In Mississippi, colleges all prohibit academic misconduct like plagiarizing someone else's ideas for a graded assignment, cheating on a test, or forging transcripts or other school documents. However, the hearing procedures that these schools use to determine whether misconduct happened or not are often inadequate. As a result, innocent students are frequently found guilty of something that they did not do.
Appealing the outcome of a misconduct hearing is an essential right to have. Academic appeal advisor Joseph D. Lento can help you invoke that right and preserve your future.
Academic Misconduct Hearings in Mississippi
After investigating an allegation of academic misconduct, schools in Mississippi form hearing panels to weigh the evidence for and against a student accused of misconduct. Those hearing panels, though, are notoriously inaccurate. They frequently find innocent students to have violated their college's code of academic integrity, putting their academic and professional futures in doubt even though they did nothing wrong.
A major contributor to this problem is the makeup of these hearing panels. Most schools want accused students to feel as if their rights are being preserved, and so they put members of the faculty and the student body on the hearing panel in addition to school administrators. This interest in diversity, though, comes at the expense of putting experience on the panel. Students, staff, and faculty members who are not used to hearing evidence to determine what happened are often misled by irrelevant or untrustworthy evidence like hearsay. The result: Accused students being convicted of academic misconduct when they did nothing of the sort.
Appealing a Misconduct Hearing
In an attempt to minimize the damage, Mississippi colleges allow aggrieved students to appeal the outcome of their academic misconduct hearing to a higher board. However, this right to appeal is not absolute, as procedural difficulties are put in place to try to prevent all cases from being appealed and swamping the appellate board.
Every school has its own process for appeals. However, one of the most common procedural hurdles that have been erected in Mississippi is to only allow cases to be appealed if a small set of circumstances happened at the hearing, below. For example, appealable cases can include those where new evidence has come to light, or where a student's right to due process was violated. Forcing students to categorize their case as one that is appealable can keep worthwhile appeals out of the hearing room, and can make a student hurt their chances of success on appeal by categorizing their claims in a way to have it heard.
Joseph D. Lento: Mississippi's Academic Appeal Advisor
Appealing the outcome of an academic misconduct hearing can force your school to take another look at what happened and can be a necessary part of proving your innocence and protecting your professional future. Hiring an academic appeal advisor can be an essential part of your success. Call Joseph D. Lento, a student discipline defense lawyer and academic appeal advisor, at (888) 535-3686 or contact him online for the legal guidance you need.
- Alcorn State University
- Antonelli College Hattiesburg
- Antonelli College Jackson
- Belhaven University
- Blue Cliff College Gulfport
- Blue Mountain College
- Coahoma Community College
- Copiah Lincoln Community College
- Delta State University
- East Central Community College
- East Mississippi Community College
- Hinds Community College
- Holmes Community College
- Itawamba Community College
- ITT Technical Institute Madison
- Jackson State University
- Jones County Junior College
- Meridian Community College
- Miller Motte Technical College Gulfport
- Millsaps College
- Mississippi College
- Mississippi Delta Community College
- Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College
- Mississippi State University
- Mississippi University for Women
- Mississippi Valley State University
- Northeast Mississippi Community College
- Northwest Mississippi Community College
- Pearl River Community College
- Rust College
- Southeastern Baptist College
- Southwest Mississippi Community College
- Tougaloo College
- University of Mississippi
- University of Phoenix Jackson Campus
- University of Southern Mississippi
- Virginia College Biloxi
- William Carey University
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 Mississippi 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 Mississippi 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.
