You knew coming into CUNY Hunter that you'd have to keep your grades up. Courses are tough, and professors can be demanding. You may not have realized that you'd be held to such high standards of personal conduct. It turns out you're held accountable for everything from cheating to trespassing. Yes, you can be dismissed if your GPA should fall too far, but you can also be dismissed for dozens of other reasons as well.
How do you protect yourself? How do you make sure that your journey through college is a smooth one and that you successfully arrive at graduation?
- First, you make sure you know all the rules and regulations. Just what is it that can get you dismissed, and how do you avoid making a mistake?
- Next, you find out all you can about Hunter College's judicial procedures and processes. If you should wind up in trouble for some reason, how do you go about defending yourself?
- And finally, you figure out how to get help. It's no easy task taking on a college or university, and you need someone on your side who understands the system and can help you navigate it.
The Lento Law Firm's Student Defense Team is committed to getting you the fair treatment you deserve and to ensuring you have the very best possible chance to earn your degree. If someone at Hunter College has mentioned the possibility of dismissal to you, you can't afford to wait. Call the Lento Law Firm today at 888-535-3686 or use our automated online form.
Reasons for Dismissal from CUNY Hunter College
There are basically four reasons why Hunter College can dismiss you, though each one of these reasons includes a number of individual types of violations.
- Poor Academic Performance: First and foremost, you can be dismissed simply for failing to meet academic expectations. Hunter College maintains an academic standing policy, and that policy requires students to maintain no less than a 2.0 cumulative GPA. You won't be dismissed should your GPA fall below this number, but if you continue to struggle, dismissal can become a possibility.
- Academic Misconduct: As you might expect, Hunter College bars all forms of academic misconduct. That includes cheating, plagiarism, and any other action that might potentially give you an unfair advantage in earning your degree. Here again, a single violation isn't likely to get you dismissed. Dismissal is a common sanction, though, for students who have committed multiple violations.
- Disciplinary Misconduct: Your behavior outside of class is under intense scrutiny as well. Hunter has instituted a number of disciplinary policies, including the general Henderson Rules on “maintenance of public order.” These policies cover everything from underage drinking to physical assault. Any offense can result in dismissal if it is serious enough.
- Sexual Misconduct: Finally, sexually-based offenses are almost always punished with dismissal. Such misconduct isn't just a matter of school policy. Under Title IX, a federal law, schools are required to investigate all credible complaints and encouraged to impose harsh sanctions on students found Responsible (guilty).
Misconduct Procedures
If your dismissal relates to misconduct, you have a number of due process rights to ensure you get a fair chance to defend yourself. The college must conduct an investigation, and you must be afforded a full hearing. Here's how those processes typically work.
- Cases generally begin when someone lodges a formal complaint against you, either with the Office of Student Conduct or, in the case of Title IX sexual misconduct, the Title IX Coordinator.
- If the school opens an investigation, you're entitled to a Notice of the Charges. This notice should include a detailed description of the allegation against you as well as a list of all your rights as the Respondent (accused).
- You have the right to an advisor, and this advisor can be an attorney. That means someone from the Lento Law Firm can go with you to any investigative meetings and can be on hand to offer advice during your hearing.
- Investigators typically begin by interviewing both sides of the case separately. They want to know your side of the story. In addition, they talk to witnesses and collect physical evidence.
- Once their investigation is complete, investigators submit a written report summarizing their findings. The school then sets a time and date for a hearing and appoints a Faculty-Student Disciplinary Committee or—again, in the case of Title IX sexual misconduct complaints—a Hearing Officer to oversee the proceedings.
- At the hearing, both sides make their cases. You may offer up arguments, submit evidence, call witnesses, and raise questions for any witnesses against you.
- Decision makers use a legal standard known as “preponderance of the evidence” to decide the case. Far less strict than “beyond a reasonable doubt,” this standard only requires that they be more than 50 percent certain you committed an offense to find you Responsible.
- You can appeal the outcome of your hearing, but only on very particular grounds. These include
- The discovery of new evidence
- A procedural error
- A sanction that is disproportionate to the offense
This is a general outline, and cases can involve lots of complicated rules and procedures. This is just one reason why you need a Lento Law Firm attorney on your side. In fact, how your case unfolds may depend heavily on the exact nature of your charges. In Title IX cases, for instance, both sides have the right to cross-examine one another in addition to other witnesses. You don't have that right, however, in academic or disciplinary misconduct cases. The Lento Law Firm has experience with all of Hunter College's judicial procedures. No matter what the specific charges against you are, you can count on us to know the system and how to use the system to your best advantage.
Academic Dismissal Cases
As we mentioned, you can also be dismissed simply for failing to meet academic standards at Hunter College. These dismissals don't usually involve investigations or hearings. Instead, they're based almost exclusively on your GPA. In addition, you aren't dismissed the moment you struggle. Dismissals only happen after you've first been given a chance to improve while on probation.
Nevertheless, the Lento Law Firm's Student Defense Team knows a number of informal strategies for protecting you from these types of dismissals as well. For example,
- You can appeal a dismissal and request immediate reinstatement if you can demonstrate that your deficiencies are the result of extenuating circumstances, such as a family emergency or a serious illness.
- If you should discover your deficiencies are the result of a learning disability, you can petition the school to drop low grades from your GPA and allow you to retake those courses with course accommodations in place.
- You can always ask instructors for makeup or extra credit work. An extra lab assignment or a paper rewrite can be a quick way to boost your GPA.
Fighting for Your Future
By this point, you should have a clear sense of why you need the help of an attorney to fight dismissal decisions. Procedures can be complex and difficult to navigate, and the full weight of your school will be against you. Plus, it's no exaggeration to say that your entire future is on the line. If you should wind up dismissed from CUNY Hunter College, you'll find it difficult to find another school to take you.
The Lento Law Firm was built to help students just like you handle all types of misconduct charges. The firm's Student Defense Team has dealt with everything from plagiarism allegations to rape charges. They know how to negotiate with faculty and administrators; they know how to interview witnesses; they know how to put together water-tight appeals.
To find out more about what the Lento Law Firm can do for you, contact the firm today at 888-535-3686. Or use our automated online form.
