Appeals
- new evidence, which could not have been presented to the Hearing Officer
- procedural error(s) and/or
- the severity of the penalty assessed(based on the standards noted in the Student Handbook)
The vice president or his designee may invoke the sanction pending the appeal in cases where there is a danger to a student or to the university community by your presence. Such a request must come from the office that conducted the hearing.
There is a student/staff disciplinary review board that consists of a pool of students who are appointed by the vice president for student affairs in conjunction with the Student Government Association and four staff/faculty members plus alternates appointed by the vice president for student affairs. The review panel will normally consist of three of the students and four staff/faculty members. A staff member from the Student Affairs Division will be the permanent chair of the board. During the undergraduate school’s summer hiatus, a separate panel will be formed.
The Student/Staff Disciplinary Review Board is not an investigatory panel. Its role is to ensure that you have been fairly treated in the disciplinary process. Therefore, it conducts its business primarily based upon the written record. Only if it appears that a particular case requires that all the parties meet before the board in order to make a fair decision, will it conduct a hearing.
When you and others have been directed to attend an administrative disciplinary meeting and/or hearing to determine what, if any, violation has occurred, a 48 hour notice is given prior to the meeting. Written notice of the date, time, location, and allegation(s) is sent to your SNHU student mailbox. Depending upon the urgency and the circumstances, notice may also be sent to your SNHU e-mail account. You are responsible for checking your student e-mail and mailbox every day as part of your expectations as a student. Failure to attend any administrative meeting or hearing will result in a forfeiture of your right to appeal the findings and the final decision.
A student club or organization appealing a finding by the Campus Programming staff or director does so on the same basis as any individual student. References below to the student making an appeal also apply to representatives of the club or organization. Only two members of the club or organization may represent the group before the student/staff disciplinary review board.
1. Request for Appeal - If you wish to file an appeal, you must present your request, in writing, to the chair of the student/staff disciplinary review board within five working days of the finding. Your request must include a thorough explanation of the reason(s) for your appeal, and it should state the date of the original hearing and hearing officers name. The board considers tier 1 appeals at its regular meetings and will meet within five working days of receiving a tier 2 appeal unless the student agrees to a later meeting.
2. Burden of Proof - You have the obligation to show that new evidence is now available which wasn’t available before which could alter the initial findings, that there was a procedural error or the penalty assessed was unfair given the nature of the violation or the standards established.
3. Possible Board Actions - The board may decide not to review your case for lack of merit (meaning you did not meet the conditions for an appeal), to let the results stand, to alter the sanction, or to take other appropriate action. The board will primarily consider the written information about your situation. The staff member who made the finding in your case will be asked to submit a reply to your appeal letter. In most Tier 1 cases and in many Tier 2 cases, the board bases its decision entirely upon this written record. So, you need to be very careful and thorough in framing your appeal letter.
4. Quorum and Voting - Appeals must be considered by at least three staff and two students. Actions of the board shall be taken by simple majority vote. The chair may vote to make or to break a tie.
5. Results of Board Meeting - The chair will send you and the staff member who made the finding a written report of the board’s action within 48 hours following the meeting. The chair may convey the results informally immediately following the meeting. The university has the right to notify victims of hearing and appeal results. In cases of sexual assault, the university is required to notify the victim. The committee will also provide a written rationale for overturning decisions to the office/staff member who made the original finding.
6. Attendance at Review Meeting - If the board decides that a hearing is required, you and the staff member who made the finding against you must both attend that meeting. Any other staff involved should also attend. Only members of the university community and witness to the incident may attend any hearing. See the exception below for legal counsel.
7. Advisor - If there is a hearing, you should bring an advisor who may be any member of the university community, but not one with legal background. Also, the advisor may not be someone whose involvement may raise a question of a conflict of interest on the part of a board member. This advisor may confer with the student but may neither address the hearing nor question witnesses. Just as for the initial hearing, both you and the staff presenting the case may seek the advice of counsel in preparing the case but legal assistance will not ordinarily be allowed during the hearing (whether by means of presence at the hearing or by recess and conference outside the hearing). If there is a criminal case pending against you, you may have the advice of counsel during a hearing regarding your own statements and answers to questions, but on no other matter. Counsel may not advise you on questions you may ask of others during the hearing or otherwise assist you.
8. Conflict of Interest - On the objection of any party, a member of the board who is otherwise personally involved shall not sit in judgment during the proceedings. This objection must be made known before the appeal is heard so that a quorum may be arranged. Board members may excuse themselves from a case because of such a conflict.
9. Witnesses - Witnesses and other interested parties may be asked to wait outside the meeting room and will be called as needed. You may present witnesses to show how the process was unfair or the outcome was unreasonable. But anyone who appears to present information on the facts of the incident(s) must have appeared during the original disciplinary review process. Witnesses to the process or “character witnesses” must be members of the university community.
10. Admission of Responsibility - If you admitted responsibility during the investigation or hearing processes, you may not now raise questions of your own responsibility. The reasonableness of a sanction or applicability of university guidelines, or other concerns about the process, may still be issues.
11. Presentation - The chair of the board will open the meeting with introductions. You will present your case first. The board members may then question you. If you have witnesses, you will present them and question them, both members of the board and staff may also ask them questions. The staff member who made the decision that you are appealing presents next. Any witness for the university will be heard at this time.
You may question both the staff member and witnesses, as may the members of the board. There is a period for questions by the board of all parties present, then both you and the staff member present closing remarks.
12. Records and Tapes - summary notes are kept by the chair. A tape recording of any hearing is made. You may request and pay for copies.
You may ask any member of the university community, who is not an attorney, to serve as your advisor. You may obtain a list of staff and faculty who have volunteered to be available as advisors from the student affairs office.