Appeals

Respondents may request an appeal of the outcome, subject to the conditions outlined below. In cases of crimes of violence or retaliation of the aforementioned both the respondent and complainant shall have the right to appeal the outcome.

For more information regarding access to student record information by respondents and complainants (including the ability to review process documents, the notification of outcomes, and the opportunity to appeal an outcome), please reference the Community Standards - Access to Student Record Information document found at https://www.sju.edu/offices/student-life/community-standards/resources.

In the case of student organizations, students serving in the capacity as representatives of the respondent organizations (i.e. president, captain, coordinator) shall have the right to appeal the outcome, on behalf of the organization. Student organizations are limited to one appeal, submitted on behalf of the organization.

Appeals must be prepared by and submitted by the student involved (respondent, and/or complainant, in cases of crimes of violence or retaliation of the aforementioned). Third parties may not submit an appeal on behalf of a student or student organization.

Appeal submissions shall be no longer than ten (10) single-spaced typewritten pages, using size 12 Times New Roman font and 1-inch margins. Submissions that do not meet these standards may be returned to the party for correction, but the timeline will not be extended unless there is evidence that technical malfunction caused the submission not to meet these standards.

An outcome may be appealed within five (5) business days after receiving notice of the outcome (and sanctions).

Basis for an Appeal of the Outcome

The appeals process is reserved only for serious cases, for example, when the outcome may have included sanctions 14 through 18 listed within this handbook (“What are Possible Sanctions for Community Standards Violations?”).

Any appeal shall be in writing and state the grounds and the facts supporting the grounds for such appeal. The appeal should be delivered to the Vice President for Student Life/Dean of Students in Campion 247 or emailed to studentappeals@sju.edu. 

Appeals will be considered by a panel of three trained Appeal Board members drawn from the Community Standards Board (“Panel”). The appointments and terms of membership of the Panel members are reflected through their Community Standards Board membership.

The composition of each Panel shall consist of at least one faculty/administrator/staff member and at least one student member. The third member may be either a faculty/administrator/staff member or a student member. Panel members shall disqualify themselves from serving on an appeal panel if they believe in good faith that they cannot be objective in the matter.

A Moderator/Resource Person shall advise the Panel on matters such as the appeal process. The Moderator/designee shall also facilitate the appropriate paperwork and record keeping, as well as reserve meeting space, if the Panel determines that an additional meeting is required on appeal. A Panel may determine that they can resolve the appeal without a meeting or any additional fact-finding, and whether to have such meeting/fact-finding, or not, is within their sole discretion.

The respondent and complainant (in cases of crimes of violence or retaliation of the aforementioned) may object to a member of the Panel for cause in writing within 24 hours of the written notification of the Panel members. The Moderator/designee shall rule on all objections and replace any disqualified members.

Absent other considerations, the Panel will review all available information pertaining directly to the appeal and render a decision.

The Panel may affirm the outcome reached by the Hearing Officer/Board, which means all sanctions imposed as a result the outcome also remain in place. In this circumstance, the matter is concluded. No further appeal is permitted.

The Panel may remand the case to the Hearing Officer/Board, or if deemed to be appropriate, to a new Hearing Officer/Board, for further review. In this circumstance, the Hearing Officer/Board may conduct an additional review and may do one of the following: a) affirm the initial outcome and sanctions; b) affirm the initial outcome, but modify the sanctions; c) modify the initial outcome and modify the sanctions. No appeal is permitted from the Hearing Officer/Board decision on remand.

The respondent and complainant (in cases of crimes of violence or retaliation of the aforementioned) will be notified in writing of the appeal outcome.

During the appeal process, all imposed sanctions are in effect, unless determined otherwise by the Vice President for Student Life/Dean of Students.

Grounds for appealing the outcome are limited to:

1. Material Procedural Error: The existence of a material procedural error that could have significantly impacted the outcome of the case, bias in the process, or failure to disclose conflict of interest. Bias in the process is not a disagreement with the outcome of the case.
2. New Information: The existence of previously unavailable or unknown relevant evidence that could have significantly impacted the outcome of the case.

The appealing party shall bear the burden of establishing at least one of these grounds for appeal by a preponderance of the information. Appeals submitted for other reasons, or past the five (5) business day deadline articulated above, shall not be considered.

Should any other relevant information come to the attention of the University during the appeals process, this information may be included by the University in the appeal documentation.

In cases of crime of violence or retaliation of the aforementioned, the non-appellant (or opposite appellant, if both the respondent and complainant appeal) shall be provided an opportunity to inspect and respond to the appeal submitted by the appellant. The opportunity to inspect shall be scheduled within five (5) business days of the appeal period expiring.

A written response to the other party’s appeal, if any, must be delivered, in writing, to the Vice President for Student Life/Dean of Students in Campion 247 or emailed to studentappeals@sju.edu within 48 hours of the opportunity to inspect.

Appeal responses must be prepared by and submitted by the student involved (respondent and/or complainant, in cases of crimes of violence or retaliation of the aforementioned). Third parties may not submit an appeal response on behalf of a student or student organization.

Appeal response submissions shall be no longer than ten (10) single-spaced typewritten pages, using size 12 Times New Roman font and 1-inch margins. Submissions that do not meet these standards may be returned to the party for correction, but the timeline will not be extended unless there is evidence that technical malfunction caused the submission not to meet these standards.

The appellant shall be provided an opportunity to inspect the other party’s response. No additional responses are accepted as appeal documentation at that point from either party.

During a particular disciplinary process, a party may file one appeal only.