Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Office of Student Citizenship

The Complaint Process

For Complainants

Any directly aggrieved member of the MIT community may bring a charge against any student for violation of Institute Policy (link to policies). Non-members may bring a complaint, but they will be considered on a case by case basis by the Chair of the COD.

To add a Letter to File to a student's record, download and submit this form (Letter To File, Word Document) to OSC.

To file a complaint, fill out the complaint form and submit the form along with all supporting information to The Office of Student Citizenship (W20-507). Upon receipt of the complaint, OSC shall meet with the Chair of the COD to determine the proper venue for the hearing. After that meeting, assuming that the Chair of the COD determines that there is enough information to move forward with the complaint, the accused student shall be notified and asked to meet with OSC to discuss the complaint and review the procedures. They shall have 10 business days from that meeting to respond to the complaint in writing, and that response. If possible, the hearing date will be set at that meeting.

The Complainant is encouraged to meet with OSC before filing the complaint and/or throughout the entire process to ensure that she or he understands the process completely. It is recommended that a Complainant seek out an advisor to help her or him during the judicial process. This advisor can be any non-family, non-attorney member of the MIT community, but it is recommended that the advisor be part of the faculty or staff.

If a complaint is determined to be lacking enough information to go forward, OSC will work with you to get any additional material deemed necessary by the Chair of the COD. Once that information is gathered the complaint will be shown to the Chair and upon approval shall be directed to one of several venues:

  1. Full hearing by the COD—this involves at least 8 members of the COD including at least 2 faculty, and can be used in any case but will be the forum if the possible sanction is greater than probation. Sanctions of suspension or expulsion may be appealed to the Chancellor.
  2. COD Panel—A COD panel is a smaller forum and consists of 5 members of the COD including at least 2 faculty. Appeals of decisions are made to the Chair of the COD.
  3. Administrative review—Cases with a possible sanction of probation or less may be heard by administrative review which shall include the Director of OSC and one student member of the COD.
  4. Dormitory Judicial Committee—A few dorms have their own judicial committees and if the accused student is a resident of one of those halls the case might be referred to that Committee by OSC.
  5. FSILG Judicial Committee—If the complaint is against an organization within the FSILG system, that case will usually be referred to the appropriate judicial committee.