You can win an appeal at Daytona State College. You can convince the college to reduce the terms of your sanction or even earn a brand-new hearing. An appeal is not an option, though, and you’re going to need help—professional help.

The LLF National Law Firm was founded to protect student rights, and no one in the country does it as well as we do. As the name suggests, our Student Defense Team was founded to protect student rights. We do that by making it our business to know how a school’s disciplinary processes and procedures work. We can show you exactly how to file an appeal. Just as importantly, we can help you understand what an appeal is, so you put forward your most compelling case.

The window for filing your appeal once you’ve received notification of the outcome of your hearing is narrow. Don’t wait. Call the LLF National Law Firm today at 888-535-3686 to find out what we can do for your case, or use our online questionnaire to tell us more about your situation.

The DSC Filing Process

The tough part of an appeal is writing it. We’ll get into that below. In the meantime, you do want to make sure you follow the filing steps precisely. Failing to do so will put your entire case in jeopardy.

  • You submit your appeal to the Chief Student Development Officer. Again, your notification letter will include information on how to do this and set a clear deadline.
  • The Chief Student Development Officer then forwards your appeal to the college’s Student Disciplinary Appeal Committee.
  • The Appeal Committee reviews your documents and any other documents related to the original hearing record. There are no hearings in appeals cases.
  • Ultimately, the Appeal Committee can affirm the original decision, alter the terms of your sanction, or order a new hearing. This decision is final.

But let’s get to the tricky bit. What’s involved in writing your appeal?

Developing Your Content

The very first thing you need to know is that an appeal is not a redo of your hearing. You’re not still trying to argue for your innocence. You need new arguments, and you need new evidence.

The point of an appeal is to ensure the system worked properly in your case. That is, did the college respect your due process rights, and were you given a reasonable opportunity to defend yourself?

In terms of argument, then, you have three choices:

  • You can argue that the college failed to follow its own procedures. Maybe you weren’t provided with prompt notice of the charges against you. Or you weren’t given enough time to prepare your case. Mistakes like these usually mean you deserve a brand-new chance at a brand-new hearing.
  • You can argue that you didn’t have all the evidence at the time of the original hearing. In other words, some new material has come to light since the hearing that could have a bearing on the outcome. Again, you deserve a new hearing, so you have the chance to present this evidence.
  • You can argue that the sanction you’ve been given is too severe for the nature of your offense. You won’t get a new hearing, but you will get a reduced sanction.

The argument has shifted. The evidence must shift as well. For starters, you’ll actually need evidence this time around. Because you were “innocent until proven guilty” at the hearing, all you really had to do was raise questions about the college’s evidence against you. Now, however, you’re guilty—at least on paper—and you’re alleging that something went wrong with your hearing. You’re the one who needs the evidence.

The nature of the evidence must shift as well. You can’t offer a bunch of material proving your innocence. In an appeal, your innocence isn’t in question, so such materials are moot. You need evidence from the investigation or hearing, something that demonstrates you were denied your due process rights in some way.

So an appeal isn’t option A. That doesn’t mean you can’t win. Lots of students do. Colleges are set up to educate students. They’re not so great at deciding weighty matters of justice. Your case wasn’t handled by a seasoned prosecutor or a learned judge. It was in the hands of faculty, students, and administrators. And all you need is one mistake to justify a new hearing or a lesser sanction.

Plus, this time around, you have the LLF National Law Firm on your side. If there are grounds for an appeal in your case, you can trust us to find them. We’ll make sure the college respects your rights, and we’ll use every possible resource to get you the best possible resolution to your case.

The Office of General Counsel

You can also try approaching the DSC administration directly and asking them to intervene in your case. The Appeals Committee’s decisions are meant to be final, but you can sometimes convince a college president or vice-president to reconsider the specifics of your situation.

Getting them to meet with you can be challenging, though. They’re busy people, but more to the point, they don’t like to intervene in disciplinary misconduct cases. It undermines the process and encourages others to do the same.

So how do we pull it off? You don’t. You let us do it. How do we pull it off? We rely on our many relationships with OGC around the country. Who are OGC? Every school has an Office of General Counsel made up of attorneys hired to provide it with legal advice. OGC has enormous authority on campus, particularly when it comes to disciplinary matters. We can sometimes rely on an OGC to talk an administrator into meeting with us, and once we get negotiations going, we can use our considerable skills to get you a better resolution to your case.

Keep in mind, though, that this isn’t a service a local or family attorney can offer. We work in the field of student defense, so we have the connections.

The LLF National Law Firm is Always on Your Side

Whether you’re entirely innocent or simply looking to get fair treatment from Daytona State College, 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 your case is airtight, and guarantee the college 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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