Canisius University Complaint Process

Students should submit complaints to Mike Yates, Associate Vice President for Student Life, at: yatesm@canisius.edu. The Associate Vice President for Student Life will coordinate response to complaints as needed with other University personnel. Students must first file a complaint with Canisius University via this process before escalating the complaint to external entities. Violations of community standards, bias incidents, concerns about students’ well-being or safety, and other Title IX related incidents should not be directed to the Associate Vice President for Student Life but rather should be reported according to guidelines at our Bias Reporting page.
Following the completion of the internal process, or if no resolution is reached, a student may appeal to the institution’s decision to the New York State Department of Education (NYSED) within two years of the incident about which the complaint is made.
If a student has exhausted all these options, the student may address their concern to the appropriate office within NYSED, as directed by the above NYSED link or the United States Department of Education Office of Civil Rights.

NC-SARA Complaint Process for Students Residing Outside New York State

Canisius University participates in the NC-SARA consortium for distance education. Among other benefits, this provides students in the United States (states and territories), but outside of New York State, with an effective complaint process:

As outlined above for New York State students, these students should seek resolution of complaints by contacting Mike Yates, Associate Vice President for Student Life, at: yatesm@canisius.edu

Student complaints must be filed first through the appropriate Canisius University channels as above. However, if the student located outside of New York State feels that their complaint or concern was not fairly addressed at Canisius, they may contact the SARA State Portal Entity at NYSED.

or to the following official:

Andrea Richards
Supervisor of Higher Education Programs
518.474.1551
IHEauthorize@nysed.gov
New York State Education Department
89 Washington Ave
Albany, NY 12234

Under the NC-SARA agreement, NYSED serves as our portal entity or point of contact. It will investigate dishonest or fraudulent activity by any institution (school or university) participating in NC-SARA. This includes the possibility of an institution providing potentially misleading or false information. NC-SARA policies do not cover complaints related to grades or conduct violations. Visit NC-SARA's Student Complaints Guide for a complete description of the process.

A student may appeal the institutional decision to NYSED within two years of the incident about which the complaint was made. The NC-SARA website above outlines the appeal process as a resource for students.