The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act also affords students certain rights with respect to their education records: the right to inspect and review the student's education records within 45 days of a request, the right to request amendment of the student's education records that the student believes are inaccurate or misleading, the right to consent to disclosures of personally identifiable information contained in the student's education records and the right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by the University to comply with the requirements of FERPA.

A student wishing to lodge a complaint must first speak with the person or persons immediately involved. For example, if a student feels their grade in a class is inaccurate, he or she should speak with their instructor first. After meeting with the professor and chair or dean of the involved department, the student has the final appeal option to take their case to the Committee on Academic Affairs.

Richard Carmichael, chairman of the CAA and a professor and chair of the mathematics department, said the CAA deals with a variety of student requests that counter the directives outlined in the student bulletin. The CAA hears petitions from students who wish to add or drop a class after the specified date, for example.

Carmichael, who has been on the CAA for the past three years, said students almost never petition the committee for a grade change. "The committee has heard such petitions, but very few since I've been on (the CAA)," he said.

Monk plans to address the CAA at the Sept. 26 meeting in hopes of appealing a grade she received from Leticia Romo, a visiting instructor of romance languages. Monk alleges that Romo didn't sufficiently explain late work and grading policies, including the conversion of European numerical grades to university letter grades. "She (Romo) wouldn't show us the conversion chart," Monk said. "She told us there was a hierarchy system that all of us have to obey."

The confusion over grade translation may lie in the incorporation of pluses and minuses to the grading system made mid-semester. Students in the university program in Salamanca were taught by both Romo, the Salamanca director last spring semester, and Spanish professors hired by the university.

European grades are determined on a 0-10 point scale which must be converted to the American letter grade.

"There was a lot of confusion over the conversion scale," senior Laura Coward, another Salamanca participant, said. "We had a meeting with Romo near the end of the semester and she said the scale was confidential and that we were not privy to that information."

Romo, however, contends there should be no confusion. "Grading is an internal process," she said. "The university trusts the judgment of the professor. If I were to give students the numerical grade, it would imply that I was not trusting my colleague."

Romo also said she gave the conversion chart to students who asked for it.

Candelas Gala, a Wake Forest professor and chair of romance languages, said there should be no confusion about grade translations because the numerical grade directly correlates with a letter grade.

Paul Escott, dean of the college, will consult with chairpersons at their request to help resolve student complaints and explain the process to inquiring students. He reiterated both Gala and Romo's stance on the grading system used in Salamanca.

"We have no reason to suspect that there is any error in the grades that last spring's students received, and there is no reason for the students to have any suspicions or concerns," Escott said. "I believe that the students know what the guidelines are for translating scores into letter grades."

The student complaint process and FERPA are designed to ensure student's rights within an academic setting.

While Monk's appeal to the CAA may or may not be successful, it is her right, and the privilege of all students, to attempt to remedy a situation that he or she believes to be unfair.