Judicial Appeal Procedures

Any student who has been sanctioned in the Judicial Review Process has the right to request an appeal on specified grounds. The reason for an appeal is to guarantee that the student has receiving a fundamentally fair hearing in accord with established policies and procedures.

A student who has been sanctioned may only request to appeal the determination or sanction on the following grounds:

1.  A substantial procedural error occurred that unreasonably impaired the referred student’s ability to achieve a fair process or final decision and made the process or the final decision fundamentally unfair;

2.  New evidence of substantive nature, impossible for the hearing officer to have heard at the time of the hearing, has been discovered and it would be fundamentally unfair for the officer to not consider the evidence; or

3. The initial sanction(s) are fundamentally unfair or inappropriate.

In order to request an appeal, the student who has been sanctioned must submit a written request for appeal to the designated office within five class days of being notified of the initial decision. A student who has been sanctioned will be notified at the conclusion of a hearing who is the designated University representative to submit their request for an appeal. Typically, requests for appeals from Judicial Board Hearings should be submitted to the Dean of Students, while requests for appeals from Administrative Hearings should be submitted to the supervisor of the Administrative Hearing Officer (for example, if the Dean of Students served as the Administrative Hearing officer then the request for an appeal would be directed to the Associate Vice President for Student Advocacy and Community Relations; if the Associate Vice President for Student Advocacy and Community Relations served as the Administrative Hearing officer then the request for an appeal would be directed to the Vice President for Student Affairs).  The individual designated to review the appeal request may decide that the sanctions imposed should be suspended pending the outcome of the appeal. Students should understand, however, that, unless otherwise stipulated, sanctions are considered in effect once a hearing is completed, regardless of whether an appeal is requested.

The individual designated to review the student's request for an appeal will review the request for an appeal and make a determination that:

1. The request for an appeal is denied because none of the three grounds for an appeal above have been met; or

2. The request for an appeal is granted because one or more of the three grounds for an appeal have been met.

The student will be notified of this decision within five days of when the University receives the request for an appeal.

If a request for an appeal is granted, then the individual designated to review the student's request for an appeal will determine whether the matter can be resolved without a new hearing (for example, modification of sanctions so that they are not fundamentally unfair or inappropriate) or whether new hearing is necessary.  If a new hearing is necessary, the University will determine whether this hearing will be an Administrative Hearing or a Judicial Board Hearing.  All hearings that take place after an appeal has been granted will proceeding in accordance with established procedures for Administrative Hearings and Judicial Board Hearings.

All decisions regarding whether an appeal request will be granted are final.  If the request for an appeal is denied, then all sanctions imposed will remain in effect.