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Appeals Reviewed by the Panel

The Appeal Panel generally consists of a faculty, staff member, and student member who review appeal. The faculty representative serves as the Chair. The Appeal Panel will have at least one advisor. The appeal will be reviewed by the panel through a formal appeal hearing. At the appeal hearing, the party requesting the appeal must demonstrate their selected appeal merit(s), as the original findings and sanctions will be presumed to have been decided reasonably and appropriately. The parties will not appear before the Appeal Panel unless specifically requested to do so by the Appeal Panel.

For granted appeal requests, the Chief Human Resources Officer and Title IX Director or designee will inform the opposing party of the granted appeal requests (e.g., if the respondent’s appeal request is granted, the appeal request will be shared with the complainant, who may also wish to file a response). Furthermore, each party will be contacted to coordinate the date and other necessary logistics for the appeal review or hearing. The Chief Human Resources Officer and Title IX Director, designee and/or the Appeal Panel will make a reasonable attempt to hear or resolve an appeal within fifteen (15) Business days of the submitted appeal request.

Prior to the appeal review, if there is an opposing party or university investigator involved in the case, they will be given seven days to provide a written response to the appeal.

The appeal must cite at least one of the following appeals criteria as the reason for appeal and provide supporting argument(s) as to why an appeal should be granted on these grounds. Appeals criteria include the following:

  1. The hearing was not conducted in conformity with prescribed procedures, and substantial prejudice to the complaint or the respondent resulted;
  2. New information that could substantially affect the outcome of the previous lower hearing has been discovered since that hearing. The information must not have been available at the time of the original hearing. Failure to present information that was available is not grounds for an appeal under this provision;
  3. The sanction is not appropriate for the violation. This provision is intended to be utilized when a determined sanction is inherently inconsistent with university procedures or precedent. Simple dissatisfaction with a sanction is not grounds for overturning a sanction under this provision.

During the Appeal process, the record of the original hearing, including documents, the appeal and written response/s to appeal, if applicable, will be reviewed and a finding as to the merits of the criteria cited as the reason for appeal will be issued.

Appeals reviewed by the Chief Human Resources Officer and Title IX Director, their designee and/or the Appeal Panel will result in one (1) of three (3) outcomes:

  1. That the original hearing body’s determination is affirmed.
  2. That the original hearing body’s determination be modified.
  3. That the original hearing body’s determination be reversed.

If it is found that the previous hearing was not conducted as prescribed and substantial prejudice resulted, the matter may be remanded to a new hearing.

If there is new information presented that could not have been presented at the original hearing and finds the new information is relevant, the matter may be resubmitted to the original hearing body.

If it is found that the sanction is inappropriate for the violation, it may be recommended the sanction be modified by the Chief Human Resources Officer and Title IX Director, or their designee, and state the reasons for that recommendation.

The Appeal Panel’s final decision will be communicated in writing by the Dean of Students office to the complainant and the respondent. The decision will normally be communicated within two days of receiving the written decision.

If the Appeal Panel recommends modifying the outcome or the sanction, the Chief Human Resources Officer and Title IX Director or their designee will review the Appeal Panel’s recommendation. The final decision will be communicated in writing by the Chief Human Resources Officer and Title IX Director or their designee to the complainant and the respondent. The decision will normally be communicated within 15 days of receiving the written recommendation. The decision of the Chief Human Resources Officer and Title IX Director or their designee will be final.