In Nevada, colleges prohibit acts of academic misconduct, like forging transcripts, cheating on exams, or plagiarizing someone else's work and holding it out as one's own. Students accused of academic misconduct, though, often rely on the upcoming misconduct hearing to clear their name when they know that the allegations are false. Those students, though, can be in for a rude awakening if the hearing panel shows its tendency to fall for weak evidence or emotional arguments and take little account of the facts.
Appealing one of these outcomes is essential, and academic appeals advisor Joseph D. Lento can help students do just that in Nevada.
Procedural Hurdles Make Appealing a Misconduct Case Tricky
Most schools in Nevada recognize the fact that their academic misconduct hearing panels are not going to be perfect, and so set up a method of appealing cases to a higher panel of judges or decision-makers. However, Nevada colleges also want to keep as many misconduct decisions final after only one hearing.
To toe this fine line, many schools in Nevada erect procedural barriers that limit the number and type of appeals that can be made after the initial misconduct hearing. For example, some colleges only allow an appeal if there were outright and apparent signs of bias in the hearing below, while others allow appeals to be made if new evidence has surfaced that could not have been discovered earlier. Squeezing your appeal through these hoops can take the help of an academic appeal advisor like Joseph D. Lento, especially if you are concerned about weakening the merits of your appeal in order to make sure it is even heard by the appellate board.
Why Appeals are Necessary: Inaccurate Resolutions are Common
If academic misconduct hearing panels were good at coming to the correct resolution, appeals would not be such an important part of the process. However, the makeup of the hearing panel that is used by many Nevada schools makes it almost impossible for them to come to a reliably accurate conclusion.
Most colleges in Nevada are very concerned with making students accused of academic misconduct feel as if their interests are being looked after by the hearing panel. To do this, schools put faculty members and other students on the hearing panel, alongside members of the staff and the school's administration.
While this might make a student feel as if they are going to receive a fair hearing, this feeling is often empty: The hearing panel's inexperience at determining guilt or innocence and weighing evidence more than overcomes whatever lack of bias this panel creates.
Nevada's Academic Appeal Advisor Joseph D. Lento
Joseph D. Lento is a student discipline defense lawyer who can represent you as your academic appeal advisor if you go to school in Nevada and have been found in violation of your school's code of academic integrity by a hearing panel. With attorney Lento's help, you can craft an appeal that gets heard and that continues to invoke your rights. Call his law office at (888) 535-3686 or contact him online.
- College of Southern Nevada
- DeVry University Nevada
- Everest College Henderson
- Great Basin College
- International Academy of Design and Technology Henderson
- ITT Technical Institute Henderson
- ITT Technical Institute Las Vegas
- Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts Las Vegas
- Morrison University
- Nevada State College
- Sierra Nevada College
- The Art Institute of Las Vegas
- Truckee Meadows Community College
- University of Nevada Las Vegas
- University of Nevada Reno
- University of Phoenix Las Vegas Campus
- University of Phoenix Northern Nevada Campus
- Western Nevada College
Regrettably, an academic misconduct finding of responsibility can derail an accused student's academic and professional goals and some students and parents do not recognize this concern until it may be too late. If a student is found responsible for academic misconduct charges, in addition to the short-term consequences such academic and disciplinary sanctions, there will be long-term consequences. Internships, graduate school opportunities, and employment opportunities can all be adversely impacted by a finding of responsibility.
For these reasons and more, it is critical to properly address such concerns as early as possible in the disciplinary process. There are times, however, that it necessary to appeal an adverse outcome, and Joseph D. Lento and the Lento Law Firm have unparalleled experience passionately fighting for the futures of his clients at universities and colleges in Nevada and throughout the nation. He does not settle for the easiest outcome, and instead prioritizes his clients' needs and well-being. Joseph Lento is a licensed attorney in New Jersey and New York, is admitted as an attorney pro hac vice in state and federal court if needed when representing clients nationwide, and serves as an academic misconduct advisor to students facing disciplinary cases in Nevada and throughout the nation. Make certain your or your student's interests are protected at all stages of the academic misconduct disciplinary process, including the appeal stage - Contact National Academic Misconduct Advisor Joseph D. Lento today at 888-535-3686.
