You've been through an investigation and a hearing. Tufts found you "Responsible for" (guilty of) an offense and assigned you a sanction. Your case isn't necessarily over yet, though. You still have one more option to pursue: an appeal.
You need to know that an appeal is not the same as a hearing. This isn't your chance for a "re-do" or to complain about the verdict in your original hearing. We'll get into all the ins and outs of appeals below, but it's important you recognize that this phase of your case is different, and it will require a different set of skills from you.
The good news is the Lento Law Firm is here to help. You may not have hired an attorney to help you with the earlier parts of your case, or maybe you hired an attorney with no experience handling campus misconduct allegations. Hiring someone from the Lento Law Firm's Student Defense Team means hiring someone who knows the law, who understands Tuft's judicial system, and who has experience representing hundreds of students.
You cannot afford to wait, though. Tufts allows you to file an appeal just ten days from the end of your hearing. After that, your case is over. Call today at 888-535-3686, or use our online questionnaire to tell us more about your case.
What's at Stake?
At this point, you might be asking why you should file an appeal. After all, the investigation and hearing were an ordeal. You've been found Responsible. It's no easy task taking on a university, and procedures can be complicated and difficult to navigate. Why bother?
Here's why: if you've been given a serious sanction, like suspension or dismissal, walking away now can have long-term repercussions on your professional career. Obviously, dismissal means leaving Tufts for good. Suspension means interrupting your studies. More importantly, though, these kinds of sanctions come with transcript notations that describe the nature of your offense. These sorts of notations will likely keep you from transferring to another school, and they'll almost certainly interfere with job applications.
Keep in mind as well that students can and do win cases on appeal. Consider the system itself: you weren't tried by a prosecutor with a law degree. Your case wasn't decided by a learned judge with years of experience on the bench. An administrator or a panel of faculty and students found you Responsible. Mistakes happen in campus judicial processes all the time. If you're innocent or you've been treated unfairly in any way, there's every possibility that you could overturn your hearing verdict or, at a minimum, lessen your sanction.
Grounds for Appeal
An appeal is fundamentally different than a hearing. Your hearing was your opportunity to argue for your innocence or to offer a reasonable explanation for your behavior. Your case was decided, though. You may be entirely innocent, but at this point, you're guilty in the eyes of Tufts University.
An appeal isn't about your guilt or innocence. It's about whether or not you were treated fairly during the process. Tufts wants to be absolutely sure that justice was done in your case, but not to the point of giving you multiple hearings.
The bottom line is you aren't arguing for your innocence now. You need to establish “grounds” for your appeal. That is, you need to provide Tufts with a reason why it should reduce your sanction or allow you another chance to prove your innocence. There are only three grounds for appeal at Tufts.
- New evidence has arisen that could potentially change the outcome of the case.
- Some procedural error occurred that prevented you from receiving a fair hearing.
- The sanction applied in the case is significantly disproportionate to the nature of your offense.
The first thing the Lento Law Firm attorney will do is sit down with you and review what's happened so far. They'll consider the entire record of the hearing and help you decide which of these three options will work best in your case.
The Appeals Process at Tufts University
The appeals process differs from the hearing process in a number of additional ways.
- The burden of proof rests with you now rather than the university. Going into the hearing, you were presumed “Not Responsible” (innocent), and it was Tuft's job to prove otherwise. Now you've been found Responsible. It's your job to prove Tufts treated you unfairly.
- You'll face a new panel of decision-makers. The appeals panel is made up of members of the Committee on Student Life. However, as with your hearing, the panel should include both faculty members and students.
- You won't have an opportunity to make your case personally. The appeals panel will sometimes invite hearing officers or panelists to speak, but you won't get the chance to address the appeals panel. This means your written appeal document must communicate effectively.
- Unless you have new evidence to present, the appeals panel won't be looking at the facts of the case. They're not interested in physical evidence or witness testimony. They're strictly reviewing whether or not you were treated fairly.
- The appeals panel cannot find you Not Responsible. It isn't the panel's job to consider your innocence. If the panel accepts your appeal, it will either reduce your sanction or order a new hearing.
How Can the Lento Law Firm Help?
Tufts doesn't allow students to be represented by counsel. That is, your attorney couldn't speak for you during the hearing, only sit beside you and offer advice. That may be why you chose not to hire representation.
The fact is, though, that an attorney can serve a vital function in misconduct cases whether or not they're allowed to speak on your behalf. As part of the appeals process, you can count on the Lento Law Firm attorney to
- Help you develop grounds for your appeal
- Review the record with you and suggest evidence to help back your appeal
- Write an appeal that makes a strong, compelling argument
Beyond these practical functions, the Lento Law Firm attorney will keep a close eye on everything that happens in your case and make sure Tufts doesn't violate any of your due process rights.
Fight For Your Future
We won't sugarcoat it: you're in a difficult situation with limited options. You've already been found "Responsible" for an offense, and you don't have a lot of rights left to help you overturn that verdict. Given those parameters, we can't promise to win your appeal. No one can. Here's what we can promise you, though: no one gives you a better chance of winning your appeal than the Lento Law Firm's Student Defense Team. No one knows the system the way we do, and no one is better positioned to leverage that system to your benefit. If you know you are innocent, if you believe you've been treated unfairly, we can help.
You cannot afford to wait, though. The window for filing your appeal at Tufts University is just ten days. That's not a lot of time to build your defense. Contact the Lento Law Firm today at 888-535-3686 or use our online form.
