Irregularities and Misconduct

The Career Center’s Reference Letter Service has mechanisms in place to protect the rights and interests of both students and writers. Although violations are infrequent, they do take place. Examples range from students attempting to gain access to their confidential letters to submitting forged reference letters. Students who fail to adhere to The Career Center’s Reference Letter Service Policies Agreement are considered in violation of the University of Michigan’s Statement of Student Rights & Responsibilities. In these cases, violations will be handled through the Office of Student Conflict Resolution and possibly through the court system.

The Reference Letter Service ensures the integrity of housing and appropriately sending reference letters by conducting random verification of reference letter authenticity and transmittal requests. The Reference Letter Service may occasionally contact you to verify authorship of a letter or may ask for identification when a reference letter is delivered to the office.

The Reference Letter Service may also return letters containing irregularities. Irregularities may include providing a letter without a signature or contact information; submitting a school- or employer-specific letter; or including comments on a protected classification.