Florida A&M University (FAMU) Student Defense Lawyer

A FAMU student facing a conduct charge under Regulation 2.012, an academic honesty allegation, a pharmacy professionalism review, or academic suspension is dealing with a public university in Tallahassee, and Florida law gives that student real procedural rights. Under Fla. Stat. section 1006.60(3) and FAMU’s own Student Code of Conduct, a legal representative may participate in a conduct hearing on the student’s behalf. The deadlines are short, though, and several of them waive rights if they are missed.

How do student discipline and dismissal cases work at FAMU?

A FAMU student defense lawyer is working inside a public university, and that single fact shapes everything that follows. Florida A&M University in Tallahassee is a public land-grant institution and a historically Black university, so its disciplinary and academic decisions are state action. When a public university suspends, dismisses, or disciplines a student, the Fourteenth Amendment governs how that decision has to be made.

FAMU also carries a substantial professional and graduate footprint, most visibly the College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, along with nursing, allied health, and a range of graduate programs. Professional programs run on their own progression and professionalism standards, layered on top of the university-wide code. Working out which of those two documents actually controls a matter is usually the first real question a FAMU student defense lawyer has to answer.

Why being a public institution changes the analysis

At a public university a student has a procedural due process argument that a private-school student simply does not have. Goss v. Lopez, 419 U.S. 565 (1975), held that a student facing suspension is entitled to notice of the charges and an opportunity to respond to them. Dixon v. Alabama State Board of Education, 294 F.2d 150 (5th Cir. 1961) — a case that arose at a public HBCU — held that a state college could not expel students for misconduct without notice and some form of hearing. Dixon remains binding precedent in the Eleventh Circuit, which includes Florida.

Courts draw a firm line, though. Board of Curators of the University of Missouri v. Horowitz, 435 U.S. 78 (1978), held that academic judgments receive far less procedural protection than disciplinary findings. So if a matter is framed as a failure to meet academic standards rather than as misconduct, the process a student is owed narrows sharply. How the file is labeled therefore drives how much leverage exists, and that labeling is worth examining early.

Pharmacy and the professional-standards track

Pharmacy, nursing, and allied health students at FAMU face a second problem that undergraduates in other colleges do not. A progression committee can remove a student for a pattern of grades, a failed competency, or a professionalism concern, and the same record then has to be disclosed to a licensing board. The Florida Board of Pharmacy and the Florida Board of Nursing both ask licensure applicants about academic discipline and about conduct bearing on fitness to practice.

That means the wording of an outcome can matter as much as the outcome itself. A notation that reads as an academic deficiency and a notation that reads as a dishonesty finding carry very different weight on a licensure application years later. Negotiating that language, where the policy allows it, is often the most durable thing that can be accomplished in a professional-program case.

The College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences handles professionalism cases under its Learner Academic and Professional Conduct Policy. A Professional Conduct Committee holds a hearing, and an appeal to the Dean is due within ten business days of the committee’s letter, so the committee hearing is where the record gets made.

The College’s own rules — the AASC and the PCC, the four-failure dismissal rule, and the handbook revised effective September 22, 2026 — are set out on the FAMU College of Pharmacy dismissal and appeals page.

State-level policy layers

FAMU sits within the State University System, so its student conduct regulations are published university regulations rather than purely internal handbooks. Published regulations are enforceable against the institution in a way an unpublished practice is not, and a decision that departs from the written regulation is the clearest kind of error to raise on appeal. Pulling the current regulation text, not a departmental summary of it, is a necessary step.

What Florida law and Regulation 2.012 guarantee in a FAMU conduct case

Section 1006.60(3) of the Florida Statutes sets minimum protections that every state university’s student conduct code must provide, and FAMU’s Student Code of Conduct spells out how it applies them. In a conduct case at FAMU:

• Notice and a meeting. Written notice at least seven business days before the hearing, except in an emergency, and a mandatory Information Meeting after the student is charged (Reg. 2.012(11), (27)(d); § 1006.60(3)(a)).
• The evidence in advance. On written request, inspection of the evidence at least five business days before the hearing (Reg. 2.012(27)(e)). The statute requires the witnesses and all known information, including information that helps the student, five business days ahead (§ 1006.60(3)(a)).
• The panel and the burden. A hearing before an impartial Administrative Hearing Panel, at least half of whose members are students, deciding on a preponderance of the information, with the burden on the university (Reg. 2.012(27)(e), (28)(p); § 1006.60(3)(b)).
• Silence. The right to remain silent without that silence being used against the student (§ 1006.60(3)(d)).
• A representative who can participate. One advisor, advocate or legal representative, at the student’s expense, who may participate in all aspects of the proceeding but may not testify for the student (Reg. 2.012(28)(d); § 1006.60(3)(g)).
• An appeal. Within ten business days of the panel’s written decision, on four grounds: a due process violation, new information, information that does not support the decision, or a sanction not commensurate with the violation (Reg. 2.012(24)).

Sanctions under Regulation 2.012 run from a reprimand to expulsion, and include fines of $100 to $350 and suspension for up to five years. A student who also faces criminal charges can ask to postpone the conduct hearing for up to 60 business days, on conditions set by the conduct office.

What should you do first?

Get the current student conduct regulation and, if a professional program is involved, the college handbook and the catalog version that applies to your cohort. Start at Florida A&M University and confirm which committee owns the decision and which written document it is applying. Then note every deadline, request your complete file including committee materials, and preserve evaluations, emails, and advising correspondence.

Do not accept a voluntary withdrawal, a remediation agreement, or a leave of absence before someone has read the policy against it. Any of the three can quietly waive appeal rights while leaving the same disclosure obligations in place. Decisions at this stage should turn on the documents and the facts, not on how alarming the letter felt to read.

What does FAMU’s own policy actually say?

FAMU’s Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution operates under FAMU Regulation 2.012, the Student Code of Conduct, as posted in its Aug. 23, 2023 version. A student has ten business days from the date of the hearing panel’s written notification to file an appeal with the Office of the Dean of Students, and the regulation is candid about how that appeal is weighed: “Deference is given to the original hearing panel’s outcome; thus, the burden is on the student filing an appeal to demonstrate cause to alter the decision.” The finding itself rests on Preponderance of Information — information supporting that it is more likely than not the violation occurred. The respondent may have one advisor, advocate or legal representative present throughout the proceedings at their own expense and initiative, and that person may participate, provided the student supplies the advisor’s name, mailing and email address and phone number at least three business days before the meeting or hearing.

• Conduct office: Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution
• Governing policy: Student Code of Conduct, FAMU Regulation 2.012
• Appeal window: Ten (10) business days from the date of the written notification of the hearing panel’s decision, filed with the Office of the Dean of Students
• Standard of proof: Preponderance of Information — more likely than not that the violation occurred; on appeal the burden shifts to the student, with deference to the panel
• Advisor: One advisor, advocate or legal representative at the student’s own expense who may be present throughout and may participate; name, mailing and email address and phone number due at least three (3) business days before the meeting or hearing. The same right belongs to the complainant.
• Title IX / equal opportunity: Office of Equal Opportunity Programs/Title IX, under Regulation 1.022, with a live hearing at which the advisor cross-examines and an appeal within ten business days
• Disability accommodations: Center for Disability Access and Resources (CeDAR)

Ten business days is one of the more generous conduct appeal windows in Florida, but the interim suspension track inside the same regulation is the opposite and is where students lose rights without a hearing: five business days from the notice to request an emergency hearing in writing, then ten business days after that hearing to request informal disposition or an administrative hearing, and the regulation states that a student who misses either “waives the opportunity.” Because deference runs to the panel and the burden on appeal is yours, the hearing itself — not the appeal — is where the record has to be made. One sourcing note: an older copy of Regulation 2.012 is hosted on law.famu.edu, so work from the current version on famu.edu.

Academic honesty cases at FAMU

Academic dishonesty at FAMU runs under Board of Trustees Policy 2017-001 as well as Regulation 2.012. The instructor must notify the student within five business days of becoming aware of a suspected violation, the two meet within five business days of that notice, and the student has up to ten business days from receiving the allegation to respond. If the student rejects the instructor’s proposed resolution, the instructor sends an Academic Honesty Referral Form to the dean or director, and the student may start the formal process within ten business days before a committee the dean appoints. A further appeal goes to the Provost within ten business days and is heard by a five-member Academic Honesty Council, and the Provost’s decision is final. The student may have an advisor of choice at the hearing. A violation is documented on the student’s official academic record, and grade forgiveness and withdrawal are not available after a formal finding.

Academic warning, probation, suspension and dismissal

Under Regulation 4.012, an undergraduate whose cumulative GPA falls below 2.0 for the first time is placed on academic warning. A student on warning who does not get back to 2.0 moves to probation, and a student on probation who is still below 2.0 at the end of the semester is suspended for at least two consecutive semesters, not counting summers. Returning requires a petition filed before the semester the student is eligible to return, along with the Academic Success Course and an advising plan, and the University Academic Appeals Committee’s decision on the petition is final. A readmitted student who again falls below 2.0 is dismissed, and returning after dismissal requires an AA degree from a Florida public state college. See academic suspension and readmission after dismissal.

What can a student defense lawyer do here?

• Reading the governing regulation or handbook against the charge or decision letter
• Helping you prepare your account, your documents, and your questions
• Identifying whether the matter is properly academic or disciplinary
• Reviewing licensure disclosure obligations before an application is filed
• Assisting with the written response and appeal, to the extent the policy permits
• Serving as your advisor where the process allows it
• Negotiating sanction terms, transcript notations, and disclosure language

What a lawyer may actually do in a given case depends on that school’s policy. Some policies allow counsel to participate, some allow a non-participating advisor, and some allow no outside person at all. Reading the current policy comes first, because it determines what form the assistance can take.

Where a FAMU matter would be litigated

FAMU’s Tallahassee campus is in Leon County, in the Northern District of Florida. Federal claims arising there, such as Title IX, Section 504 and the ADA, or procedural due process against a public university, are filed in that court, where I am admitted to the bar. A final university disciplinary decision can also be challenged in state circuit court by petition for certiorari under Fla. R. App. P. 9.190(b)(3), due within 30 days of the decision (Fla. R. App. P. 9.100(c)). The FAMU College of Law is in Orlando, which is in the Middle District of Florida. The statewide framework is on the Florida student defense lawyer page.

The law school runs on its own rules

A law student’s case is not an ordinary student conduct case. The honor code is a separate document from the university code, the standard of proof and the advisor rule are often different, and the lasting consequence is the character and fitness disclosure to the bar rather than the sanction itself. See FAMU College of Law.

Common questions about FAMU student cases

Does due process mean I get a real hearing at FAMU?

For a conduct charge under Regulation 2.012, yes: the student has the right to a hearing before an impartial Administrative Hearing Panel, at least half of whose members are students, after at least seven business days’ notice. Academic honesty and academic standing decisions follow different procedures, so the first step is identifying which one you are in.

Can my lawyer speak at a FAMU conduct hearing?

Yes. Regulation 2.012 allows one advisor, advocate or legal representative, at the student’s expense, who may participate in all aspects of the proceeding but may not testify for the student, and Fla. Stat. 1006.60(3)(g) guarantees that right at every Florida state university. The advisor’s name and contact information are due at least three business days before the meeting or hearing.

What if I was placed on interim suspension?

Act within five business days. Regulation 2.012 gives a student five business days from the notice to request an emergency hearing in writing, and a student who misses that deadline waives the opportunity.

My pharmacy progression committee wants a meeting. Should I go?

Usually yes, but not unprepared. What you say in that meeting frequently becomes the record for every later stage, so the sequence matters more than the speed. A lawyer should advise you on the issues and the facts before you sit down.

Should I just withdraw and reapply somewhere else?

That is not a decision to make quickly or emotionally. Withdrawal can preserve a transcript and can also forfeit an appeal, and most professional applications ask about prior programs regardless. It turns on the facts of your particular situation.

How soon should I get advice?

Ideally while the concern is still informal, because options exist at that stage that disappear once a committee has voted. A flat-fee Full Read + Game Plan is described on the Fees and Scope of Services page.

Nursing students are dismissed after two course failures, with five-business-day appeal clocks: see the FAMU School of Nursing page.

Nearby Florida schools: Florida State University, Bethune-Cookman, University of Florida, and UWF. Regional overview: student defense in Tallahassee.

Related pages: Health-Professions Programs, Academic Dismissal & Suspension, Due Process at Public Institutions, and Academic Misconduct & Honor Code.

This is general information about the matters I handle and the law that applies to them. It is not legal advice about your situation, and the law in this area can change. For advice on your matter, start with the Full Read + Game Plan — your entire file read, straight answers, and exactly what to do next, in what order.

This page is informational and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the institution named on it.