Other Policies and Regulations

12.1 Equal Opportunity Policy and Procedure

12.1.1 Equal Opportunity Policy

This institution is committed to providing equal opportunities to all program applicants and employment applicants and current students and employees. Therefore, no act of discrimination shall occur against prospective and current students and employees in any program or activity on the basis of race, color, religion, religious beliefs, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, age, disability, veteran's status, or any other classification that uses biases to preclude the acceptance and/or participation of a qualified individual. We do not tolerate any form of harrassment based on race, color, religion, religious beliefs, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, age, disability, veteran's status, or any other classification. Please direct any inquiries regarding this policy, if any, to the Chief Operations Officer (CEO) who is assigned the responsibility for ensuring that this policy is followed.

 

12.1.2 Equal Opportunity Procedure

To file a report against a discrimination act, a student should submit a written report to the Grievance Committee at Virscend University 16490 Bake Parkway, Irvine, CA 92618. The written report must contain a statement of the nature of the problem, the date the problem occurred, the names of the individuals involved, copies of documents, if any, which contain information regarding the problem. The student can expect to receive a written response within ten business days. Student’s rights are set forth at various places in this catalog. Contact the Office of Student Success if you require additional information.

 

PLEASE SEE APPENDIX A FOR INFORMATION ABOUT DISABILITY ACCOMMODATIONS AND B, C, AND D FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES RELATED TO SEXUAL OR GENDER DISCRIMINATION.

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12.2 Disability and Accommodation Policy

Generally Virscend University is committed to providing equal and integrated access for students with disabilities to academic, social, cultural and recreational programs. This resolve is grounded not only in the law, including Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act, but also in Virscend’s own commitment to the inclusion of all members of the community.

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Every student with a disability at Virscend University has the right to:

• Equal access to courses, programs, services, and activities offered through the University.

• Reasonable accommodations and adjustments that are provided to eliminate disability-related barriers and achieve equal access.

• Confidentiality of all disability-related information disclosed to the Deputy Director of Student Success except where permitted or required by law or when the student requests that such information be shared, as outlined by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

Every student with a disability at Virscend University has the responsibility to:

• Meet the same qualifications and academic standards expected of all Virscend students.

• Follow procedures for requesting accommodations.

• Provide timely notification to faculty of accommodations by presenting their Faculty Letter at the start of term, or as soon as accommodations have been established.

• Notify the Deputy Director of Student Success immediately when an accommodation is not being provided appropriately

• Notify the Deputy Director of Student Success immediately when discontinuing an accommodation or dropping a course for which specialized accommodations were put into place.

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Rights and Responsibilities of the Deputy Director of Student Success and Distance Education
Deputy Director of Student Success and Distance Education has the right to:

• Request and receive current information supporting requests for accommodations, academic adjustments, and/or auxiliary aids and services.

• Deny an accommodation if the student's disability information does not reflect a connection between their disability and the accommodation request.

• Explore alternate accommodations if a requested accommodation imposes a fundamental alteration or undue hardship to a program or activity of the University.

Deputy Director of Student Success and Distance Education has the responsibility to:

• Provide or arrange for reasonable accommodations, academic adjustments, and/or auxiliary aids and services for students with disabilities in courses, programs, services, and activities.

• Maintain confidentiality of all disability-related information disclosed to the Deputy Director of Student Success except where permitted or required by law or when the student requests that such information be shared, as outlined by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

• Responsibly advocate for the needs of students with disabilities within the campus community and assist students in developing skills to become self-advocates.

Title III of the ADA covers privately-funded schools.  All public or private schools that receive federal funding are required under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act to make their programs accessible to students with disabilities.

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Documentation Guidelines
The Deputy Director of Student Success and Distance Education conducts individualized assessments of accommodation requests that include the review of relevant documentation. We emphasize the value of the student’s experience, history, and perspective in conjunction with the review of supporting medical documentation, and therefore meet with every student before finalizing accommodation plans.
When submitting documentation, the following elements are requested universally:

1. A signature of a licensed, treating physician, therapist, or other qualified care provider is required for all documentation.

2. A signed, dated, typewritten narrative written in English (or translated into English by a certified translator) provided on letterhead

3. Current disability and history of diagnosis (Although we do not set a limit on the age of the documentation, it must still be accurate and relevant to the student’s current diagnostic profile.)

4. Information regarding current treatment plan (if relevant to accommodation planning)

5. Functional impact of diagnosis (e.g., learning, concentrating, walking, seeing, etc.)

6. Any recommendations or strategies that will mitigate the Impact of the described limitations.

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Accommodation Policy
The appropriate academic adjustment must be determined based on your disability and individual needs. Academic adjustments may include auxiliary aids and services, as well as modifications to academic requirements as necessary to ensure equal educational opportunity. Examples of adjustments are: arranging for priority registration; reducing a course load; substituting one course for another; providing note takers, recording devices, sign language interpreters, extended time for testing, and equipping school computers with screen-reading, voice recognition, or other adaptive software or hardware. Examples of accommodations we are prepared to provide are:

• Using early enrollment options for students with disabilities to allow time to arrange accommodations

• Allowing service animals in the classroom

• Providing students with disabilities with a syllabus prior to the beginning of class; clearly communicating course requirements, assignments, due dates, grading criteria both orally and in written form

• Providing written outlines or summaries of class lectures, or integrating this information into comments at the beginning and end of class

• Allowing students to use note takers or record lectures

• Allowing students with disabilities, whose disability prevents them from taking a full-time course load, to qualify for financial aid.

• Web-based:

  • Textual content:

    • Text must be able to be highlighted, copied, and pasted

    • Headings must be used and in the proper hierarchy.

    • There must be sufficient contrast between text and background colors

    • Images must provide appropriate text descriptions

    • Use accessibility checkers to help create and maintain accessible documents

• Interactive content:

  • Content, like slide presentations, should be created with a template

  • Order of text should be verifiable in the outline

  • Tabbing should allow logical reading of the text

  • Color contrast between text and background should be significant. Images must have appropriate test descriptions.

• Spreadsheets:

  • Header rows and columns should be specified Hyperlink text should be meaningful

  • Avoid merged cells

• Audio and video:

  • All video content, whether web or device-based, must be captioned

  • Transcripts must be made available for video-based materials which cannot be captioned

  • Transcripts must be made available for audio-based materials

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Temporary Injuries & Illnesses
The Deputy Director of Student Success works with students experiencing temporary injuries and illnesses in order to facilitate short-term accommodations. Temporary injuries refer to non-recurring medical conditions of short duration (generally six months or less). Examples of temporary injuries and illnesses include broken limbs, manual injuries, concussions, and impairments resulting from surgical recovery.

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Students requesting accommodations for a temporary injury should contact the Deputy Director of Student Success directly in order to schedule an access meeting with a member of our staff. Additional documentation to support your request for accommodations may be requested.
Documentation from students with temporary injuries and illnesses should indicate the current impact of the condition and provide an estimated time of recovery.

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Confidentiality
The Deputy Director of Student Success operates under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), and all information and medical documentation submitted to the office is protected under the parameters of this law. College officials who have a legitimate educational interest in obtaining information about student accommodations and disability needs may request this from the Deputy Director of Student Success on a need-to-know basis without further authorization from the student. The Deputy Director of Student Success strives to respect student privacy, especially surrounding diagnostic information, and takes care in staying within legal compliance with this information.

 

Furthermore, in order to safeguard the confidentiality of individuals with disabilities, evaluators may withhold or redact any portion of the documentation that is not directly relevant to the University's criteria for establishing a rationale for the requested accommodations as long as the remaining information substantiates the presence of a disability and all documentation criteria are met.

 

12.2.1 Documentation Guidelines

The Office of Student Success and Distance Education conducts individualized assessments of accommodation requests that include the review of relevant documentation. We emphasize the value of the student’s experience, history, and perspective in conjunction with the review of supporting medical documentation, and therefore meet with every student before finalizing accommodation plans.

When submitting documentation, the following elements are requested universally:

• A signature of a licensed, treating physician, therapist, or other qualified care provider is required for all documentation. 

• A signed, dated, typewritten narrative written in English (or translated into English by a certified translator) provided on letterhead 

• Current disability and history of diagnosis (Although we do not set a limit on the age of the documentation, it must still be accurate and relevant to the student’s current diagnostic profile.) 

• Information regarding current treatment plan (if relevant to accommodation planning) 

• Functional impact of diagnosis (e.g., learning, concentrating, walking, seeing, etc.) 

• Any recommendations or strategies that will mitigate the Impact of the described limitations. 

 

12.2.2 Temporary Injuries & Illnesses

The Office of Student Success works with students experiencing temporary injuries and illnesses in order to facilitate short-term accommodations. Temporary injuries refer to non-recurring medical conditions of short duration (generally six months or less). Examples of temporary injuries and illnesses include broken limbs, manual injuries, concussions, and impairments resulting from surgical recovery.

Students requesting accommodations for a temporary injury should contact the Office of Student Success directly in order to schedule an access meeting with a member of our staff. Additional documentation to support your request for accommodations may be requested.

Documentation from students with temporary injuries and illnesses should indicate the current impact of the condition and provide an estimated time of recovery.

 

12.2.3 Confidentiality 

The Office of Student Success operates under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), and all information and medical documentation submitted to the office is protected under the parameters of this law.

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12.3 Student Grievance Policy and Procedure

12.3.1 Student Grievance Policy

Problems or complaints that students may have about students, faculty, staff or the institution can be resolved by directing the concern to the Grievance Committee (composed of one faculty and one staff). The Grievance Committee is in charge of investigating and providing a resolution to the grievance. 

 

12.3.2 Student Grievance Procedure

In order to process their grievance/complaint, the grievant must submit the online form (https://virscend.com/student-forms/#1590010040100-8cf6a558-7f38). The committee will send an acknowledgment by email/mail and schedule a meeting with the student within 10 days from which the letter was received.  

 

However, if the grievant disapproves of the Committee’s response, the grievant may submit a complaint to the Office Academic Programs. The complaint may be sent via email (admission@virscend.com) or letter to the following name and address: Virscend University, Office of Academic Programs, Virscend University 16490 Bake Parkway, Irvine, CA 92618. The written complaint must contain a statement of the nature of the problem, the date the problem occurred, the names of the individuals involved, copies of documents, if any, which contain information regarding the problem, evidence (if any) demonstrating that the institution's grievance/complaint procedure was properly followed, and the student's signature. Upon review, the Program Director will send a written response to the individual within 10 business days. Please note that the University expressly forbids anyone to take any form of retaliatory action against any member of the Virscend community who in good faith voices concerns, seeks advice, files a complaint or grievance, testifies or participates in investigations, compliance reviews, proceedings or hearings, or opposes actual or perceived violations of Virscend’s University’s policy or unlawful acts.  

 

12.4 Student Conduct Policy

Students are always expected to behave professionally and respectfully. Students are subject to dismissal for any inappropriate or unethical conduct including any act of academic dishonesty. Students are expected to dress and act accordingly while attending this institution. At the discretion of the school administration a student may be dismissed from school for reasons including, but not limited to: 

• Coming to class in an intoxicated or drugged state. 

• Possession of drugs or alcohol on campus. 

• Possession of a weapon on campus.

• Behavior creating a safety hazard to another person(s). 

• Disobedient or disrespectful behavior to other students, an administrator and/or instructor. 

• Stealing or damaging the property of another. 

 

Any student(s) found to have engaged in such conduct will be asked to leave the premises immediately. Disciplinary action will be determined by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of this institution and such determination will be made within 10 days after meeting with both the corresponding department chair and the student in question. 

 

12.5 Faculty and Student Research Policy

Virscend University encourages faculty and students to conduct applied research in the domain of Business Administration. The research topics include:

• Management, Human Resources Management and Operational Management

• Accounting

• Finance

• Information Systems and E-commerce

• Marketing Management

• International Business’

• Supply Chain Management

• Other Business Administration related topics

 

Virscend University may sponsor up to 50% of the domestic travel expenses for Faculty and students to present research papers in academic conferences and project competitions.

In order to be considered for the travel support, the applicant needs to submit the travel request at least one month before the travel and include the following information: 

• Name of Conference

• Accepted paper for presentation and the acceptance notice

• Estimated travel cost including transportation, lodging, meals, and conference registration fee 

• Brief description of the purpose and impact of the conference presentation

 

12.6 Cheating and Plagiarism Policy

Students are expected to maintain high standards of academic integrity. Acting in good conscience is integral to our mission statement. Academic dishonesty is willful and intentional fraud used to deceive in order to improve a grade or obtain course credit. It includes all student behavior intended to gain unearned academic advantage by fraudulent and/or deceptive means.

 

• The instructor shall contact the student with evidence of the cheating/plagiarism in writing within one week of discovery of the event.

• At faculty’s discretion, cheating/plagiarism may result in an "F" grade on the assignment or examination, or in the course. If a student denies the charge of cheating/plagiarism, he/she will be permitted to remain in the class until it has been resolved by the Grievance Committee. 

• The Grievance Committee shall determine if any further disciplinary action is required. Disciplinary actions might include, but are not limited to, requiring special counseling, loss of membership in organization(s), disciplinary probation, suspension or expulsion from Virscend University.

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12.6.1 Cheating Definition

Cheating is defined as obtaining or attempting to obtain or aiding another in obtaining or attempting to obtain credit for work or any improvement in evaluation of performance, by any dishonest or deceptive means. Cheating includes, but is not limited to:

 

• Copying graded homework assignments from another student.

• Working with others on a take-home test or homework when specifically prohibited by the instructor.

• Looking at another student's paper or screen during an examination.

• Looking at text, notes or electronic devices during an examination when specifically prohibited by the instructor.

• Accessing another student's electronic device and taking information from the device. 

• Allowing another person to complete assignments or an online course on behalf of you.

• Giving one's work to another to be copied or used in an oral presentation.

• Giving answers to another student during an examination or for a take-home test.

• After having taken an exam, informing another person in a later section about questions appearing on that exam.

• Providing a term paper to another student.

• Taking an exam, writing a paper, or creating a computer program or artistic work for another.

 

12.6.2 Plagiarism Definition

Plagiarism is defined by using someone else’s content either by paraphrasing or using word for word or exact image(s) without giving the content writer, creator, maker, owner etc... credit. Whenever the student utilizes material borrowed either from but not limited to the web, books, videos, and podcast, the student must consult Purdue OWL and/or copyright laws to ensure that they have attributed the proper credit to the corresponding person/people/agency/artist etc.… Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to:

 

• Using online or written content without giving proper credit.

• Taking someone else’s content without properly providing citation. 

• Taking either clauses, paragraphs and or paraphrasing without any reference to the content from where it was obtained. 

 

12.7 Academic Freedom Policy

Virscend University is committed to ensuring full academic freedom to all faculty and students.

In Research and Publication, faculty and students have the right to choose methodologies, draw conclusions, and assert the value of their contributions based on evidence, but does not protect against critiques of their claims. 

 

In Teaching and Learning, faculty has the right to select course materials and content, pedagogy, make assignments and assess student performance germane to the subject matter, provided that these judgments align with the context of the course descriptions as currently published, and the instructional methods are those officially sanctioned by the institution. Limits may arise when the manner of instruction substantially impairs the rights of others or demonstrates that the instructor is professionally ignorant, incompetent, or dishonest with regard to their discipline or fields of expertise. Faculty should be careful not to introduce into their teaching controversial matters which have no relation to their subject. 

 

Both faculty and students have the right to express their views - in speech, writing, and through electronic communication, both on and off campus - without fear of censorship or retaliation. No political, religious, or philosophical beliefs of politicians, administrators, and members of the public can be imposed on students or faculty. If faculty or students feel their rights have been violated, he/she reserves the right to file a complaint to the Grievance Committee.

 

12.8 Jeanne Clery Act Policies

The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act is a federal statute requiring colleges and universities participating in federal financial aid programs to maintain and disclose campus crime statistics and security information. This includes amendments implemented with the Campus SaVE Act as pertains to the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).

 

Additional information may be obtained from the U.S. Department of Education Campus Safety and Security website at http://ope.ed.gov/security/. Crime statistics are reported to the Department of Education annually.

 

12.9 Student Services

Should a student encounter a personal problem that interferes with his or her ability to complete coursework, this institution will provide assistance in identifying appropriate professional assistance in the student's local community. For more information contact the Office of Student Success and Distance Education. 

 

12.10 Placement Services 

Career advising is provided by the Faculty. Students are advised on career pathways and potential employment opportunities. In addition, faculty can provide additional career advising to the student. 

 

12.11 Student Housing 

This institution does not operate dormitories or other housing facilities. This institution does not provide assistance, nor does it have any responsibility to assist students in finding housing. Housing in the immediate area is available in two-story walkup and garden apartments. 

 

Currently the average rent for a studio apartment in Irvine is about $2,646 per month, and one bedroom is around $2,777, and $3,482 for a two-bedroom apartment.

 

12.12 Privacy Act

It is this institution's intent to carefully follow the rules applicable under the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act. It is our intent to protect the privacy of a student's financial, academic and other school records. We will not release such information to any individual without having first received the student's written request to do so, or unless otherwise required by law.

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12.13 Distance Learning 

There will be approximately 5 working days that will elapse between the institution’s receipt of student lessons, projects, or dissertations and the institution’s mailing of its response or evaluation.