Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science: Student Discipline, Dismissal & Federal Court

How do student discipline and dismissal cases work at Rosalind Franklin?

Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science is a private health-sciences university in North Chicago, in Lake County, with 1,900-plus students in six colleges and schools: the Chicago Medical School; the College of Health Professions (physician assistant, physical therapy, pathologists’ assistant, psychology and other programs); the College of Nursing, opened in 2022–23; the College of Pharmacy; the Dr. William M. Scholl College of Podiatric Medicine; and the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies. The Higher Learning Commission accredits the university and the Liaison Committee on Medical Education accredits its MD program. Two sentences in its 2026–2027 rules matter more than any others to a medical student. The promotions committee may consider for dismissal a student whose academic struggles recur across courses or rotations “even if it does not lead to Failure in any course or clinical rotation.” And if the dean sends an appeal to an Appeals Board, the student has the right to “Be the sole person presenting their case (no legal or third-party representatives allowed).”

Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science 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 Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science is filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois — Lake 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 Rosalind Franklin 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.

Conduct cases: the Dean of Students chooses the forum

The Student Conduct Policy in the 2026–2027 Student Handbook (updated April 2026) calls the process “non-adversarial, confidential, and not to be considered analogous to court proceedings.” The Dean of Students investigates and then decides where the case goes: to the student Honor Council, for conduct that does not rise to the Standards of Student Conduct; to your own college’s Academic Promotions Committee, for academic-integrity and professionalism violations that also breach a program handbook; to the Dean of Students alone, for safety cases or low-impact first violations; or to the Student Affairs Judiciary Committee (SAJC), a panel of at least six members drawn from at least four of the six colleges and schools, including a student and a faculty member from your school. The forum decides the procedure, because a case sent to a promotions committee follows that committee’s rules. Two definitions apply throughout: “Days shall mean business days which exclude all Federal, State, and university holidays or closings,” and there is no limitations period — “There is no timeframe which governs the university’s ability to act” on a conduct violation.

At an SAJC hearing a majority must find it “more likely than not that the student committed the violation.” Hearings are closed; you may bring guests “upon prior request and approval,” but “they shall not be permitted to take part in the proceedings.” The other side of the table is different: at the Dean of Students’ request, University Legal Counsel may sit as a non-voting member of the committee and attend all proceedings “to provide counsel,” and legal counsel to the hearing body may attend the closed deliberations. If you do not appear after written notice, the committee may proceed without you or vote to suspend you until a hearing is held, and the policy separately allows a recommendation of involuntary leave or probation for the failure to appear, without hearing the evidence. The committee reports within ten business days of the hearing, and the outcome is due within 60 days of the charge letter — business days, under the policy’s own definition. Sanctions run from a warning through a mandated training, assessment or evaluation “to determine the student is safe,” involuntary leave, probation and suspension (each of the last two “may be noted” on the transcript) to expulsion, and a degree may be withheld, or revoked, for a pre-graduation violation that comes to light later. While a case is pending the Dean of Students may impose a no-contact directive, limited-access restrictions or an involuntary leave of absence.

An appeal goes to the Provost “within ten (10) business days of the date the student received the written notice of decision and sanction,” and correspondence that does not meet the requirements “is not considered an appeal.” There are three grounds: a procedural error “that adversely affected the fairness or reliability of the process”; newly discovered information that “could not have been discovered even if the student had exercised due diligence”; and a sanction “grossly disproportionate to the misconduct and its surrounding circumstances.” The Provost normally decides within ten business days and may send the matter back for a process free of the error, have new information considered at the proper stage, or adjust the sanction.

Honor Code cases are lighter but carry a trap. Two Honor Council representatives investigate, the case goes on the agenda of the next monthly Council meeting, and the Dean of Students may agree or disagree with the Council’s recommendation. The written process invites “the complainant” to attend and participate; it is silent about the student accused, so ask in writing to attend and respond. And the appeal — to the Dean of Students, on the same three grounds — is due “within 10 business days of the violation.” Read literally, that clock starts with the conduct rather than the decision and can run out before a monthly meeting is even held, so file early and ask the Dean of Students to confirm the date in writing. See academic misconduct and honor code cases.

Chicago Medical School: SEPAC, and an appeal you present alone

Medical students are governed by the Student Evaluation, Promotion, and Awards Committee (SEPAC) Handbook for 2026–2027, version 25, approved on May 8, 2026, which “replaces all previous SEPAC Handbooks” and covers students on leave. SEPAC meets monthly, promises that students “are given the opportunity to respond to concerns in writing or in person prior to any adverse action,” and notifies its decisions in writing within ten business days. Below it sit an Early Academic Review Subcommittee and a Professionalism Subcommittee that advise but cannot change standing. The progression rules are specific: two remediations in Phase I mean an appearance before the early-review subcommittee and a written academic plan; three or more, or two failed courses in an academic year, mean referral to SEPAC for consideration of dismissal or other adverse action; two failed required clerkships can mean removal from clinical activities. Each USMLE step allows two attempts; a third needs SEPAC’s approval, and “If denied, the student is dismissed.” Phase I must be completed within 36 months, Phases I–II within 54 and the MD within 72, with leave reviewed case by case. See medical school dismissal and remediation.

The dismissal list runs to fifteen grounds, and several reach students who have not failed anything: “Failure to appear at a SEPAC hearing after notification”; insufficient performance in “ethical integrity, professional judgment, or reliability”; and the academic-struggles clause quoted above. SEPAC may also keep a student enrolled only on conditions, including “Evaluation by a licensed healthcare or mental health professional to assess fitness for duty.” Probation and suspension are noted in the Medical Student Performance Evaluation. And timing matters if you are thinking of leaving: a student eligible for dismissal or probation “must submit a withdrawal request prior to the start of the SEPAC hearing,” because a request made after the hearing begins “will not supersede SEPAC’s decision” — and the catalog adds that suspension, dismissal or expulsion “will override a University Withdrawal.”

The appeal is a written request to the Dean of CMS “within 10 business days of receiving the SEPAC decision,” on one or both of two grounds: new, substantive information not previously available to SEPAC, or evidence that SEPAC procedures were not followed. The dean may decide the appeal directly, deny it, or appoint a seven-member Appeals Board — five voting faculty and two non-voting students — which must hear the appeal within 30 business days. You may appear live, submit documents, exhibits and affidavits and call witnesses, but you must be the sole presenter. The board recommends within seven business days; the dean decides within ten business days of its report and “is not obligated to follow it.” One internal tension is worth using: the board is charged with reviewing whether SEPAC followed proper procedures, yet the handbook says its recommendation “must be based solely on the new evidence presented.” An appeal built on procedure should ask the board, in writing, to address procedure expressly. See promotions and progress committees.

Professionalism reports arrive under the CMS Medical Student Professionalism Policy, last reviewed November 19, 2021, and that document is older than the system around it: it still cites the May 10, 2019 SEPAC Handbook and a “CMS Professionalism Committee,” and it states that “All adverse actions will be noted on the Medical Student Performance Evaluation.” Two lines in it help a student. Reports cannot be anonymous — “Anonymous submissions of the form will not be possible” — so you can ask who made the report. And its own example of a professionalism lapse is a student who looks “disheveled, emaciated, and less interactive during a clinical rotation after a beloved grandmother recently passed away,” which is exactly why a health condition, a bereavement or a disability belongs in the record before the committee meets.

Health professions, nursing, pharmacy and podiatry

The other colleges publish their standards in the 2026–2027 Academic Catalog — which calls itself “an informational document” and says “This document is not a contract,” a sentence to expect the university to cite — but put their review procedures in college and program handbooks that are not on RFU’s public website. Ask for the one in force for your class. The catalog’s standards are still worth knowing. Physician assistant students need at least a C in every course and a cumulative 2.50 GPA from the fall quarter of the first year, with formal evaluations at the end of each year. In the pathologists’ assistant program, a student removed from a clinical site “for any reason” receives an F for the quarter, “which will result in a subject to dismissal hearing.” In nurse anesthesia, conduct that poses a patient-safety risk “will result in immediate removal of the student from the clinical rotation,” and a student may be failed and become subject to dismissal before finishing the residency; the program warns that a student can meet a rotation’s expectations and still have documented concerns “that can jeopardize clinical progression.” Entry-level MSN students must keep a 3.0, and a single C means probation. PharmD students must be eligible for the degree within seven consecutive calendar years of enrollment “or be subject to dismissal.” See clinical rotation removal.

Above the colleges, the catalog offers one more step that students miss. A college dean’s or the Dean of Students’ decision “is considered a final decision,” but a student who believes due process was not followed may submit a written appeal to the Provost identifying how — a promise in RFU’s own documents rather than a constitutional right, and one with no published deadline. Final course grades may be appealed within five days of posting (the catalog does not say whether these are calendar or business days), with every level of the process to be resolved within 30 business days. An involuntary leave of absence “may be executed at any time”; the student may petition the Executive Director for Campus Life for reconsideration and appeal to the Dean of Students, and no deadline is published for either.

Sexual misconduct: the policy depends on the date

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). Rosalind Franklin keeps three generations of rules and applies them by the date of the conduct: one set for occurrences before February 26, 2025; a Nondiscrimination/Title IX Policy and Procedures for February 26, 2025 through April 14, 2026; and, for incidents on or after April 15, 2026, a new Title IX Policy, Procedures, and Resolution Process alongside a separate Policy on Harassment and Discrimination. The first question in any case is which one applies.

The April 2026 policy follows the 2020 model, and the 2020 regulation requires postsecondary institutions to hold a live hearing at which each party’s advisor conducts cross-examination. RFU’s text says so directly: “Cross-examination will be conducted solely by the parties’ advisors and never directly by the parties,” and the Title IX Coordinator provides an advisor to a party who comes without one. The standard is preponderance of the evidence, with a presumption that the respondent is not responsible. Each party may have an advisor of choice, including an attorney, at every meeting, interview and hearing, but outside the hearing advisors “may not speak on their behalf or otherwise participate directly.” The final investigative report reaches the parties and advisors at least ten days before the hearing (the policy does not say whether calendar or business days). An appeal goes to the Title IX Coordinator “within five (5) business days of the delivery of the written determination,” on four grounds that include a disproportionate sanction; the Provost decides, and “The outcome of an appeal is final.” See Title IX hearings and cross-examination.

What a student defense lawyer can do here

Most of the value is early and quiet. It is reading Rosalind Franklin’s policy against what the school actually did and finding the gap; writing the response or the appeal so it argues the grounds the policy recognizes rather than the ones that feel most unfair; preserving the federal issues — Title IX, Section 504 and the ADA, FERPA — so they are in the record if the case ever leaves campus; and identifying comparators, because a sanction far outside what similar cases drew is one of the few arguments that reliably moves a decision-maker.

At Rosalind Franklin the specific moves follow the forum. No legal or third-party representative may present a case to a SEPAC Appeals Board, so the work is the written appeal, the exhibits and preparing you to present it yourself — framed within the two grounds the handbook allows, with an express request that the board address procedure and not only new evidence. Before an SAJC hearing, plan on the footing that the university’s counsel may be advising the committee while your guest may not speak, and meet the hearing-preparation deadlines for witnesses and exhibits. And the lesson of Gash, a case against Rosalind Franklin itself, applies with full force: calling a process arbitrary or predetermined, without specific facts, is not enough. The facts have to be built while the campus process is still open.

What a lawyer cannot do is turn a campus hearing into a trial. The rules of evidence do not apply, there is no discovery, and the school decides its own case at first instance. That is exactly why the written record built during the campus process is the whole ballgame: by the time a court looks at it, the record is closed.

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 Rosalind Franklin’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. Find out which body has your case. The Dean of Students can send a conduct matter to the Honor Council, the SAJC or your promotions committee, or decide it personally, and each follows different rules. Ask in writing which one, and for its written procedure.
2. Diary the right clock, in business days. Ten business days to the Dean of CMS after receiving a SEPAC decision; ten business days to the Provost after receiving a conduct decision; five business days for a Title IX appeal; and for an Honor Code appeal, ten business days that the handbook counts from the violation.
3. Decide about withdrawal before the SEPAC hearing begins. Once it starts, a withdrawal request will not supersede the committee’s decision.
4. Ask for the report and the evidence. CMS professionalism reports cannot be anonymous, and you should know exactly what the committee is reading. Put the request in email so the date exists.
5. Raise accommodations now, and renew them. RFU’s handbook says accommodations “are NOT retroactive,” asks for four weeks to evaluate documentation plus two weeks’ notice to faculty, and requires renewal at the beginning of each academic year. See disability accommodations under Section 504 and the ADA.
6. Save the right versions. Degree requirements come from the catalog of your matriculation year, but policies and procedures come from the most recent catalog or addendum; keep both, with the SEPAC handbook, the Student Handbook and the Title IX policy that matches the date of the conduct. The Illinois student defense hub explains how the federal courts fit around them.

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.

The federal money on the line at Rosalind Franklin

Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science students took on $64.2 million in federal Direct Loans in the 2025–26 award year — with 1,285 graduate and professional students also borrowing through Grad PLUS.

Every dollar of it rides on academic standing. A dismissal, a failed Satisfactory Academic Progress evaluation, or a mid-term withdrawal sets off federal rules that decide whether aid continues, whether money already disbursed has to go back, and — under the borrowing caps in effect since July 1, 2026 — whether a student who leaves can still finance a return. The academic fight and the financial aid fight are the same fight, and the windows are short. How those rules work: SAP appeals and academic dismissal.

On the Department’s financial responsibility test, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science’s most recent published composite score is 2.3 (fiscal year 2022–23) — a passing score on the –1.0-to-3.0 scale, where 1.5 and above passes. How to read that number: the federal warning signs guide.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid Data Center, Direct Loan volume by school, award year 2025–26 (cumulative through June 30, 2026). Institution-wide federal Direct Loan totals.

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:

• Rush University
• Saint Anthony College of Nursing
• Saint Xavier University
• School of the Art Institute of Chicago
• Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership
• Taylor Business Institute

Common questions about Rosalind Franklin student cases

How long do I have to appeal a SEPAC decision at Rosalind Franklin?

Ten business days from receiving the SEPAC decision, by written request to the Dean of the Chicago Medical School. The grounds are limited to new, substantive information not previously available to SEPAC and evidence that SEPAC procedures were not followed. If the dean appoints an Appeals Board, it must hear the appeal within 30 business days; the dean then decides within ten business days of the board’s report and is not bound by it.

Can I bring a lawyer to my Rosalind Franklin hearing?

It depends on the forum. Before a SEPAC Appeals Board you must be the sole person presenting your case, with “no legal or third-party representatives allowed.” At a conduct hearing you may bring guests with prior approval, but they may not take part. In a Title IX case under the April 2026 policy your advisor may be an attorney and conducts cross-examination at the hearing, but may not speak for you in meetings or interviews.

What standard of proof does Rosalind Franklin use?

In conduct cases, a majority of the hearing body must find it “more likely than not” that the student committed the violation. The April 2026 Title IX policy uses preponderance of the evidence with a presumption that the respondent is not responsible. The SEPAC Handbook sets no standard of proof; it describes dismissal decisions as made “through the use of academic judgment.”

Can Rosalind Franklin dismiss me without a failed course?

At the Chicago Medical School, it can consider it. SEPAC’s dismissal criteria include academic struggles — poor exam performance, competency assessments or remediation recurring across courses or rotations — “even if it does not lead to Failure in any course or clinical rotation,” as well as failing to appear at a SEPAC hearing and insufficient ethical integrity, professional judgment or reliability. The decision is one of academic judgment, which is why the record you build matters.

Should I withdraw before my SEPAC hearing?

Decide carefully and early. The SEPAC Handbook requires a student eligible for dismissal or probation to submit any withdrawal request before the hearing starts; a request made after it begins “will not supersede SEPAC’s decision.” A withdrawn student must reapply to return, and the catalog says suspension, dismissal or expulsion overrides a university withdrawal. Weigh how each exit will be recorded before choosing.

Which Title IX policy applies to me at Rosalind Franklin?

The one in force when the conduct happened. RFU applies its April 15, 2026 Title IX Policy, Procedures, and Resolution Process to incidents on or after that date, its Nondiscrimination/Title IX Policy and Procedures to conduct from February 26, 2025 through April 14, 2026, and earlier policies to earlier conduct. Federally, the 2020 Title IX regulation governs.