Appeals

(a) Appellate Body:

The appellate body for all appeals is the Vice President for Student Affairs or designee.  The following decisions may be appealed:

1. Decisions of University Student Conduct Committee.
2. Decisions of the Director for Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution or Director of Residential Life or Director of Campus Life (or designees).
3. Decisions of Residential Life hearing officers.
4. Decisions of the Interfraternity Council, National Pan-Hellenic Council, and Panhellenic Council Judicial Boards

(b) Appeal Requests:

All appeals must be submitted using the appeal form available from the following offices: Vice President for Student Affairs, Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution, Residential Life.  The appeal form must be submitted by the student to the appellate body (see Section (15) (a), Appellate Bodies) within seven (7) business days of the receipt of the hearing decision. If a hearing decision is not appealed, that decision becomes final agency action.

(c) The appeal form must state the reason(s) for appeal, the supporting facts, and the recommended solution.

  The burden of proof rests with the student to clearly demonstrate that an error occurred during the Student Conduct hearing process. Appeals are not a re-hearing of the Student Conduct matter. The reason for the appeal must be at least one of the following:

1. Violations of a charged student’s rights (see Section (7), Students’ Rights) or other failure to follow Student Conduct procedures that substantially affected the outcome of the initial hearing. Appeals based on this reason will be limited solely to a review of the record of the hearing.
2. New information, which was not available at the time of the hearing and could not have been presented.  In addition, the student must show that the new information could have substantially affected the outcome. The nature of the information must be described in full detail in the appeal letter.
3. The severity of the sanction is disproportionate to the nature of the offense.

1. The appellate officer will review the appeal form, tape recording (if applicable) and documentation from the original hearing, and determine if there is a basis for appeal.
2. If the appellate officer determines there is no basis for appeal, a written decision upholding the hearing body decision will be sent to the student stating the appeal is denied and the reason for the denial.
3. If the appellate officer determines that there is a basis for appeal, the appellate officer, in his or her discretion may request a meeting with the charged student or any witnesses called by the student or the hearing body.

1. uphold the first-level decision;
2. remand the decision to the original hearing body for review of the specific information in question;
3. order a new hearing be held by a different hearing body; or.
4. modify any sanction(s).

(f) Written decision on appeal.

The appellate decision is issued in writing to the student, within twenty-one (21) business days of receipt of the written request for appeal, unless notification is given that additional time is necessary for consideration of the record on appeal. 

(g) Decisions of the appellate body reflect final agency action.

(h) Except in the case of an interim suspension, the student’s status will remain unchanged during the appellate process.

(i) Except in the case of an interim suspension, all sanctions are placed on hold during the appellate process.