Student Conduct Case Review Process

Requesting a Case Review

Students have the right to request a review of a decision and/or sanction imposed through the Student Conduct Process. Requests must be submitted, via the Case Review Request Form, by the student within 72 hours of notification of a Student Conduct decision.

A Case Review is not considered to be a re-hearing of a case, but rather an opportunity to review a case in light of the grounds presented for review.

Requests must state whether the student is requesting a review of the decision, the sanction, or both. The correspondence must also state the grounds for which the Case would be reviewed, which are limited to the following:

• Evidence related to the case is now available that was unavailable or unknown at the time of the initial student conduct meeting that could considerably affect the outcome.
• The University significantly deviated from its stated procedures in such a way that materially affected the fairness of the student conduct meeting.
• The sanction(s)/assignment(s) is substantially disproportionate to the severity of the violation.

Note: A plea for mercy, or simply disagreeing with a decision or sanction, without addressing at least one of the grounds above, will not meet the threshold for a Case Review to move forward.

For cases involving multiple individuals, requests must be submitted on an individual basis as each request will be reviewed separately. Additionally, the request must come from the student involved in the case; requests submitted by third parties, including legal representation, will not be considered.

Submitting a request does not guarantee that a case will be reviewed; the request provides information to determine whether or not there is a basis for a Case Review. Requests will be reviewed by the Dean of Students or his/her designee. If it is determined that the request meets at least one of the grounds outlined above for a Case Review, then the request will be forwarded to the Case Review Board (CRB) or the Director of Student Conduct & Community Standards, depending on who made the original decision as outlined below. If it is determined that the request does not meet at least one of the criteria, a letter, which would include a rationale, will be sent to the student in their IWU email.

Case Review Process

If a request for a Case Review has been approved:

• Case Reviews for decision issued by a member of the Residential Learning staff shall considered by the Director of Student Conduct & Community Standards or her/his designee.
• Case Reviews for decisions issued by the Director of Student Conduct & Community Standards shall be considered by the CRB, which is comprised of trained faculty, staff, and students.

Note: Due to the sensitive nature of Title IX cases, Case Reviews for decisions issued in Title IX Cases shall be considered by a sub-set of the CRB, comprised only of trained faculty and staff.

The student’s case will be added to the agenda of either the CRB or the Director of Student Conduct & Community Standards, and will be scheduled in a timely fashion contingent on scheduling availability. The student will be notified, at least 72 hours in advance, via their IWU email of the date their case will be considered. 

Because a Case Review is an examination of all information presented in the case, and not a re-hearing of the conduct process, students, witnesses, and other involved parties do not attend these meetings. The student’s request for a Case Review is presented, as well as other case-related notes and documentation. Any other written statements from students given 24 hours in advance of the Case Review meeting to the Dean of Students will also be presented for consideration with the other documentation.

Should the CRB or Director of Student Conduct & Community Standards feel they are unable to make a decision without further investigation, a student may be asked to attend a future meeting to answer questions. The CRB or the Director can make one of the following decisions regarding case:

• The results and sanctions from the original conduct process are upheld based on a proper finding and appropriate sanctions.
• The results from the original conduct process are not upheld; there are no sanctions.
• The results from the original conduct process are upheld but sanctions are disproportionate to the violation, sanctions are altered to be more appropriate (sanctions cannot be made more severe, with the exception of Title IX cases).

Once a decision has been made, the student will receive a meeting request. The student will also receive a letter in their IWU email that details both the decision and rationale given by the CRB or Director of Student Conduct & Community Standards.

The decision made by the CRB or Director of Student Conduct & Community Standards is the final decision in a conduct case; there are no further opportunities for review.