Disciplinary Appeals at Seminole State College of Florida

You lost your disciplinary misconduct hearing at Seminole State College of Florida. You’re facing a serious sanction—suspension or dismissal. You came here for answers. Let’s get right to them.

Yes, there is still a process for overturning the “responsible” verdict. Under the SSC policy, you have the right to appeal your case. An appeal can’t exonerate you, but it can lead to a new hearing, and that can exonerate you.

You also need to know, though, that this process can be complex. It’s no big deal filing the paperwork, but completing that paperwork requires a complete shift in your thinking, and that shift isn’t always easy to make.

It helps to have help. The LLF National Law Firm has worked with hundreds of students, protecting them from all types of disciplinary misconduct allegations. Our Student Defense Team was founded to protect student rights, and we’re always on your side, no matter what the situation. We’re also familiar with SSC processes and procedures, including what’s involved in filing appeals.

It’s important you contact us quickly, though. SSC provides you a narrow window of opportunity 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 Your Appeal

Let’s start with an overview of the filing process at SSC. It turns out, there are only a handful of steps involved.

• Your most important job is writing the appeal. This involves marshalling your strongest arguments and supporting them with clear evidence.

• You submit your appeal to the Vice President for Student Affairs.

• The Vice President reviews your appeal and issues a final decision. There are no further options available within the SSC disciplinary system.

Once you’ve written the appeal, your job is mostly to wait to find out your fate. Of course, if you should win your appeal, it means either you’ll have a reduced sanction or you’ll have another chance to present your full case at a new hearing.

The Contents of Your Appeal

An appeal is very different from the processes you’ve been through so far. For one thing, there are no hearings. Everything depends on the contents of a single written document. That puts an incredible amount of pressure on your writing skills. You won’t be able to cross-examine witnesses or clear up any confusion about your arguments.

Just as important, the nature of your arguments must change. You cannot go on arguing for your innocence. Students sometimes struggle accepting the fact that, for now at least, they’re responsible for (guilty of) an offense, and continuing to argue for their innocence won’t accomplish anything.

An appeal is a very specific judicial procedure with a very specific purpose: to determine whether the system worked properly. Did SSC follow appropriate procedures? Were you given a fair chance to defend yourself? Was the sanction that decision-makers imposed fair? Basically, there are only a handful of arguments that will work. 

• The college failed to follow its own procedures, and as a result, you were unable to present your full case. Maybe you weren’t allowed to present some important piece of evidence. Maybe you weren’t given enough time to prepare your case.

• Some new piece of evidence has come to light. Had you had access to this evidence at your hearing, it might have altered the outcome.

• A decision-maker had a bias against you or a conflict of interest that prevented them from rendering a fair decision.

• The sanction imposed in your case is clearly disproportionate to the severity of your offense.

You’re also going to need to come up with evidence this time around. You may have presented evidence at your hearing, but you didn’t need to. You had the presumption of innocence, and SSC bore the burden of providing enough evidence to overcome that presumption. In an appeal, you’re accusing SSC of failing to treat you fairly. In that context, the college has the presumption of innocence.

That evidence must be of a very particular type. Remember: you’re not trying to prove your innocence, and evidence of your innocence is irrelevant for now. This means in most cases, all your points must be supported with material from the original hearing, material that demonstrates exactly how you were mistreated.

This is another reason many students choose to walk away rather than fight. You are facing an uphill battle. It’s a battle you can win, though. All you need is one mistake in the record, and colleges and universities tend to make a lot of mistakes. Faculty, administrators, and students are great when it comes to educating students. They’re less great at handling serious judicial matters. There’s every chance you deserve a new hearing. The LLF National Law Firm will fight to make sure you get one.

Direct Negotiations

As far as the disciplinary misconduct process is concerned, your case is over if the Vice President decides to deny your appeal. There is one other option you can pursue, though. You can try negotiating directly with the university’s administration for a fair resolution to your case.

This isn’t an easy process either, though. The first problem is convincing SSC to negotiate when the disciplinary process has already determined you responsible for an offense.

There is a way to overcome this problem. The LLF National Law Firm maintains relationships with Offices of General Counsel around the country. These are attorneys hired by schools to provide them with legal advice, and they have a great deal of power when it comes to persuading university presidents about what to do.

Once we’ve convinced SSC to talk with you, we can bring our considerable negotiating skills to bear on your case. In the past, we have been able to get sanctions reduced. We’ve convinced schools to remove misconduct from student records. We’ve even managed to get cases entirely overturned. This is a service we can offer that other law firms can’t because we work so extensively in the field of student rights.

Trust the LLF National Law Firm

Whether you’re entirely innocent or simply looking to get fair treatment from Seminole State College of Florida, 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.