After two years in the position, NAITSA’s Student Academic Rights Advisor (SARA) has seen a lot of change — including 39.9 per cent more visits from students.
NAITSA introduced the position in 2023 after NAIT got rid of their ombudsperson role. Since then, Renata Medeiros has been advising students on their academic rights and responsibilities, with more students seeking her out each year.
She saw 127 more interactions with students in the 2024-25 academic year, with July and December being the busiest months. In July 2024, she had a 200 per cent increase in visits, and in December 2024, 170.6 per cent.
“I feel like people know me more, and are more comfortable coming to talk to me,” she said. “There are some issues that I’ve seen increased and I hope that my work can help students understand when those issues may show up.”
Medeiros, who also previously served as NAITSA’s VP Academic, said that she’s seen academic misconduct visits increase, which she believes is partially because of a November 2024 policy change. Instead of complaints going through the Student Conduct and Accountability office (formerly known as the Student Resolution Office), complaints are now handled by instructors and chairs, but there’s still some confusion on what constitutes different levels of misconduct.
There are three levels: minor, major and egregious. The terms are defined in NAIT’s Academic Misconduct policy (SR 2.1), but Medeiros says there’s still a lack of training.
“I still see that there are some staff that are not that comfortable setting the procedure as it should be,” she said. “I feel like there’s just a little bit of a lack of training there, and I am working with some NAIT departments to hopefully increase that training and make it easier for staff to apply that procedure the correct way.”
Despite the increase in visits, Medeiros doesn’t believe that academic conduct at NAIT is getting worse. Instead, she thinks there is still a lack of understanding on what is considered academic misconduct. And it’s not just from students.
“I think there is a lack of understanding of what academic misconduct is, on both sides of the staff and students,” she explains. “That’s something we are trying to address … but I feel like there could be more resources available, especially at the beginning of the semester.”
For questions on grade reappraisals, conflicts with instructors or even just for help navigating the world of academic integrity, Medeiros encourages students to visit early.
“If they see that at the beginning of the year they’re not 100 per cent comfortable with their instructor, or they noticed something that the instructor may have said that did not make them feel comfortable … that’s the first sign that maybe that’s going to be a bigger problem in the future,” she said.
“They can come talk to me to understand a little bit more of how to have that conversation with the instructor, so that they can address it right away at the beginning of the semester, and not let it escalate until the end of the semester.”
Students can book a virtual or in-person appointment online by visiting naitsa.ca/sara.
