If you're facing dismissal from Ball State University, you're probably here because you need answers. What is likely to happen to you? Will you have a chance to defend yourself? What does the process look like?
The first thing you need to know is that the situation is serious. Your academic future is at stake, and it's no easy task to take on the full weight of a university.
The second thing you need to know, though, is that you don't have to handle this situation entirely on your own. In most cases, the university allows you to choose an advisor, someone to help you prepare your case and to accompany you to meetings and hearings. Even better, that advisor can be an attorney.
Given just how serious things are, you want to use your right to an advisor to your best advantage by choosing an attorney who has a background in educational issues and who has experience defending student clients. Your very best bet is someone from the Lento Law Firm's Education Law Team. No one knows as much about how to navigate university systems as the attorneys at the Lento Law Firm. No one has represented more students. No one is more committed to getting you the justice you deserve.
To find out more about how we can help, contact the Lento Law Firm today at 888-535-3686 or use our automated online form.
Reasons for Dismissal from Ball State University
One of the reasons it can be so hard to fight a threat of dismissal is because there are so many different offenses Ball State can charge you with. It can be difficult to sort out the charges, and how you respond to those charges can vary depending on the nature of the charges. You don't defend yourself from a plagiarism accusation the same way you defend yourself from a stalking accusation.
Luckily, all Ball State offenses can be grouped into four basic categories. This can help you keep things straight.
- Poor Academic Performance: The first thing you need to worry about as a student is keeping your grades up. After all, that's sort of your job. Ball State requires you to keep your GPA above 2.0. Should it drop below that number, the university will place you on Academic Probation. If you continue to struggle while on Probation, you can also face dismissal.
- Academic Misconduct: You're also expected to earn your degree honestly. Cheating, plagiarism, and any other action that might tend to give you an unfair advantage in earning your degree are all expressly forbidden. You likely won't face dismissal for one offense. Multiple offenses, though, are often punished with dismissal.
- Disciplinary Misconduct: You are part of a community at Ball State, and that community has its own rules. The Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities contains a long list of prohibitions of everything from trespassing to assault. Any violation can result in dismissal. Some offenses, though, such as weapons possession and hazing, almost always result in dismissal.
- Sexual Misconduct: This is another type of offense that almost always results in dismissal. Though sexual misconduct is a type of disciplinary conduct, it is subject to federal rules and regulations under Title IX. That law requires schools to investigate all credible complaints, and it encourages schools to institute harsh penalties for anyone found Responsible (guilty).
Misconduct Procedures
There are always ways to fight the threat of dismissal. However, how you approach your defense can differ depending on the precise nature of the allegations against you.
If you've been charged with misconduct, you'll be subject to Ball State's judicial procedures. Generally speaking, here's how those procedures work.
- A case begins when someone makes an allegation against you. This allegation can be lodged with the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, the Office of Student Conduct, or the Title IX Coordinator.
- If the university decides to pursue formal charges against you, it issues you a written Notice of the Charges. This notice should include details about the allegation and a list of your due process rights.
- Among your rights, the university allows you to bring an advisor of your choice with you to meetings and proceedings. This individual may not speak for you, but they may offer advice. Crucially, this person can be an attorney, which means someone from the Lento Law Firm can be at your side throughout the process.
- The university then conducts some form of investigation. This can be short: in academic misconduct cases, it may be as simple as asking your instructor to provide a narrative of events. In other cases, it can take weeks or even months to complete.
- Investigators typically start by interviewing both sides of the case. In addition, they collect physical evidence and talk with any witnesses.
- Once they've completed their investigation, investigators submit a written summary of their findings back to the university. Ball State then sets a time and date for a hearing and selects one or more trained decision-makers to preside over the case.
- At the hearing, both sides get to make their cases. This can involve submitting evidence, calling witnesses to testify, and raising questions for witnesses against you.
- Decision makers use a legal standard known as “preponderance of the evidence” to decide cases. According to this standard, they must find you Responsible (guilty) if they feel you “more likely than not” committed the offense. This is a far lower bar than “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
- Ball State allows you to appeal hearing outcomes, but only under very specific conditions. You can only appeal if you've discovered new and relevant evidence, you believe a procedural error occurred, or you want to argue that the assigned sanction is too severe.
Even when it comes to misconduct cases, you can't count on the process to work the same in every instance. For example, in academic misconduct cases, you're given just thirty minutes to put forward your entire case, while in other types of cases, there are no time limits.
One reason it is so important that you have a Lento Law Firm attorney on your side when you're defending yourself is to help you make sense of the various rules and regulations. The Lento Law Firm's Student Defense Team is familiar with all of Ball State's many judicial procedures, and they can help you use the system to your best advantage.
Academic Dismissal Cases
Just to add to the confusion, academic dismissal cases at Ball State work entirely differently than misconduct cases. There's no investigation in these cases, for instance, and no hearing. Most decisions are based strictly on your GPA and are made with little or no discussion. You simply get a notification that you've been dismissed.
That doesn't mean you should just accept such dismissals. Even in these cases, your Lento Law Firm attorney can suggest strategies for fighting. For example,
- Ball State does offer an appeals process if your academic deficiencies were caused by extenuating circumstances—a serious bout of depression, for instance, or a family emergency. A successful appeal can give you more time to improve.
- You can always ask instructors for makeup or extra credit assignments. Not every faculty member is willing to make such assignments, but it could be that one extra lab is enough to raise your GPA above the danger level.
- Should you discover you have an undiagnosed learning disability, you can petition the university to let you retake courses with accommodations in place.
Fighting for Your Future
By this point, it should be abundantly clear why trying to defend yourself from dismissal is always a dangerous proposition. It's no easy task taking on a university, and the stakes are incredibly high. Luckily, you don't have to go it alone. The Lento Law Firm was built to help students. Our Student Defense Team can also be fierce when it comes to protecting our clients, and we're not afraid of faculty and administrators.
Let us help you fight for your academic future. To find out more, contact the firm today at 888-535-3686. Or, use our automated online form.
