Let’s bottom-line your situation. You’ve been found “responsible” for a serious offense at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. You’re facing a serious sanction—likely suspension or dismissal. There’s every possibility, though, that SIUE made a mistake in your case. If they did, you’re entitled to a new hearing or a reduced sanction. You’ll have to appeal your case to get either of these results, though, and an appeal is no easy prospect. 

Luckily, you don’t have to take on the university by yourself. The LLF National Law Firm is always on your side. Our Student Defense Team was founded to protect student rights, and we’ve done that for hundreds of students just like you. We know how SIUE procedures work, including what’s involved in filing an appeal, and we can show you how to use the process to your best advantage.

Before we can help, though, you have to contact us, and you don’t have a lot of time in which to do that. PU gives you just five business days to file your appeal. 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 Filing Process

We can describe the entire filing process at SIUE pretty simply.

  • Your first job is to write the appeal. There are no forms to fill out or guidelines. Essentially, though, you want to offer up your best arguments as to why you deserve a new hearing or a lesser sanction, and you need to support those arguments with clear, concrete evidence.
  • You submit your appeal and any supporting documentation to the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, who serves as the Appeals Officer. Again, you must do this within the five-day deadline.
  • There are no hearings in appeals cases. The Vice Chancellor simply reviews your appeal and the record of the case. This means you won’t have a chance to explain your arguments or your evidence. Everything in your appeal needs to be clear and stand on its own.
  • The Vice Chancellor has three options. They can affirm the original decision, reduce the terms of your sanction, or order a new hearing. Their decision is final. That is, there are no further appeal options.

Reasonably straightforward. So then what exactly makes this process so difficult? Keep reading.

Writing the Appeal

The difficulty in filing an appeal is in writing it, and specifically in wrapping your mind around what it is you’re trying to do. An appeal is not a second chance to defend yourself. Under normal circumstances, you only get one of those—the hearing. It can be difficult to accept that at this point you are responsible for (guilty of) an offense.

It can be even more difficult to stop arguing your innocence. That seems like the logical thing to do when you’re accused of an offense. But you’re not accused of an offense. You’re guilty of an offense.

What’s the point of an appeal, then? To raise questions about whether you were treated fairly during the investigation and adjudication processes. Instead of arguing your innocence, you need to pick a procedural argument.

  • Some procedural irregularity occurred that interfered with the outcome of the case. Maybe you weren’t given enough time to prepare your case. Perhaps the hearing board refused to hear a piece of evidence that it should have considered.
  • New evidence has arisen that deserves to be heard.
  • Decision-makers, in your case, had some bias against you that could have affected their decision.
  • The sanction you’ve been assigned is disproportionate to the nature of your offense. In such an instance, you must accept responsibility for the offense, but you can ask for a fair and reasonable punishment.

There’s another important change to your situation. In the beginning, you were “not responsible until proven responsible” (innocent until proven guilty). That’s the strongest position to be in because it means you don’t actually have to do anything. It’s the university’s job to overcome that presumption with concrete evidence. But as things stand, you are guilty. Filing an appeal means accusing the university of doing something wrong. And that means you’re now the one who has to come up with evidence.

There is some good news, though. First, there’s every possibility that SIUE made a mistake in your case. Remember that you didn’t face seasoned prosecutors and learned judges. Your case was in the hands of faculty, administrators, and other students. It only takes one mistake to warrant a new hearing.

Second, you’re not doing this alone. The LLF National Law Firm is on your side, and this isn’t our first go-around. If there are grounds for your appeal, we’ll find them. We’ll help you write your documents, and we’ll make sure SIUE treats you fairly throughout the process.

The Office of General Counsel

And if you lose your appeal? That doesn’t mean you have to give up. It is true that the Vice Chancellor’s decision in your case is final, but that is in the context of the university’s disciplinary system. You can try circumventing this system by approaching the SIUE administration directly. This can be just as tough as filing an appeal, though.

Here again, the LLF National Law Firm can help. Because we’ve been at this so long, we’ve developed numerous relationships with many of the attorneys who work for universities. They’re known as a school’s  Office of General Counsel, and as you might imagine, administrators respect their opinions.

If we can convince an OGC to recommend that SIUE negotiate with you, you can be pretty certain that’s what administrators will do. And if we can open negotiations, there’s a good chance we can convince the school to modify your case. This can mean a reduced sanction or even a brand new hearing. At a minimum, we can ask SIUE to remove your offense from your transcript. That way, you can transfer somewhere else and finish your degree.

Trust the LLF National Law Firm With Your Case

Whether you’re entirely innocent or simply looking to get fair treatment from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, 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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