When you were initially charged with an offense at Cal State-San Bernardino (CSUSB), you had a number of important due process rights, such as the right to a presumption of innocence, the right to review all evidence in the case, and the right to advanced notification of any official proceedings.
You lost your case, and you’ve exhausted most of your rights. You still have a key one left, though: the right to appeal the outcome of your hearing. That means your case isn’t necessarily over just yet.
If you’re going to file an appeal, though, you’re going to need help—the very best help you can find. Most students don’t truly understand the purpose of an appeal, and this can put you at a serious disadvantage right from the start.
The LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team knows exactly what you’re facing, and we can help make sense of it for you. We’re familiar with all of CSUSB’s many processes and procedures, including what’s involved in appeals. We’ve helped hundreds of students just like you defend themselves from all types of charges. We know what makes for the strongest arguments, and we know how to support those arguments with compelling evidence.
We can help you salvage your academic career. It is important you contact us quickly, though. You have 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.
The Basics of CSUSB appeals
Let’s start with a straightforward overview of the CSUSB appeals process. What exactly is involved in filing an appeal?
- First, you must write the appeal. There are no hearings, so your written document must contain all of your arguments and all of your evidence.
- Next, you file your appeal, making sure to do so within the filing deadline.
- Then, you wait.
In fact, this process can seem deceptively simple. The real difficulty is in drafting your appeal. It requires no less than a complete shift in your strategy, and that’s never easy to accomplish.
Drafting Your Appeal
Again, there are no hearings in appeals. That may seem like a relief. After all, it means you don’t have to worry about preparing a hearing presentation. You don’t need to come up with witness questions. You don’t have to do any public speaking.
However, without the chance to deliver your arguments in person, your writing is under a tremendous amount of pressure. You will not have the chance to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and you will not have an opportunity to correct any mistakes in your arguments. Everything must be crystal clear.
This is only one difference between a hearing and an appeal. In addition, you’ll need a brand-new argument. During the investigation and hearing you had one job—convincing the university you were innocent of (not responsible for) the charges—and pretty much any argument that accomplished that would do. Now, the options are more limited. Your goal isn’t to prove your innocence. It’s to prove that you were denied a fair chance to present your defense. There are only a few arguments that will work.
- The university made some procedural error significant enough to have altered the outcome of the case.
- Some new piece of evidence has come to light that, had it been available at the time of your hearing, might have altered the outcome of the case.
- The evidence simply doesn’t support a “responsible” outcome.
- The sanction imposed is clearly disproportionate to the nature of your offense.
Finally, the burden in the case has also shifted. Again, you were initially presumed innocent. That means the university had to come up with a preponderance of evidence to challenge that presumption. In essence, the presiding decision-makers in your case needed to believe it was “more likely than not” that you committed the offense.
In an appeal, you’re the accuser. You’re claiming that CSUSB denied you a fair opportunity to defend yourself. Meanwhile, the university is now the accused, the “respondent,” and thus, it has the presumption of innocence. You now bear the burden of providing enough evidence to overcome that presumption.
In short, you’re at a disadvantage at this point. In fact, many students simply accept their fate and move on. There’s too much at stake to do that, though. Plus, there’s every reason to believe you can win your appeal and gain a new hearing. Colleges and universities are institutions of learning, not justice, and they often do a poor job of treating students fairly when it comes to disciplinary misconduct allegations. The fact is, there’s more than a good chance that the university made some error in prosecuting your case. If that’s true, you deserve another opportunity to defend yourself.
The LLF National Law Firm is on your side and ready to help you demand justice. Keep in mind that once you’ve been charged with an offense, CSUSB is your adversary. You need someone in your corner, protecting your rights. No one does that better than the LLF National Law Firm.
The OGC
There is one more possibility if you wind up losing your appeal. You can always try negotiating directly with the CSUSB administration. Often, though, this can be a more difficult prospect than winning an appeal. University presidents are usually reticent to step in and overrule a decision made through normal disciplinary channels.
You have one advantage in this process, though: you’re represented by an LLF National Law Firm attorney.
Here’s why that is such an advantage. We have long-standing relationships with OGC around the country. Offices of General Counsel (OGC) are attorneys that universities hire to provide them with legal advice. It’s their job to ensure schools comply with the law and don’t leave themselves open to expensive lawsuits. In other words, these officials’ opinions carry enormous weight.
If we can use an OGC to gain an interview with a CSUSB administrator, we may be able to convince that administrator to reexamine your case. Don’t expect a local attorney to provide the same service, though. They just don’t have the same kinds of connections.
Keep Fighting
Whether you’re entirely innocent or simply looking to get fair treatment from California State University-San Bernardino, 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.