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Personally I think it's a bit more complex. Universities do have a variety of disclosure requirements, but how "official" info on a website is will vary.
For example, if the policy was updated in the student handbook which was available to you, then it sucks that the website wasn't updated, but technically the school did disclose the current policy to you, you just opted not to read it.
It's easy to blame the university for not having 100% of the info on its website current, but as someone who works in a related area, I'll just say that without fail for most universities something on the website is always out of date or incorrect. Sometimes that's the Department's fault, and sometimes it's IT's fault. We've had pages that we've updated only for IT to flip the wrong switch months later and revert to some older page version.
In the same way, in several states, if you look carefully at the Driver's manual it will specify that the driver's manual (which is what they provide for drivers to know the law) cannot be used as a legal defense? Why? Because the detail of the rules are kept elsewhere, and the manual is just a user-friendly translation [which can't be held responsible].
You can fight this, but while they are indeed at fault for not keeping their website up to date, that doesn't necessarily equate to you getting off the hook either. As others have said, you can hope they take your side as a customer service gesture, but I don't think they're actually obligated to do anything provided they had some other mechanism available to students detailing the actual policy updates, whether that be in the student handbook, or email updates they sent, etc.
The Dean of your particular school (Engineering, Arts & Sciences, etc) would probably be able to change the grade. Not to say he will. But he likely can. Talk to him.
Some schools do a poor job at maintaining their website. Stick to the policies in the catalog. These are the official policies that the faculty and administrators must follow.
I've heard a couple of times that a student should go by the college handbook that was current when they started college. That's because a college should not be able to change course requirements mid stream. I would think the same would apply to grading parameters. I think that what's on a website would not be something the college could be held accountable for though, because as the above posters have said, that could be an IT error. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a note somewhere on the website telling you that you should go to the college for up to date rules. Can you find the rule about c-'s in writing in printed material?
I've heard a couple of times that a student should go by the college handbook that was current when they started college. That's because a college should not be able to change course requirements mid stream. I would think the same would apply to grading parameters. I think that what's on a website would not be something the college could be held accountable for though, because as the above posters have said, that could be an IT error. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a note somewhere on the website telling you that you should go to the college for up to date rules. Can you find the rule about c-'s in writing in printed material?
The printed material does state that the policy is C or better. The policy was changed 2 yrs ago. Maybe it was better to look at the undergrad bulletin but I never thought of that because I assumed what I was reading from their website was correct. Nothing on there tells you to refer to anything else or has anything that lets you know that it's outdated. It does have the date the page was last modified, but that wouldn't necessarily mean that it was outdated.
I've heard a couple of times that a student should go by the college handbook that was current when they started college. That's because a college should not be able to change course requirements mid stream. I would think the same would apply to grading parameters. I think that what's on a website would not be something the college could be held accountable for though, because as the above posters have said, that could be an IT error. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a note somewhere on the website telling you that you should go to the college for up to date rules. Can you find the rule about c-'s in writing in printed material?
The part in red has been the official policy at every university I have been associated with, as a student and as a professor. I would bet it is the policy at the OP's university as well.
OP, what does the official catalog/bulletin/handbook for the year that you started say about this issue?
The printed material does state that the policy is C or better. The policy was changed 2 yrs ago. Maybe it was better to look at the undergrad bulletin but I never thought of that because I assumed what I was reading from their website was correct. Nothing on there tells you to refer to anything else or has anything that lets you know that it's outdated. It does have the date the page was last modified, but that wouldn't necessarily mean that it was outdated.
If that much was riding on a class, I would have talked to someone to verify the information. Even within many colleges, different departments have different rules. Again, good lesson learned, never assume anything.
Fight the fact that the school has a web page with outdated information still active. Nowhere on the web page does it state that the information is no longer relevant. I knew I was probably going to end up with a C- before the withdrawal period based on the grades that I had up until that point. If I had known that the policy is now C or better, I could have dropped the course and took it over. My point is that the school has misleading information posted.
I think what you really ought to be looking at is what catalog did you enter under, are you still under that catalog, and what does that catalog say?
In many a universities, it's not about what the website says, but rather, the catalog.
I spoke to the school today. They were willing to do it, but the new system that they use (which was implemented in the fall) would not allow them to make the change. Something about the algorithms of the system and trying to backdate to the old policy. So now the options are for me to try to get the professor to give me INC and I could work with him to bring the grade up (which I don't see happening), or I could ask him to give me an F and then I could retake the class. Initially, taking the F (assuming that he wouldn't give me the INC) sounded great because I could retake the class and get at least a C, and that would boost my GPA up at least .3 points. I spoke with a friend and he said if the professor doesn't give me the INC, then I should just move on. He thinks that a transcript showing a class failed twice will look bad in the long run even if retaking it did raise my GPA. So what do you guys think? If the professor doesn't give me the INC, should I just move on or should I take the F and raise my GPA by retaking the class?
Check your school's rules, but it is unlikely that you qualify for an incomplete.
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