If you’ve found your way here, it can mean only one thing: you’ve lost your Georgia Southern University hearing, and now you’re facing a serious sanction. Maybe suspension. Maybe dismissal.
The answer to your first question is yes, you can still salvage your future at GSU. Among your many rights, you always have the right to appeal your hearing outcome. You don’t want to go through that process alone, though.
So the answer to the second question is yes, we can help. The LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team was founded to protect student rights. We know exactly how Georgia Southern’s disciplinary system works, including what’s involved in filing appeals. We’ve helped hundreds of students defend themselves from all types of misconduct allegations, and we can help you to do the same.
It’s important you act quickly, though. GSU gives you just five days to file your appeal. That’s not a lot of time to build your case. Call the LLF National Law Firm today at 888-535-3686, or use our online questionnaire to tell us more about your situation.
The Appeals Process at Georgia Southern
The first thing you need to know about appeals at Georgia Southern is that they are very different from investigations and hearings. An appeal is not a chance to reargue your case or to convince a new decision-maker that the previous decision-maker got things wrong. An appeal requires a large shift in thinking, and if you can’t make that shift, your chances of a successful defense go down dramatically.
- You need to accept that you’ve been found responsible for (guilty of) an offense. The hearing board may very well have gotten things wrong, but you can’t argue that. The working assumption is that you did commit the offense.
- If you’re not arguing for your innocence, what are you arguing? Appeals are designed to correct mistakes that happen in the process. They represent a last chance for the disciplinary system to get things right and prevent injustice. Your arguments, then, must deal with procedure. At GSU, there are basically only three options.
- You can ask the appeals officer to consider new evidence that has arisen since the original hearing.
- You can argue that a procedural error occurred significant enough to have denied you the right to a fair hearing.
- You can argue that the findings in the case are not consistent with the evidence.
- Your case has also shifted in terms of the “burden.” As the respondent (the accused), you were entitled to a presumption of innocence (“not responsible”). That’s the ideal position since it means the school has to produce a “preponderance of evidence” to prove your responsibility. Now, you’re accusing the school of having made an error. As such, the school has the presumption of innocence, and you have the burden of proving it made a mistake.
- Your original hearing may have taken place before a conduct board. Now, however, a single appeals official—the university president—has sole authority for deciding your case. You will not have an opportunity to address this official directly. Everything about your case must be contained in a written document.
- Your evidence must shift as well. You are not arguing your innocence, so the evidence you used before won’t be relevant. You can present new evidence if you’ve uncovered any since the end of your hearing. Otherwise, you need to focus on evidence from the hearing itself, evidence that you were treated unfairly in some way.
- Appeals don’t typically result in overturned outcomes. The president can affirm the original decision or order a new hearing. In that case, you need to mount a brand-new defense.
Throughout the process, your LLF National Law Firm attorney will make sure you’re fully prepared for every step. They’ll sit down with you and review your case, paying particular attention to the record of the original hearing. If there are grounds for an appeal, they’ll find them. They’ll also draft the appeal itself and make sure it’s turned in on time. Most importantly, they’ll keep a close watch on everything that happens and ensure you’re treated fairly.
What’s at Stake
An appeal can feel like a daunting process. You’ve only just lost your hearing, and that in itself can be an emotional blow. Now, you’re being asked to create new arguments.
There’s simply too much at stake to walk away now, though. Dismissal, of course, means the end of your career at GSU. It could also mean the end of your education altogether. Colleges and universities don’t usually accept transfer students who have been dismissed elsewhere. You can, of course, return to GSU if you’ve only been suspended. That process is difficult, though. You may have lost your financial aid package, and once you’ve been away from the university, it can be hard to go back to taking classes and studying. Plus, even if you manage to earn your degree, your transcript will reflect your offense, and that will give you trouble at job interviews.
For all the challenges of an appeal, you can win. Lots of students do. Your case wasn’t prosecuted by an attorney with a law degree. It wasn’t decided by a judge with years of experience on the bench. Your fate was probably in the hands of faculty, students, and administrators. And while all of those people may be bright, they’re not trained in judicial procedure. Mistakes happen more often than not, and when they do, you have the right to demand another chance to make your case.
Using the OGC
Finally, you should know that the LLF National Law Firm may be able to offer one more option, even if you should lose your appeal. We maintain relationships with OGC across the country, and we can sometimes leverage these relationships to negotiate a settlement outside the normal disciplinary process.
OGC stands for Office of General Counsel. These are attorneys hired by the university to provide legal advice. They help make sure GSU doesn’t run afoul of the law or open itself up to potential civil liability. As you might expect, an OGC’s opinion carries enormous weight with administrators.
In the past, we have managed to get clients lighter sentences, to expunge transcript notations, and even to get hearing outcomes entirely reversed.
What Can We Do for You?
Whether you’re entirely innocent or simply looking to get fair treatment from Georgia Southern, 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.