If you’ve found your way to this page, it can mean only one thing: you’ve been found “responsible for” (guilty of) a Saint Louis University disciplinary misconduct offense. You’re probably also facing a serious sanction—suspension or dismissal. Otherwise, you’d just accept your punishment and move on with your academic career.
First, the most important business: you have the right under SLU policy to appeal your case.
However, you cannot appeal simply because you’re unhappy with the hearing outcome. You must have sufficient “grounds” for an appeal, and those aren’t as easy to come up with as you might think. You’ll face additional challenges as well, challenges you didn’t have during the investigation and hearing. In short, you’re going to need help.
The LLF National Law Firm has a national reputation for protecting student rights. In fact, our Student Defense Team has worked with hundreds of students just like you, on all types of charges. We know how the SLU disciplinary system operates, and we understand what’s at stake in ways other attorneys just can’t.
We’ll work hard to make sure you get the best possible resolution to your case, but it’s important you contact us quickly. The university gives you just three business days in which to file, and there’s a lot to be done in that short timeframe. Call the LLF National Law Firm today at 888-535-3686, or use our online questionnaire to tell us more about your situation.
Drafting Your Appeal
An SLU appeal is not a second chance to prove your innocence. Hearings determine guilt and innocence. You’ve been found responsible for an offense, and an appeal can’t change that, at least not on its own.
So what is the purpose of an appeal then? Appeals are meant to serve as a last check on the disciplinary misconduct system. Appeals ask the question, “Did the accused have a fair opportunity to defend themselves?” If the answer is “yes,” your case is over. If the answer is “no,” you may deserve a more appropriate sanction or a new chance at a hearing.
SLU accepts only two “grounds” for an appeal. As you work on your appeal, you’ll want to look for one of these.
- The university failed to follow its own written procedures in your case. Maybe you weren’t provided with proper notification of the charges. It could be that the Hearing Officer refused to hear a crucial piece of evidence. Whatever the reason, you deserve another chance to present your full case under fair circumstances.
- Some new piece of evidence has come to light that could substantially alter the outcome of your case. Now that it’s in your possession, you deserve another chance to present your case with all the available facts.
Keep in mind as well that you are not “innocent until proven guilty” as you were during the hearing. You’ve been found “responsible” for an offense. In fact, you’re now the one leveling an allegation at the university. As such, you now bear the burden of proving through a “preponderance of evidence” that you were mistreated in some way.
The fact is, you’re at a disadvantage at this point. Your appeal needs to be absolutely clear and provide absolutely compelling evidence. The LLF National Law Firm can help you do that.
The fact is, schools make plenty of mistakes when it comes to dispensing justice. Your case wasn’t handled by seasoned prosecutors and learned judges. It was in the hands of faculty, students, and administrators with minimal training in judicial procedure. You can count on us to go over the case record with a fine-toothed comb. If there are grounds for an appeal, we’ll find them.
Filing Your Appeal
Of course, once you’ve drafted your appeal, you must file it properly. Compared to writing it, this is the easy part, but it’s still important to dot all of your “i’s” and cross all of your “t’s.”
- You’ll file your appeal with the SLU Office of Student Responsibility and Community Standards. Again, you have just three business days from receipt of the hearing outcome to file.
- If you’re facing suspension or a more serious sanction, the Office of Student Responsibility will forward your appeal to the University Appeal Board.
- There are no hearings in appeals cases. The Appeal Board considers your arguments and evidence, as contained in your written appeal, and renders a final decision.
The Office of General Counsel
Even if the Appeal Board denies your appeal, you still have one option.
All colleges and universities maintain something called an Office of General Counsel, or OGC. The OGC is made up of attorneys hired by the school to provide it with legal advice. The OGC ensures the university doesn’t violate the law, and it protects the university from lawsuits. It probably also developed the university’s disciplinary procedures. In short, the OGC’s opinion carries a good deal of weight on campus.
As the name implies, the LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team works extensively in the field of student defense. In the course of this work, we’ve made connections with all the important players in schools’ disciplinary systems, including numerous OGCs. We don’t mind leveraging these connections if it can get justice for a client.
If an OGC can convince a university president to negotiate, it might be possible to get your sanction reduced or even ask that your case be thrown out altogether. At a minimum, we can ask SLU to remove the record of your offense from your transcript, so you can transfer somewhere else more easily.
Only we offer this service, though. Don’t expect a local or family attorney to put you in touch with an OGC.
How Can the LLF National Law Firm Help With Your Case?
Whether you’re entirely innocent or simply looking to get fair treatment from Saint Louis University, 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 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.