Undergraduate Pre-Med Student Gains OGC Reinstatement After Lab Dismissal
A pre-med student at a Northeast public university contacted us after his dismissal from a lab course in anatomy for attending under the influence of drugs and for substance abuse. The student needed to complete and pass the course to proceed toward his graduate medical education. His dismissal from the lab course threatened his ambition to become a medical doctor. Our investigation confirmed that his impairment was due to a prescription drug reaction, not substance abuse from illegal drugs. With our client's authorization, we communicated with our client's treating physician, who had prescribed a medication change that triggered the drug reaction. We obtained a detailed written statement from the treating physician. Although the student had been unable to obtain relief on his own through a student conduct hearing, we were able to assemble the documentation, reach the university's general counsel, and negotiate reinstatement so that the student could complete his course and resume his studies toward graduate medical education. We showed the general counsel the treating physician's written statement. Our research and presentation also showed the general counsel that the student's prescription drug reaction related to a physical condition that could qualify for ADA protection. The general counsel agreed to reinstatement to avoid further appeals and court review. The key to our success was getting the right documentation and legal argument before the university's general counsel.
Senior Political Science Major Gains OGC Relief on First Amendment Grounds
A senior student in a political science program at a West Coast public university retained us after her professor kicked her out of class allegedly for disrespect and interfering with instruction. Our client was in her second-to-last term, preparing to graduate and begin law school. Her dismissal from class allegedly for violating school conduct rules could have affected her undergraduate graduation date and her law school admission. Her goal was to get the professor's finding of disrespect and interference removed from her academic record. She did not want to complete the professor's course but wanted her dismissal and failing grade not to count against her grade-point average and class standing, potentially affecting her undergraduate academic honors and law school admission. Our client had already sought administrative assistance with no relief. Administrators judged the dispute to be an academic matter left to the professor's judgment. Our investigation showed that our client had not interfered or disrespected but had instead raised valid points in a discussion that the professor had initiated and encouraged. Our investigation further showed that the professor disagreed with our client's perceived political stance and had retaliated against our client for expressing what the professor considered to be disfavored, minority views. Our research confirmed our client's First and Fourteenth Amendment rights not to be subject to school action based on free speech and freedom of association. We were able to reach the school's Office of General Counsel, officials from which arranged to have our client's transcript corrected to indicate course withdrawal with no failing grade. Our client enrolled in additional course credits the following term to graduate on time for law school matriculation.
Graduate Student Gains SAP Reinstatement After OGC Intervention
Our client was a graduate student in a social work program at an Upper Midwest public university. She was working as a social worker and going to school part-time. Because of work demands and family responsibilities, our client had taken terms off and withdrawn from courses from time to time, delaying her graduation. She was still on track to graduate within the university's satisfactory academic progress (SAP) requirements until one of her children contracted a serious illness requiring our client to take another term off and withdraw from courses, putting her out of SAP compliance. Our client completed her own SAP appeal according to school procedures, but she did not adequately document the appeal nor show that she had addressed and remediated the circumstances that caused her to fall out of compliance. We helped our client discern the need to document her plan for backup childcare and family assistance, while better documenting her child's serious illness to support a compelling appeal. When the university registrar declined to consider our additional evidence, we contacted the university's general counsel. Through a series of communications and negotiations, including securing additional documentation at the general counsel's request, we were able to gain the general counsel's agreement to advocate with the registrar for reconsideration of our client's appeal. The registrar reinstated our client. The key to our success was our ability to help our client fashion a better plan and then to better document our client's plan, while we responded to OGC requests for that documentation.
Freshman Student Gains OGC Reinstatement After Application Fraud Dismissal
A freshman student at an elite private college in a Southern Border state contacted us after the college rescinded his admission, alleging that he committed fraud on his application for admission. Soon after our client's matriculation, the school's admissions committee and registrar discovered that our client had a juvenile delinquency record that our client had not disclosed on the college application. Our client was an urban minority student whose compelling story of overcoming family and social challenges had convinced the college to admit the student, although the student's grades were only marginally within the college's admissions standards. The admissions committee felt that our client's delinquency changed the character of our client's account sufficiently to revoke admission. When the college offered our client no administrative procedure or appeal for its decision, our client retained us to explore special administrative relief with the school's general counsel. We first learned more about our client's delinquency proceeding, including getting records and a statement from a key delinquency investigator. That information tended to strongly support our client's account that the delinquency removal was due to social and family circumstances rather than bad character and was indeed a solution to our client's family challenges rather than a punitive or reformative action. We were able to arrange a conciliation conference through the college's general counsel. The admissions committee then relented and reinstated our client's admission on probation.
Nursing Student Avoids Dismissal Over Clinical Hours After OGC Review
A nursing student in an RN program at an Eastern Seaboard public university contacted us after the program's clinical director dismissed her from the clinic, allegedly for falsifying clinic hours. Our client's clinic dismissal prevented her from continuing and completing the RN program. Our client already had her associate's degree and LPN licensure but needed the RN degree and licensure to advance in her nursing job and career. Our investigation showed that our client had not falsified clinic hours but had instead completed more than the required hours. An instructor had told our client to enter her hours to reflect specific days and periods the clinic director had assigned, even though the instructor had adjusted the schedule. The instructor did not want the clinic director to know and so directed our client to enter the scheduled hours, which totaled the same hours as our client had completed, although at adjusted times. When the clinic director found it, the clinic director retaliated against our client. The nursing program director was unwilling to contradict the clinic director, leaving our client without administrative relief. Our advocacy with the university's general counsel succeeded in gaining our client's reinstatement to the clinic and credit for the hours our client claimed. The key to our success was finding special relief through general counsel when responsible administrators would not address their own problems.
Undergraduate Psychology Student Gains OGC Reinstatement After Academic Misconduct Dismissal
Our client was a sophomore student whom a private university in a Central Midwest state dismissed allegedly for academic misconduct. Our client had taken an introductory course in her psychology major that had frequent online assessments that all students in the course had to complete, meeting minimum standards for accurate answers. Our client had met those standards and obtained a good grade in the course. But the professor had misidentified our client as one of a number of students who had used an outside online vendor to provide answers to the assessments from a materials bank. The professor's syllabus prohibited using such sources and unauthorized copies of the assessments. One of the involved students had mistakenly reported that our client was among those students who cheated using the assessment bank, when our client had not done so. The professor had refused to hear our client's denials or to offer our client any opportunity to provide other evidence or witnesses. The psychology program's dean decided that the issue was a matter of academic judgment and refused to review or reverse the professor's recommendation for our client's dismissal. Our client further believed that her minority race and ethnicity were factors in the professor's action and the dean's refusal. Our presentation to the university's general counsel convinced the general counsel that the university faced significant risk of a regulatory sanction or civil court liability if the university did not correct the dismissal with reinstatement.
Engineering Student Avoids Misconduct Dismissal After OGC Intervention
A junior engineering student at a Southeast private college faced a disciplinary proceeding over underage drinking and disorderly conduct allegations at an off-campus but school-club-related social activity. College disciplinary officials had instituted the disciplinary proceeding after hosts of the school club's gathering complained of student misbehavior. Our client felt that the college was unfairly making an example of him to appease public concerns and repair community relations. Our client maintained that all students at the club gathering had imbibed intoxicating drinks but only in moderate amounts and without distinct misbehavior. They damaged no property and caused no offense or injury. Our client believed that college disciplinary officials had misidentified our client as the one student who had over-imbibed to the point of acting foolishly in front of the gathering's host and passersby. We helped our client gain written statements from all students attending the gathering, all of which exonerated our client. Rather than proceed with a formal hearing before the student conduct panel, which would have distracted students and embarrassed our client, we sought the college's general counsel for review. The general counsel agreed that the college should not proceed and convinced disciplinary officials to adjourn the hearing and dismiss the charges.
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