Office of Origin: Academic Affairs
Responsibility: Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs
Original Date Adopted: 5/25/2021
Dates Reviewed: 5/25/2021, 4-9-25 (C)
Last Date Board Approved: 5/25/2021

Academic matters such as decision authority or influence in grading, academic requirements, and assessing clinical outcomes are examples of situations that may require reallocation of duties to avoid any actual or perceived reward or disadvantage. Therefore, students who attend Lake Michigan College (the College) are precluded from taking classes taught by a family member, with a possible exception when the family member is acting as the sole faculty member instructing the course.

Definitions

1. Family Member: Defined as a spouse, domestic partner, child, niece/nephew, aunt/uncle, parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, mother-in-law, and father-in-law, whether by birth or marriage.
2. Faculty: Any person(s) identified in the course syllabus as the instructor(s). All person(s) that have an instructional role must be listed in the syllabus.

Procedure

1. In the event that the faculty is acting as the sole faculty member teaching a course and a family member wants to take it, the faculty must report, in writing, the relationship to the supervising Department/Program Chair.
2. The Department/Program Chair will obtain prior approval from the supervising Academic Dean before the family member is allowed to take the course(s).
3. Upon approval by the Academic Dean, the faculty and the Department/Program Chair will collaboratively develop a plan to assure fairness in instruction and evaluation of the family member in the course(s).
4. The Department/Program Chair will monitor the approved plan and confirm the plan is being followed. If the Department/Program Chair determines the plan is not being followed, the Academic Dean will take prompt action. This action could be a corrective return to the plan, withdrawing the student, or replacing the faculty.

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