It took a lot of hard work to get here. They don’t just let anyone into medical school. It would be nice if you could relax at this point and enjoy your success. Unfortunately, the hard work is just beginning. You’ve still got a long way to go before you graduate with your MD.
Don’t worry: the University of Minnesota Medical School is invested in your future now. The faculty and administration saw something in you, and they’ll do everything they can to help you succeed. Even a failed class or two won’t necessarily doom your candidacy. If you’re struggling academically, you can expect UMMS to step in and help. At worst, you might wind up completing a remediation program or retaking a year.
There are ways to get dismissed from UMMS, though. Doctors are held to higher standards than most professionals. We expect them to hold to moral and ethical codes, to be selfless and scrupulously honest. Those expectations begin now, in medical school. If you should get caught cheating, plagiarizing, or misrepresenting research, you’re not just failing to learn the material, though that’s bad enough. You’re also demonstrating that you can’t be trusted.
What this means is that if you should find yourself accused of academic misconduct, you’re going to need help defending yourself. Campus disciplinary procedures are complex, and the consequences of a responsible outcome can be severe.
The LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team understands what you’re up against, and we know the stakes. We’ll make sure you’re treated fairly and that you get the best possible resolution to your case. To find out more about how we can help with your case, call 888-535-3686, or take a few minutes right now and fill out one of our online forms.
What Counts as Academic Misconduct?
The UMMS Intellectual Responsibility policy doesn’t bother with simplistic terms like “cheating” or “plagiarism.” By this point in your academic career, there’s an assumption that you know what’s expected of you in terms of academic honesty. Instead, you’ll find broad statements about “mutual trust and respect” and the “individual maintenance of community standards.”
However, this policy does mention some specific types of offenses.
- First, you are cautioned to respect others’ intellectual property. This applies to your classmates’ work as well as to work you may come across through your research or online.
- Second, the policy bars the use of unauthorized resources in completing your work, including other students, notes, textbooks, and digital sources. In simple language, this means no “cheating,” though again, the UMMS doesn’t use that term.
More broadly, you can be investigated for any action that has the potential to give you an unfair advantage in completing your coursework. In addition, you can be charged for helping someone else to commit academic misconduct.
More important than knowing the rules at UMMS, though, is knowing the consequences for violating those rules. The stakes are much higher than they were when you were an undergraduate. Most colleges and universities impose classroom sanctions for first offenses, such as lower grades on assignments or lower course grades. However, a single instance of academic misconduct in medical school is typically deemed serious enough to bring suspension and expulsion into play.
This is one reason why it’s so crucial you have an LLF National Law Firm attorney on your side when you’re defending yourself. If you’re found responsible for cheating or plagiarism, it could very well be the end of your career in medicine. You need the very best help you can find if you’re going to salvage your future.
Judicial Procedures
Of course, UMMS can’t simply accuse you of an offense and dismiss you. Just as in the real world, you have some important due process rights. As a starting point, for example, you have the right to a presumption of innocence. The school must have evidence to substantiate its charges, and it must give you the opportunity to refute that evidence.
- At UMMS, all misconduct is the responsibility of the school’s Honor Council. Anyone may accuse you of violating policy, but the Honor Council must believe those accusations are credible before issuing formal charges.
- If you are charged, you’ll receive notification of those charges. The Council cannot investigate you in secret.
- Academic misconduct investigations can be simple and straightforward, depending on the nature of the offense. Even if the investigation is just a matter of collecting examples of your work, the school must have evidence to substantiate allegations. Otherwise, it cannot proceed against you.
- As part of the investigation, you have the right to give your side of the story and to submit evidence. You also have the right to review any evidence investigators uncover before the case moves into its next phase—a hearing.
- Hearings take place before the Honor Council. Both sides have an opportunity to make their cases using evidence, including witness testimony. You should also be allowed to raise questions about the evidence being used against you.
- Once both sides have made their cases, the Council then uses the legal standard “preponderance of the evidence” to decide whether or not you committed the offense. Basically, you are responsible if they are more than fifty percent convinced of your responsibility.
- You should also have the opportunity to appeal the outcome if you are found responsible. However, you must have grounds for appeal, such as a procedural error or new evidence to present.
As part of the process, you are entitled to an advisor of your choice, someone to accompany you to meetings and hearings. This means an LLF National Law Firm attorney can be on hand to help you answer questions and present your defense. In addition, you can count on your lawyer to assist you in all aspects of preparing your case, from gathering evidence to suggesting questions for witnesses. Most importantly, they’ll monitor everything that happens and make sure you’re treated fairly.
LLF National Law Firm is on Your Side
LLF National Law Firm knows what’s at stake in a way other firms just don’t. The attorneys who make up our Student Defense Team have dedicated their lives to ensuring schools treat students fairly, and they care about your future. No one else has the knowledge of campus justice that they do. No one else can show you how to use the system to your advantage.
If you’re being forced to fight for your educational future, don’t try to handle the situation yourself, and don’t trust your case to a local attorney. Find out more about what the LLF National Law Firm can do by calling 888-535-3686, or take time right now to fill out our online questionnaire.