If you’ve found your way here, it can mean only one thing: you were charged with a misconduct offense at the Metropolitan State University of Denver, and you lost your case. Now you’re facing a serious sanction—suspension or dismissal—and you need to know what to do next.
The good news is that you still have the right to appeal the hearing outcome. Should that fail, you can also try negotiating directly with the MSU Denver administration. Neither path is easy, though, and you’re going to need help.
The LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team was founded to protect student rights, and we’re ready to help, even if you didn’t use us during your original investigation and hearing. We know how the MSU Denver disciplinary process works, and we have the experience of having helped hundreds of student clients.
It is important you contact us quickly, though. You have just five working days in which to file your appeal, and there’s a lot to do. Call the LLF National Law Firm today at 888-535-3686, or use our online questionnaire to tell us more about your situation.
Filing an Appeal at MSU Denver
By far, the most difficult part of an MSU appeal is writing the appeal itself. We’ll get into that in a moment. Otherwise, the steps in the process are relatively straightforward.
Once it’s written, you must file the appeal with the Dean’s Office within the five-day window. The Dean’s Office then assigns the appeal to an Appeals Officer. At this point, the only thing you can do is wait for this Officer’s final decision.
Writing the Appeal
It’s writing the appeal that can be challenging. As a starting point, you need to understand that an appeal is not a do-over for your hearing. It’s not a chance to make all your same points over again to a new judge. The fact is, you were found “responsible for” (guilty of) an offense. The time for arguing your innocence is over. An appeal is about something entirely different: whether or not the system worked the way it was supposed to.
But if you’re not arguing your innocence, what are you arguing? Given the function of an appeal, you’re arguing that, in one way or another, the system didn’t work and you were somehow denied a reasonable opportunity to present your defense. There are basically four options.
- You can argue that the university failed to follow its own procedures. Maybe the Conduct Officer refused to let you present a crucial piece of evidence. Or perhaps they failed to inform you about the time and place of the hearing ahead of time.
- You can argue that some new piece of evidence has come to light that wasn’t available at the time of the hearing. You deserve an opportunity to present that evidence.
- You can argue that the evidence in the case didn’t meet the “preponderance of evidence” standard. In other words, the evidence was not sufficient to prove your guilt.
- You can argue that the sanction imposed in the case is too severe for the nature of the offense.
Keep in mind as well that you will not have an opportunity to address the appeals officer directly. Cases are decided solely on the content of your appeal and the record of the original hearing. This means your appeal must be clearly written and well-supported. You won’t get to clear up misunderstandings or explain your points.
Finally, it’s also important to remember that the burden in the case has shifted. You no longer have the “presumption of innocence” (“non-responsibility”) to shield you. Where before the university had the “burden” of supplying enough evidence to overcome this presumption, the burden is now on you. You must provide the evidence to prove the university treated you unfairly in some way. That’s always the more difficult position.
You face some significant challenges in filing an appeal. That doesn’t mean you should give up and walk away. You do have one thing in your favor. Appeals are about correcting mistakes, and there’s every possibility that MSU Denver made at least one mistake in your case. Universities often do. Any mistake at all could mean you deserve a new chance to defend yourself at a new hearing.
It helps that you’re not on your own this time around. Your LLF National Law Firm attorney can offer invaluable advice as you draft your appeal. We know what counts as the strongest arguments in these cases, and we know what makes for the most compelling evidence. We’ll work with you to come up with grounds for your appeal, and we’ll help you identify your strongest arguments. Most importantly, we’ll ensure MSU Denver treats you fairly and respects all of your due process rights.
Direct Negotiation
There is another option for challenging a “responsible” hearing outcome. You can try negotiating directly with the MSU Denver administration. Again, though, you’re going to need help. University presidents, provosts, and deans are usually reluctant to overturn conduct officer and appeals officer decisions.
The key is to convince them that negotiation is in their interest. We can sometimes do that by reaching out to a school’s Office of General Counsel. These are attorneys the school hires to offer legal advice. Because we work so extensively in the field of student defense, we know OGC around the country, and we don’t mind calling on them when it will help a client.
We have managed to convince schools to reduce sanctions, remove transcript notations, and even overturn “responsible” findings altogether. Only we can provide this service, though. A local attorney just won’t have these same kinds of connections.
Keep Fighting
Whether you’re entirely innocent or simply looking to get fair treatment from the Metropolitan State University of Denver, you owe it to yourself to continue the fight. The LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team is 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.