Suppose you’ve been found responsible for a misconduct offense at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. In that case, the question on your mind right now is whether or not it’s possible to come back from this situation. If you’re facing suspension—or worse, dismissal—you want to know if there’s an appeals process that might help salvage your academic career.
The simple answer is yes. Just as in the criminal justice system, you have due process rights as an accused student. That includes the right to appeal your hearing outcome.
That’s no easy task, though. Oh, filing the forms is relatively straightforward. An appeal is a unique judicial procedure, though. It requires subtle arguments and an almost complete reorientation in your thinking about your case. You don’t want to try to handle it on your own.
You don’t have to. The LLF National Law Firm is always on your side, no matter what the situation. We’ve helped hundreds of students just like you defend themselves from all types of charges. We know how the UNCW system works, including what’s involved in filing appeals, and we can show you how to use your rights to your best advantage.
It’s important you contact us quickly, though. You have just two days from the end of your hearing 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
Again, the steps to filing your appeal are pretty basic. Your most important role in the process is writing the document.
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There are no appeals forms to fill out at UNCW. You simply create a document in which you outline your arguments and offer your evidence. More on this part of the process below.
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Once you’ve completed your appeal, you file it with the Office of the Dean of Students.
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The Office of the Dean of Students then forwards your appeal to a designated appeals officer.
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At this point, your job is to wait for the appellate office to render a final decision in your case.
Drafting Your Appeal
The real difficulty with an appeal is in writing it. For starters, you won’t have a chance to explain your case in person. There are no formal hearings in appeals cases. This means your written arguments must be crystal clear and supported by compelling, irrefutable evidence.
It’s the nature of your arguments that presents the biggest challenge to drafting your appeal, though. It’s important you keep in mind that you’re not arguing for your innocence anymore. That can feel counterintuitive. The fact is, though, that the issue of your innocence has already been decided. That’s what the original hearing was for, and an appeal is not a do-over.
Appeals aren’t about innocence at all. They’re about fairness. An appeal serves as a final check on the system, one last chance for the university to make sure it gave you a reasonable opportunity to defend yourself. In that context, there are only three possible arguments, and none of them have to do with innocence.
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The university committed some type of procedural error in your case. Maybe you weren’t given enough time to build your defense. Maybe the original decision-makers refused to listen to a crucial piece of evidence. Whatever the problem, you deserve a new hearing order to correct it.
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You weren’t able to submit a key piece of evidence at your hearing because that evidence had not yet come to light. It has only been discovered since the end of your hearing, and, again, you deserve a new hearing at which to present it.
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The original decision-maker imposed a sanction on you that is clearly disproportionate to the nature of your offense. There are no new hearings in such instances, but you are entitled to a lesser sanction. If you’re facing suspension or dismissal, that can be crucial.
Your situation has changed in other ways as well. When you were originally charged, you didn’t need to come up with any evidence. You may have had some, but because you were “presumed innocent” at that point, all you really had to do was disprove the university’s evidence.
Now you’re the one doing the accusing. Specifically, you’re charging the university with treating you unfairly. This means the university is presumed innocent, and you now bear the “burden” of overcoming that presumption with concrete evidence.
Any way you look at the situation, you’re at a disadvantage at this point in your case. The appeals process exists for a reason, though: to correct mistakes. As it turns out, universities make a lot of mistakes, particularly when it comes to dispensing justice. Professors are great at teaching their subjects, but they’re not trained in jurisprudence. It only takes one mistake to warrant a new hearing. Never be shy about demanding justice.
We can help. UNCW isn’t on your side when you’ve been accused of an offense, and when you’ve been convicted of an offense, its only real interest is in punishing you. The LLF National Law Firm is in your corner and ready to fight for your interests.
Negotiating Your Case
In fact, we’re willing to keep fighting for you even if you lose your appeal. An appeal is final in the context of the UNCW disciplinary system, but you can still ask the university’s administration to consider your case if you can convince them it is in their best interest to do so.
How do you do that?
All schools maintain an Office of General Counsel. The OGC is made up of attorneys hired to provide the university with legal advice. They help head off lawsuits, they keep up with changes to state and federal laws, and they may even have helped to design your school’s disciplinary system. Because we work in the field of student defense, the LLF National Law Firm has developed numerous relationships with OGC around the country. We don’t mind using these relationships when they will help a client.
If an OGC can convince an administrator to negotiate, you have a second chance at convincing the university to lessen your sanction, remove an offense from your transcript, or even overturn your case altogether.
What Can the LLF National Law Firm Do for You?
Whether you’re entirely innocent or simply looking to get fair treatment from the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, 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.