Gonzaga University's nursing program can point to some pretty impressive statistics, like an NCLEX passing rate among BSN graduates of 94 percent. You don't get to those kinds of numbers without holding students to high standards. Of course students take tough classes from demanding professors. Of course they maintain rigorous clinic schedules. In addition, though, their personal and professional lives are under constant scrutiny. And any mistake can cost them their careers.
You want to be a part of that kind of program. By the time you graduate, you've got genuine bona fides. Graduate schools and employers know you're the real deal. Just as important, you know your own value and worth.
Still, it's not always easy to thrive under that kind of pressure. Even the best students can lose their way. Or maybe you've found yourself held to standards that are simply unreachable. A difficult semester has dragged down your GPA, or someone has leveled an unfair accusation at you. How do you protect yourself? How do you protect your future?
You contact the Lento Law Firm. Maybe it's never occurred to you before that a lawyer could help you with academic issues, especially academic issues related to nursing. The fact is, though, that no one knows more about getting students the rights they deserve than the Lento Law Firm's Student Defense Team. No one knows educational law the way they do, no one understands the Gonzaga administrative and judicial systems the way they do, and no one has more experience helping students get the justice they deserve.
What can we do for you? Call 888-535-3686 to find out, or take time right now and fill out our online questionnaire.
Nursing Standards at Gonzaga University
If you're a nursing student at Gonzaga or thinking about applying, the first thing you need to know is what's expected of you academically. The tough courses hit you in your very first year, including chemistry, biology, psychology, and sociology. They continue throughout the four-year program. Anatomy and Physiology and Microbiology will test your science abilities, but practical nursing courses like Research and Information Management and Acute and Chronic Alterations in Health Statues can be even more difficult.
Ultimately, you're expected to meet four essential learning outcomes before you graduate:
- Effective Communication: The ability to convey information clearly to patients, supervisors, colleagues, and others with a stake in healthcare outcomes
- Leadership: A commitment to improving the health of both individuals and your community
- Professionalism: Demonstrated personal qualities such as reliability, discipline, temperance, and honesty.
- Safe, Competent, and Ethical Care: A genuine concern for the well-being of patients and ethical qualities like a commitment to patient confidentiality and a respect for diversity.
You'll find very few programs at Gonzaga maintain such a rigid set of outcomes. Yet, you're still expected to meet the university's academic standing policy requirements, just like every other undergraduate. A cumulative grade point average below 2.0 means probation, and should you continue to struggle while on probation, you can face dismissal.
Issues of Misconduct
Nursing students are sometimes surprised to discover that their personal behavior can have just as much impact on their success as their academic achievement. Anyone with responsibilities to public health is held to high moral and ethical standards. It is Gonzaga's job to make sure you're ready to meet those responsibilities.
Like all students, you're held accountable to the university's several disciplinary policies. That includes the:
- Academic Integrity Policy: Rules and regulations governing how you complete your coursework that include strictures against plagiarism, cheating, and any other form of classroom dishonesty.
- Student Code of Conduct: Guidelines for conducting yourself on campus, including rules against things like underage drinking, drug use, hazing, and weapons possession.
- Title IX Sexual Misconduct Policy: Government-enforced policy that prohibits sexual discrimination and harassment, including offenses ranging from simple verbal harassment to stalking, dating violence, and rape.
As a nursing student, though, you are held to additional standards of professionalism. You're expected to demonstrate compassion to others, for example, to communicate effectively with patients and colleagues, to maintain scrupulous conduct in regards to medication, and to maintain patient confidentiality and abide by all HIPAA guidelines.
Sanctions
Given just how much you have to remember, it's no surprise that students make mistakes. Mistakes usually mean sanctions. Gonzaga maintains a wide range of sanctions, including:
- Warnings
- University censure
- In-course punishments such as lowered grades on assignments and lowered course grades
- Special educational assignments
- Disciplinary probation
- Attendance at a workshop or class
- Restorative justice
- Community service
- Mandated counseling
- Restitution
- Suspension of privileges
- Suspension
- Dismissal
- Denial or revocation of degree
Given how seriously the nursing program takes personal conduct, you may face additional sanctions over and above those assigned by the university. Misconduct can be grounds for dismissal from the program, for instance.
Additionally, it's important you recognize that any offense, even if the sanction is light, can affect your ability to launch your career after graduation. A warning for cheating, for instance, can keep you from getting into graduate school and can come up in job interviews if it appears on your permanent record. You absolutely must take every allegation against you seriously. That means making certain the Lento Law Firm is on your side, helping you defend yourself.
Administrative and Judicial Processes at Gonzaga
If you've been accused of misconduct, whether academic, disciplinary, or sexual, you're entitled to due process. The university must treat you as Not Responsible (innocent) until it can prove that you committed an offense. You have the right to an investigation and to mount a defense at a hearing. You should be allowed to present evidence and to call witnesses to testify. Further, you should be allowed to raise questions for any witnesses against you.
It can be more difficult to defend yourself from academic sanctions since they're based almost entirely on your GPA, and that isn't subject to debate. Even in these cases, though, you have options. If you feel an instructor has treated you unfairly, for instance, you have the right to file a grade appeal.
In either case, you can count on the attorneys at the Lento Law Firm to protect your rights while working with you to find solutions. Their knowledge of Gonzaga procedures makes them uniquely qualified to help, whether you need someone to guide you through an investigation and hearing or you simply need to know who to contact about your learning disability.
Trust the Lento Law Firm to Handle Your Case
The Lento Law Firm's Student Defense Team has defended hundreds of students from all types of issues—from rape charges to cheating scandals. We are always on your side, ready to fight for your rights, and determined to get you the best possible resolution to your case.
For more information on what we can do for you, call us today at 888-535-3686 or click on our online form and tell us about your problem.
