prospective and currently enrolled graduate students have the right to know and will be informed of the “normative time to degree” and the “average time to degree” within a specific graduate program.
b) Prospective and currently enrolled graduate students have the right to be kept up to date on the availability of courses required for their graduate studies.
c) Prospective and currently enrolled graduate students have the right to know the program’s attrition rate, and if available, the predominant reasons for lack of program completion.
6) Graduate students have the right to have their progress toward achieving an advanced degree be evaluated in an objective manner and based on criteria that are understood by the graduate advisor and the student.
a) Evaluations should be factual, specific, and should be shared with the student within a reasonable period of time. Explicit written evaluations should include, but are not limited to: annual progress reports, split decisions on qualifying examinations, and unusual or additional program requirements.
b) The reasons for unsatisfactory performance on programmatic examinations should be stated clearly and promptly to the student in a written evaluation.
7) A graduate student has the right to regular feedback and guidance concerning his/her academic progress.
a) Graduate students have the right to reasonable confidentiality in their communications with professors and department chairs.
i) Generally, a professor should not discuss a student’s performance or behavior with other students.
ii) Discussion of the student’s performance among faculty should be of a professional nature, and should be limited to the student’s academic performance and fitness as a graduate student: the substance of the communication should be based on a need to know relevant information.
b) A graduate student and major professor should arrive at and maintain a mutually agreeable schedule of evaluative/supervisory conferences.
c) Graduate students should be given a fair opportunity to correct deficiencies in their academic performance.
d) Any intent to dismiss a graduate student from a graduate program for academic reasons must be preceded by specific, written performance information, well in advance of the actual dismissal.
8) Graduate students have the right to refuse to perform tasks that are not closely related to or in conflict with their academic or professional development, or in excess of their contractual obligations. The student’s vulnerability in having a lesser status and authority in the academic unit or lesser experience in the academic field should not be exploited to the personal advantage of a faculty or staff member or department.
a) Graduate students who have a research or teaching assignment will not be expected to work, on average over the course of a semester, in excess of the hours for which they are being paid.
b) Graduate students will not be scheduled for or expected to fulfill teaching, research, service, or professional development responsibilities that are in conflict with the graduate student’s required academic activities.
c) Further, faculty will do their best to accommodate the research, service, and professional development needs of a graduate student when scheduling their teaching and research assignments.
9) Graduate students have the right to co-authorship in publications involving significant contributions of ideas or research work from the student. The student should receive “first authorship” for publications primarily derived from the creative research and writing of the student. Faculty and graduate students should agree as early as possible upon authorship positions commensurate with levels of contributions to the work.
10) Graduate students have the right to expect that their departments or graduate programs incorporate student representatives into the decision-making process at that level. Graduate student involvement in appropriate policy decisions made at the department/graduate program level provides for increased communication of student ideas and concerns, as well as evidence that graduate students are “in training” as future academicians and professionals.
11) Graduate students who will be placed in teaching positions have the right to receive appropriate training as an educator. Expectations as a teacher will be clearly outlined and presented to any graduate who functions in a teaching capacity. The student’s vulnerability in having a lesser status and authority in the academic unit or lesser experience in as an educator should not be exploited to the personal advantage of a faculty or staff member or department through unreasonable manipulations of these expectations.
a) Graduate students who have a teaching assignment are not obligated to accept students in excess of the official course size limit.
b) Further, it is reasonable for a graduate student to expect that course size limits will not be arbitrarily raised from one semester to the next, in particular after they have been published by the registrar’s office.
c) If a department requires a graduate student to teach any students in a particular section in excess of the “traditional” course size limit, then that graduate student will be compensated for teaching an additional section, even if “both sections” meet in the same time and place and are “officially” considered one section by the registrar's office.
12) Graduate students have the right to pursue professional training for academic and non-academic careers.
Graduate
students have the following responsibilities.
1) Graduate students have the responsibility to conduct themselves, in all educational activities, in a manner befitting an academic colleague. Graduate students’ behavior should be a credit to themselves, the higher academic unit, and the university.
2) Graduate students have the responsibility to devote an appropriate amount of time and energy toward achieving the advanced degree within “normative time”, except when special circumstances apply.
3) Graduate students have the responsibility to provide accurate and honest reporting of research results and to uphold ethical norms in research methodology and scholarship.
4) Graduate students have the responsibility to participate in the campus community to the extent that each is able, and should leave the campus enriched in whatever ways possible.
a) To contribute to the academic development and the social environment of the department or program in which they are pursuing the advanced degree.
b) To contribute to the administration of the graduate program, student government, and/or the university.
5) Graduate students have the responsibility to take the initiative in asking questions that promote their understanding of the academic requirements and financial particulars of their specific graduate program.
6) Graduate students have the responsibility to understand their role in the development of their relationships with faculty mentors.
a) To demonstrate an awareness of the time constraints and other demands imposed on faculty members and program staff.
b) To communicate regularly with faculty mentors and advisors, especially in matters related to research, progress, concerns, and problems within the graduate program.
7) Graduate students have the responsibility to uphold the public service
aspects of the mission of this public university, at a level appropriate to
their ability and graduate program.
a) To provide high quality teaching to undergraduate students.
b) To provide valuable research and support to the faculty and fellow
graduate students.