Chicago-Kent College of Law: Student Discipline, Dismissal & Federal Court

How do student discipline and dismissal cases work at Chicago-Kent?

Chicago-Kent College of Law is the law school of Illinois Institute of Technology, a private university, at 565 West Adams Street in Chicago, Cook County. ABA-approved since 1936, it calls itself the second-oldest law school in the state and reported 720 J.D. students, full- and part-time, in its 2025 ABA disclosure. Its Code of Conduct is unusually formal: a faculty Prosecutor, a three-member Tribunal, a court reporter, subpoenas, cross-examination and a clear and convincing standard. But a conviction carries a cost students rarely see coming: “Whether or not the violation is noted on the transcript, it will be reported to appropriate licensing authorities.”

Chicago-Kent College of Law is a private institution. There is no state action, so there is no constitutional due process claim, and arguing one wastes an appeal. The theory is contract: Illinois holds that a college and its students have a contractual relationship whose terms come from the catalog and the handbook — Raethz v. Aurora University, 346 Ill. App. 3d 728 (2004), restated by the Fourth District in Urso v. Bradley University, 2023 IL App (4th) 230165 — while adding that the relationship “is unique and cannot be strictly categorized or characterized in purely contractual terms.”

The limit is the standard of review, and it decides most of these cases before anyone reaches the facts. A student has a remedy for an adverse academic decision only if it was made arbitrarily, capriciously, or in bad faith. Frederick v. Northwestern University Dental School, 247 Ill. App. 3d 464 (1993), puts it bluntly — courts have been loath to review, much less overturn, academic dismissals — and Bosch v. NorthShore University Health System, 2019 IL App (1st) 190070, holds that a school which departs somewhat from its handbook still wins unless the departure was material. The federal courts in Chicago apply the same test: in Doe v. Columbia College Chicago, 933 F.3d 849 (7th Cir. 2019), the Seventh Circuit affirmed dismissal of a student’s contract claim where the college had investigated and reasoned its way to a decision, and in Gash v. Rosalind Franklin University, 117 F.4th 957 (7th Cir. 2024), it held that calling a process arbitrary or predetermined, without specific facts, is not enough. What survives is specific: in Liu v. Northwestern University, 78 F. Supp. 3d 839 (N.D. Ill. 2015), a former law student’s claim went forward where the school imposed what amounted to an integrity charge while denying her the handbook procedure for contesting one. Federal law does not care that the school is private: Title IX, Title VI and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act apply because it takes federal funds, and the ADA applies to it as a place of public accommodation.

A federal claim arising at Chicago-Kent College of Law is filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois — Cook County sits in its Eastern Division under 28 U.S.C. § 93(a), and the statute fixes the places of holding court for that division at Chicago and Wheaton. I am a member of the general bar of that court, admitted on my Florida license under its Local Rule 83.10, which opens the general bar to an attorney in good standing before the highest court of any state. That means a Title IX, Section 504 or ADA complaint for a Chicago-Kent student is one I file and litigate under my own name, with no pro hac vice motion. The Northern District abrogated its local-counsel designation rule in July 2023, so a member of its bar with no office in the district no longer has to designate local counsel. One limit, stated plainly: the court keeps a separate trial bar, and under Local Rule 83.12 a general-bar member who is not on it — that is me — appears alone in everything except testimonial proceedings, meaning evidentiary hearings and trial, where a trial-bar member must sit as advisor unless the judge grants the rule’s narrow waiver.

The Code of Conduct runs like a trial

The Code, Section XIX of the 2025–26 Student Handbook, covers academic misconduct — including passing off work “created in whole or in part by a Generative AI program, such as ChatGPT,” or using AI material unless “expressly permitted by the instructor” — and nonacademic misconduct. Most violations need only be done “knowingly, recklessly, or negligently,” so carelessness can be enough. A complaint goes to the Dean, who appoints a faculty Prosecutor. Within 10 days the Prosecutor must tell you of your right to a representative and that you have “no obligation to speak to the Prosecutor nor to testify,” and must post a notice to the student body that omits your name. If the Prosecutor finds probable cause, the hearing is set 10 to 30 days after the Charge reaches the Tribunal of two faculty members and one student. Motions to dismiss and challenges for cause are due a week before the hearing, as are your documents and “a statement of the defense.” A court reporter attends, both sides call and cross-examine witnesses, the formal rules of evidence do not bind the Tribunal, and the Prosecutor must prove the charge by clear and convincing evidence; two of three members must agree. The Code does not say whether its days are calendar or business days. See honor code defense.

The transcript, the licensing report and the dean’s certificate

Under §6-5(b), a conviction goes on your transcript unless the Tribunal unanimously suspends the notation, and it is reported to licensing authorities either way; findings and sanctions are also posted, without names, for a week. A complaint the Prosecutor drops for lack of probable cause leaves no notation. But §1.9(b) of the handbook lists what the dean answers when certifying each graduate to the Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar, including whether the student was “ever involved in a disciplinary inquiry or proceeding while in attendance” — an inquiry, not only a finding. The handbook also asks that bar applications match your law school application. See professionalism and fitness.

Appeal to the faculty in ten days, but not on the facts

A convicted student may appeal to the full-time faculty, but “All matters are appealable by the Convicted Violator except findings of fact.” Notice goes to the Dean “not later than ten days after the notification of sanctions has been mailed,” with the brief due within 21 days. The Prosecutor may appeal the sanction too, and plea bargaining with the Prosecutor is expressly allowed. For serious or alarming allegations the Dean may impose a temporary suspension; you can ask to expedite, and the Prosecutor “should determine within five days” whether probable cause exists. See interim suspension.

Academic standing: 2.300, and no published appeal

Good standing requires a cumulative 2.300. Below 1.700 after the first academic semester means dismissal; between 1.700 and 2.300 means probation. You get one probationary semester to reach 2.300, or a second if you earn at least 2.600 in the first, and a student who regains good standing and later falls below 2.300 “will be permanently dismissed from the Law School without further probation.” Failing the same required course twice is also dismissal. Section VIII publishes no appeal or petition from any of it, and withdrawing does not erase probation: you return for the probationary semester unless the Assistant Dean approves a delay. Readmission comes only “as a new student after three years,” with no credit for earlier work, and “the applicant’s prior dismissal will be considered as a negative factor.” Grade appeals are limited to “capricious grading” and due within 90 days. See law school dismissal and readmission.

Sexual misconduct goes to the university

The Code carves out sexual harassment and sexual misconduct: those allegations are adjudicated under Illinois Tech’s university-wide procedures, not by the Tribunal, and Title IX cases follow the university’s Appendix A, effective January 9, 2025. For sexual misconduct, the federal rule is the 2020 Title IX regulation: the 2024 rule was vacated nationwide on January 9, 2025, in Tennessee v. Cardona, and on September 29, 2026 the Department of Education formally repealed it and restored the pre-2024 text (91 Fed. Reg. 61,308). The 2020 regulation requires postsecondary institutions to hold a live hearing at which each party’s advisor conducts cross-examination, and Appendix A provides one, with cross-examination by each party’s advisor, a preponderance standard and five calendar days to appeal. See Title IX hearings.

What a student defense lawyer can do here

Most of the value is early and quiet: reading the Code against what was done, writing the response or appeal on the grounds it recognizes, preserving Title IX, Section 504, ADA and FERPA issues, and finding comparators.

At Chicago-Kent the representative can do more than at most schools. The Code lets you choose “any person,” and “Alleged Violator” includes your chosen representative, so a lawyer can move to dismiss, challenge Tribunal members, request subpoenas, cross-examine and argue. And because a conviction is reported to licensing authorities, the hearing and the case for a unanimous suspension of the transcript notation matter more than an appeal that cannot revisit the facts.

The limit: there is no discovery beyond the exchange and subpoenas the Code provides, the formal rules of evidence do not bind the Tribunal, and the court reporter’s record is what any later review will see.

The one Illinois statute that gives you procedure

Illinois has no general statute setting notice periods, hearing formats, standards of proof or appeal rights for college students. The Illinois School Code, 105 ILCS 5, has a detailed suspension and expulsion scheme, and it applies to elementary and secondary schools, not here. The exception is the Preventing Sexual Violence in Higher Education Act, 110 ILCS 155, and it is a real one. It reaches every higher education institution in the state — public universities, community colleges, and private not-for-profit and for-profit institutions alike — and it requires timely written notice of the allegations to all parties, an investigation that is adequate, reliable and impartial, written notice of the outcome, and appeal rights. It requires the school to make confidential advisors available, trained to a statutory standard and kept separate from the people deciding the case. Both parties are entitled to an advisor of their choice, and that advisor may be an attorney — although the institution may limit how far an attorney-advisor participates in a hearing, which is why Illinois Tech’s own rule on that, set out above, still governs what your lawyer may do in the room. The standard of proof is preponderance of the evidence, applied the same way to both sides.

What to do first

1. Say nothing to the Prosecutor yet. The Code itself tells you there is no obligation to speak or testify.
2. Diary the Code’s clocks: motions, challenges, documents and statement of defense a week before the hearing; appeal notice ten days after sanctions are mailed. Treat the days as calendar days.
3. Ask the Prosecutor in writing for the witness list and documents the Code requires.
4. Run the numbers before grades post — 1.700, 2.300, 2.600 — and raise any disability accommodation early.
5. Reread your law school application; the handbook allows an amending letter to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. The Illinois student defense hub explains how federal claims from these campuses work.

One honest caveat about geography. Illinois has three federal districts. I am admitted to two of them, the Northern and the Southern. A federal claim arising at a school in Springfield, Peoria, Champaign-Urbana or the Quad Cities falls in the Central District; I am not a member of that bar, and those matters I handle with local counsel in that district or by pro hac vice admission. Appeals from the Northern District go to the Seventh Circuit, which keeps its own bar; my appellate admission is in the Eleventh. I say so before a retainer rather than after.

Where I am licensed. I am licensed to practice law in Florida. I am admitted to the bars of the U.S. District Courts for the Southern, Middle and Northern Districts of Florida, the District of Colorado, the Northern and Southern Districts of Illinois, the District of Nebraska, the District of New Mexico, and the Western District of Wisconsin, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Federal court admission is not a license to practice the law of the state in which the court sits. I am not licensed in Illinois and do not advise on Illinois state law or appear in Illinois state court.

Other schools in the Northern District of Illinois

Every school writes its own dismissal, appeal and conduct rules, and the deadlines are rarely the same from one campus to the next. These pages set out the procedure at other schools in the Northern District of Illinois:

• Columbia College Chicago
• Concordia University Chicago
• DePaul University
• DeVry University (Illinois)
• Dominican University
• East-West University

Common questions about Chicago-Kent student cases

Does Chicago-Kent report honor code violations to bar examiners?

The Code says a conviction “will be reported to appropriate licensing authorities” whether or not it is noted on the transcript. Separately, the handbook says the dean certifies each graduate to the Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar and answers whether the student was “ever involved in a disciplinary inquiry or proceeding while in attendance.” A complaint dropped for lack of probable cause leaves no transcript notation.

What standard of proof does Chicago-Kent use?

Clear and convincing evidence, with the burden on the faculty Prosecutor, for academic and nonacademic misconduct under the Code of Conduct, and a conviction needs two of the three Tribunal members. Sexual harassment and sexual misconduct allegations are handled under Illinois Tech’s university-wide procedures instead, which use preponderance of the evidence.

Can a lawyer represent me before the Chicago-Kent Tribunal?

Yes. The Code lets you select “any person” to represent you, at your own cost, except a Tribunal member, a prosecutor, or an interested faculty member or administrator, and it treats your chosen representative as standing in your shoes. The Prosecutor’s first notice must tell you so, and that you need not speak to the Prosecutor or testify.

Can I appeal an academic dismissal from Chicago-Kent?

The handbook publishes no appeal or petition from a GPA dismissal. The route back is readmission as a new student three years after the date of dismissal, with no credit for earlier coursework, and the prior dismissal counts “as a negative factor.” That makes the semester before grades post — accommodations, withdrawal timing, exam conflicts — the time to act.