(1) For student complaints regarding grades received for course work, this section shall apply in addition to the above-described informal and formal procedures.

(2) A student may formally grieve only the final grade received in a course, but that complaint may include any or all of the components of that final grade. For a grade complaint, the respondent(s) shall be, or include, the instructor who issued the grade.

(3) A formal complaint regarding a grade must be filed not later than the last day of the quarter which follows the quarter for which the disputed grade was received, except that a complaint regarding a spring quarter grade may be filed through the last day of the following fall quarter.

(4) In specifying the facts and other grounds on which it is based, the formal complaint shall specify the grade that is being challenged and should attach copies of relevant documents. The response on behalf of the respondent shall include, to the extent feasible, the applicable evaluation criteria, copies of the course syllabus and relevant grading records, and the faculty member's explanation for the grade.

(5) Ordinarily the evaluation of course mastery is exclusively within the province of the instructor of a particular course, and so a grade change may be initiated only by that instructor. However, if a formal grade complaint is ultimately reviewed by the vice president of instruction, and she/he finds that the grade was issued for an improper reason or was arbitrary and capricious or otherwise unlawful, that vice president may change the grade in the records of the college.

(6) Nothing in these rules shall be construed to limit the separate authority of the vice president of instruction to change a grade when required by a judicial order or a legal settlement agreement entered into by the district, regardless of whether a complaint has been filed.