Faculty Conduct

The university’s mission is to create, disseminate, and preserve knowledge through research and teaching. Faculty at Yale bear primary responsibility for fostering the conditions necessary to advance this mission, including adherence to a shared set of principles governing faculty members in relation to each other, to their students and trainees, and to the university and its staff members.

This shared set of principles is captured in the university’s Faculty Standards of Conduct. The Graduate School is primarily a student-facing unit; it does not oversee faculty grievance procedures. If you are a GSAS student and have concerns about a faculty member’s professionalism or academic integrity, though, you may come to the GSAS Dean’s Office for advice and support. If you would like support during relevant meetings, for example, you may ask a GSAS dean to accompany you.

If you have sexual misconduct or discrimination and harassment concerns regarding faculty, those concerns should be directed to a Title IX Coordinator or Discrimination and Harassment Resource Coordinator, respectively.  You may also report discrimination, harassment, or retaliation to the Office of Institutional Equity & Accessibility (OIEA) using the OIEA Reporting Form.

If you have concerns that a faculty member may have violated the Faculty Standards of Conduct, however, you may bring those concerns to the respective faculty member’s Dean, i.e., the Dean of the unit in which a faculty member has a primary academic appointment. Along with the Graduate School and Faculty of Arts and Sciences, there are 13 professional schools at Yale, each of which has a presiding Dean.  (If you are unable to identify the Yale school in which a faculty member holds a primary appointment, you may consult a GSAS dean for assistance with this question.)

Deans of each Yale school create and apply informal processes to resolve complaints of faculty misconduct. If an alleged violation of the Standards of Faculty Conduct cannot be resolved informally, however, a member of the university community may ask the Provost to submit a complaint for formal faculty review.