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Appeal Process

Grounds for Appeal: Appeals of conduct hearing decisions may be made by an accused student only on one or more of the following grounds:

  1. the hearing administrator or SCRB exhibited unfair bias, which influenced the results of the hearing;
  2. the availability of new evidence, unavailable at the time of the hearing, that could substantially impact the hearing administrator’s or SCRB’s decisions or sanctions;
  3. an error in hearing procedures, such as those described in the “Student Conduct Process Rights — Accused Student,” that is of such magnitude as to deny fundamental fairness; and/or
  4. the sanction(s) issued by the hearing administrator or SCRB are inappropriate for or inconsistent with the violation.

How to Appeal: Instructions for submitting an appeal electronically, using UMW’s conduct management system, can be found in the hearing outcome letter that every student receives after the conclusion of their conduct hearing. All appeals should be submitted electronically. If students are unable to do so for any reason, they should contact OSCAR for assistance. Appeals must be submitted within five (5) working days of the date on the hearing outcome letter.

How Appeals are Handled: In the case of 1), 2) , or 3), an appellate hearing may occur, if deemed appropriate by the Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs or designee. In the case of 4), the appellate panel shall convene to consider the sanction only. In no event shall a second sanction be more severe than the first, if the appeal originated with the accused student, unless the original hearing involved a student complainant who also has submitted an appeal, and whose appeal shall be heard by the appellate panel.

All appeals of conduct hearing decisions, whether those decisions were made by an administrator or by SCRB, will be heard by a trained appellate panel comprised of one UMW administrator, one member of UMW’s teaching faculty, and three members of SCRB who did not participate in the original hearing. The appellate hearing will be chaired by the Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs or designee. Appeal decisions are final.