The Campbell University Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine (also known as Campbell Medicine or CUSOM) boasts a 100% residency placement rate. These statistics mean that, if you’re able to graduate from CUSOM, you’re seemingly guaranteed a pathway to the next step in your medical career.

Not every enrollee at CUSOM is guaranteed to graduate, though. Academic misconduct allegations can threaten your good standing, as repeated or egregious violations of the university’s honor code might garner harsh discipline. Even if you are not dismissed as a response to alleged academic misconduct, your placement in residency may be jeopardized—or, at least, your options diminished—if you are disciplined in any way.

If you or your student has been accused of cheating, plagiarism, or any other form of academic misconduct, now is not the time to go it alone. Instead, bring on a team with extensive experience—and the utmost confidence—in negotiating resolutions with representatives of DO programs.

Call the LLF National Law Firm Student Defense Team today at 888-535-3686 or contact us online about how we can defend you against baseless allegations, negotiate a merciful resolution if you’ve made a mistake, and help in any other way you need us to.

A CUSOM-Specific Definition of Academic Misconduct

DO programs can vary significantly in their size, course offerings, history, and other key features. Most of these programs are similar in that they require unfailing integrity from their students, and CUSOM’s Student Ethics and Professionalism Policy requires “intellectual honesty” of all enrollees.

Per school policy, being intellectually honest means refraining from:

  • Providing “unauthorized assistance” to other students (including sharing exam information in a way that gives others an unfair advantage)

  • Receiving unauthorized assistance

  • Using someone else’s ideas, words, or work without giving credit (plagiarism)

  • Fabricating information, including but not limited to clinical data

  • Any other academic behavior that would “cause a loss of respect or confidence in the offending student or in the CUSOM community by the public, faculty, staff, colleagues, or the community-at-large”

Some forms of academic dishonesty are cut-and-dry, so much so that even a second grader would recognize the action as a form of misconduct. Others, though, are far more ambiguous, and the proliferation of AI resources has only made it more challenging to find the line that separates acceptable and prohibited behavior.

Whether you knowingly engaged in academic misconduct or you had no intention of violating the CUSOM Honor Code, you have a right to try to avoid heavy-handed discipline (and to let our Student Defense Team help).

How Academic Misconduct Accusations Are Investigated and Resolved at CUSOM

CUSOM’s Academic Performance, Promotion, and Standards (APPS) Committee is the school’s most instrumental decision-making body. It addresses issues related to students’ academic performance and alleged violations of the CUSOM Honor Code.

To understand how an allegation of academic misconduct against you is likely to unfold, we must look at the school’s “Procedures for Calling and Conducting an APPS Committee Meeting Regarding Non-Academic Matters,” which explains the school’s adjudication process:

  • The complainant reports the alleged academic misconduct to the Office of Student Affairs or “the respective Associate Dean” within five business days of seeing, or learning of, the alleged academic misconduct

  • Representatives of the Office of Student Affairs, or the Associate Dean who received the complaint, will investigate the accused student’s conduct

  • The investigative body may request a “written report” from all parties involved with the allegation, including the accused student

  • The Associate Dean may report their findings to the Associate Dean for Clinical Integration, who may then resolve the case and report their recommendation to the Vice Dean for Academic Affairs.

  • The Associate Dean for Clinical Integration could instead refer the case to the APPS Committee

  • The APPS Committee typically conducts a hearing, during which the student is “afforded an opportunity to explain themselves and offer any mitigating factors.”

  • The APPS Committee will deliberate and issue a decision based on the preponderance of the evidence gathered during the hearing process

  • The accused student will receive written notice of the APPS Committee’s decision and be expected to respond to that notice within a specific timeframe

In some cases, an ad hoc Committee may adjudicate a case of alleged academic misconduct. The hearing process should proceed similarly whether conducted by the APPS Committee or an Ad hoc Committee.

You May Be Able to Appeal an APPS Committee Decision to the Dean of CUSOM

CUSOM policy delineates several non-appealable offenses from several appealable offenses. Suspension and dismissal are among the list of sanctions that are appealable.

Should you need to appeal an APPS Committee sanction, our Student Defense Team will be prepared to lead that appeal. You have only five business days to file your appeal with the designated party, so our readiness to launch your appeal will be critical.

Who you file an appeal with will depend on who made the initial ruling. If an Ad hoc Committee made the initial ruling, you may appeal to the APPS Committee. If the APPS Committee made the official ruling, you will need to appeal to the Dean of the university. 

The Range of Possible Discipline for Academic Misconduct at CUSOM

When we talk about the possible discipline you might face for alleged academic misconduct at CUSOM, the conversation is shrouded in uncertainty. We know that the APPS Committee and other disciplinary bodies could recommend a range of sanctions that include (but are not limited to):

  • A warning

  • Academic probation

  • Course remediation

  • Course failure

  • Suspension

  • Dismissal

The gulf between a warning and dismissal is wider than the Atlantic, and you should defend yourself as if the very worst outcome (dismissal) is a realistic possibility.

We don’t roll the dice or blindly wish for the best at the LLF National Law Firm. Our Student Defense Team proactively fights for the students we represent, even negotiating with universities’ general counsel when traditional disciplinary proceedings don’t produce a fair outcome.

Student discipline can change the course of your career and your life for the worse. Let us fight to help you avoid such dire outcomes. Call the LLF National Law Firm Student Defense Team today at 888-535-3686 or contact us online and let us help during this pivotal time in your life.

Campbell University Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine

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