You were charged with a disciplinary misconduct offense. Your life was turned upside down by a grueling investigation. You built your defense and presented it at a hearing, only to be found “responsible for” (guilty of) your offense. You’re facing a serious sanction—suspension or dismissal. At this point, you feel like giving up. Lots of students do.

There are still ways to continue fighting for your academic future, though. You can still file an appeal. You can even try negotiating directly with the Palomar College administration. These paths aren’t easy, but you don’t have to go down them alone. The LLF National Law Firm is here to help.

The LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team was founded to protect student rights, and we’ve handled every conceivable type of disciplinary misconduct charge. We know how disciplinary procedures operate at Palomar, including how to file appeals. We know how to talk to faculty and administrators. We’re skilled negotiators, but we can be fierce when it comes to getting justice for our clients. Whatever your situation, we’re on your side and ready to help.

It’s important you act quickly, though. Palomar College allows you just five days from the end of your hearing to file your appeal. Call the LLF National Law Firm today at 888-535-3686, or use our online questionnaire to tell us more about your situation.

Making Sense of the Appeals Process

The appeals process at Palomar College can be a bit confusing. The first official meeting during the disciplinary process is referred to as a “hearing.” However, it isn’t a hearing in the full sense of that term. Instead, it is a meeting between you and the Director of Student Affairs. Following this “hearing,” the Director issues a decision in your case. However, you then have the option to file an “appeal” of this decision. An “appeal,” at this point, is a request for a full hearing before a panel of decision-makers.

Should you lose this “appeal,” you are then entitled to file an actual appeal with the Vice President for Student Services. That’s what we’re focused on here.

Despite all this confusion of semantics, the appeals process is actually fairly straightforward.

  • You write the appeal itself. This is the most difficult part, and we talk about it in more detail below.
  • You file the appeal with the Vice President within five days of the end of your appeal hearing.
  • You wait until the Vice President comes to a decision about your appeal.

Constructing the Appeal

Notwithstanding the process that Palomar College refers to as an “appeal hearing,” the purpose of an appeal is to ensure the system is working properly. It is not a chance to re-argue your case—to continue to protest your innocence. It’s important you recognize this fact before you draft the appeal itself.

If you’re not trying to argue your innocence, what are you trying to argue? Appeals are all about fairness. The central question is whether you were provided a fair opportunity to defend yourself. The college will only accept arguments that respond to that question. Typically, there are only a handful of possibilities.

  • You didn’t get a chance to defend yourself properly because you didn’t have access to some vital piece of evidence. That evidence has only come to light since the end of your hearing.
  • The college committed some error of procedure in prosecuting you, and that error was significant enough to have affected the outcome of the case.
  • The hearing panel didn’t actually base its decision on the facts of the case, or the facts simply don’t support a “responsible” outcome.
  • The hearing panel assigned some sanction that is obviously disproportionate to the nature of the actual offense.

Because an appeal is merely a check on the system, it is treated quite differently from a hearing. You’re facing a single administrative official, for instance, rather than a panel of decision-makers. There are no proceedings, no opportunities for you to make your case in person. And again, you don’t want to spend time looking for evidence supporting your innocence. You need evidence that you were mistreated by the process.

Your LLF National Law Firm attorney can help you uncover this evidence. As soon as you contact us, we’ll go over the record of your original hearing with a fine-tooth comb, looking for any grounds for an appeal. Once we uncover those grounds, we’ll draft the appeal itself, making sure your arguments are compelling and well-supported with clear evidence. We’ll use every resource at our disposal to make sure Palomar College treats you fairly and that you get the best possible resolution to your case.

One Last Possibility

Even should you lose your appeal, you may have one last opportunity to salvage your academic career: direct negotiations with Palomar College’s administration. It’s no easy task convincing presidents, vice presidents, and provosts to negotiate, though. You’ll definitely need a LLF National Law Firm attorney to help convince them that negotiations are in their best interests.

How do we do that? Because we work so extensively in the field of student defense, we’ve developed numerous relationships with what are known as OGC. OGC, or Offices of General Counsel, are attorneys who provide colleges and universities with legal advice. OGC helps schools comply with state and federal laws. They work to avoid lawsuits. They are often the architects of a school’s disciplinary system. Their opinions carry enormous weight on campus.

We have in the past found ways to leverage these relationships to get our clients fair hearings with the school administrators. This can result in lighter sanctions, expunged transcripts, and even overturned hearing results. Again, though, only we can offer this service because only we work so extensively in the area of student rights.

What Can We Do For You?

Whether you’re entirely innocent or simply looking to get fair treatment from Palomar College, you owe it to yourself to continue the fight. We’re here and ready to help. We’ll guide you through the entire appeals process, make sure you put forward your very strongest arguments, and guarantee the university respects your rights.

As we said in the beginning, though, you cannot afford to wait. There are deadlines for filing your appeal. Get started now. Contact the LLF National Law Firm at 888-535-3686 or use our online form.

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