L.5 Complaints about CUSU Services, Facilities or Products
(i) Complaints about CUSU Services, Facilities or Products other than The Cambridge Student newspaper should be referred first to the CUSU Coordinator. Complaints about The Cambridge Student newspaper should be directed through the TCS Complaints Procedure, which is included in the TCS Constitution and primarily administered by the TCS Editor and Board of Directors.
(ii) If a complaint relevant to this section (L.5) involves discrimination against or offence to a certain distinct social group and there are CUSU representative officers whose portfolios cover those groups, those officers should be solicited for their advice on the complaint and provided with all details about the complaint that it is reasonable to disclose to them, provided that any reasonable privacy concerns can be satisfied.
(iii) The Coordinator should acknowledge receipt of a formal complaint to the complainant within 3 working days of receiving it. Within 10 working days of receiving a complaint, the Coordinator should do one or more of the following:
1. Recuse himself or herself from the procedure and designate another person or body to carry out one or more of the steps that follow
2. Respond to the complainant outlining why a specific amount of additional time is needed for specific tasks that are necessary to properly investigating the complaint.
3. Judge the CUSU complaints procedures incompetent to hear the complaint and attempt to refer the complainant to a body with proper jurisdiction
4. Reject the complaint
5. Uphold the complaint in part and set out corrective action
6. Uphold the complaint in full and set out corrective action
7. Refer the complaint to another organ of the CUSU more directly responsible for the service, facility, or product in question
8. Identify that a ruling on the complaint (or a part thereof) may involve a serious admission of civil or criminal liability or a compelling issue of privacy and therefore refer the complaint to the Board of Trustees of the CUSU
(iv) Anyone directly involved in the complaint or in corrective action set out by the Coordinator may appeal a Coordinator's ruling to the CUSU President.
(v) The President should acknowledge receipt of an appeal to the appellant within 3 working days of receiving it. Within 10 working days of receiving an appeal, the President should do one or more of the following:
1. Recuse himself or herself from the appeal and designate another person or body to carry out one or more of the steps that follow
2. Respond to the appellant outlining why a specific amount of additional time is needed for specific tasks that are necessary to properly investigating the appeal.
3. Reject the Coordinator's ruling in its entirety as flawed and enter a new ruling or a new referral to another body, setting out the reasons for doing so
4. Reject parts of the Coordinator's ruling as flawed and modify the Coordinator's ruling, setting out the reasons for doing so
5. Uphold the Coordinator's ruling in full
6. Identify that a ruling on the complaint or the appeal (or a part thereof) may involve a serious admission of civil or criminal liability or a compelling issue of privacy and therefore refer the complaint to the Board of Trustees of the CUSU
(vi) If students directly involved in the complaint or in the decision of the President or the Board of Trustees (whichever has acted as the appellate judge) are dissatisfied with that decision, they may appeal it to the Junior Proctor, and the President or Board of Trustees should advise all relevant parties of this fact and of how such an appeal could be made.