When a college student in Missouri gets accused of committing an act of academic misconduct – like plagiarism, cheating, or document manipulation – and they know that they have done nothing wrong, they can rely on the misconduct hearing to absolve them. Unfortunately, relying on the hearing to find your innocence is not always a wise thing to do: Academic misconduct hearings are notoriously bad at getting to the bottom of a misconduct allegation, even though that is exactly what they are designed to do.
Utilizing your right to appeal a misconduct hearing's bad decision can be essential if you want to protect your future. Bringing in an academic appeal advisor like Joseph D. Lento can improve your odds of success.
Why Missouri Misconduct Hearings are So Unreliable
Every college in Missouri has its own way of investigating and handling allegations of academic misconduct. However, most of them seem to be very concerned with making the hearing panel appear unbiased: They fill these panels with people from the administration, from the faculty, and even from the student body.
While the perception is relaxing – it makes it seem as if your rights are going to be preserved because professors and your peers are in charge of determining your case – the reality is less positive. With little experience in hearing allegations of misconduct and no formal training in weighing evidence or ascertaining its reliability, these hearing panels are prone to be misled with irrelevant or emotionally charged narratives. If this happens in your case, it can lead to you being found guilty of doing something that you know you did not do.
Your Right to Appeal a Misconduct Hearing
If the misconduct hearing does not go your way, appealing it is essential if you want to protect your future and continue to invoke your rights. While the procedure for appealing a case is different in each Missouri school, all of them allow appeals in at least some circumstances.
Those circumstances, though, often present a barrier for worthwhile appeals. Where colleges require an appeal to fall within a certain set of circumstances – some schools only allow appeals when, for example, new evidence has come to light, or there were blatant signs that the hearing panel was biased – squeezing your case into one of them can be difficult. Worse, you can make your appeal much weaker by focusing on satisfying these requirements, and not on what really went wrong at the hearing.
Missouri's Academic Appeal Advisor Joseph D. Lento
Joseph D. Lento is a student discipline defense lawyer and academic appeal advisor who can represent and guide students in Missouri who have suffered a setback at the misconduct hearing. With his help and legal assistance, students in Missouri can continue to fight for their rights and interests by lodging a strong appeal that gets heard by a more reliable hearing body.
Overcoming this initial setback is essential for your professional future. Call the law office of Joseph D. Lento at (888) 535-3686 or contact him online.
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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 Missouri 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 Missouri 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.
