University of Denver Student Defense Lawyer

University of Denver students contact me about Honor Code allegations, conduct charges, Title IX matters, and academic-standing decisions inside graduate and professional programs. DU is private, which changes the legal frame without changing the practical work: the case is still decided on the written policy and on what the university actually did.

How do student discipline and dismissal cases work at DU?

DU is a private university, so the constitutional cases are not the frame. The relationship is contractual, and the Honor Code, the student handbook, the bulletin, and the program handbook are the contract. The question is whether DU did what its own published documents promised — the theory behind breach of contract against universities. DU republishes its Honor Code each academic year, so the edition that governs your case is the one in force when the conduct occurred, not the one currently posted. Get both if the dates are close.

Where do DU cases come from?

The Honor Code is DU’s student code of conduct, administered by the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities. It is organized around three stated values — integrity, respect, and responsibility — and it sets out the expectations, rights, and responsibilities of every student. Language of that kind is broad by design, which cuts both ways: it gives the university reach, and it gives a well-documented response room to argue that the conduct alleged does not actually fit the provision charged.

Cases come from across the university: the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics; the College of Professional Studies; the Daniel Felix Ritchie School of Engineering and Computer Science; the Daniels College of Business; the Josef Korbel School of Global and Public Affairs; the Morgridge College of Education; the Graduate School of Social Work; the Graduate School of Professional Psychology; and the Sturm College of Law, which opened in 1892. The professional programs are where the stakes change. Psychology and social work students face practicum and fitness review, and Sturm students face academic-standing decisions that feed directly into bar character and fitness — see law school dismissal and academic standing.

Which process are you in, and why does that matter?

Identify the track first. An academic integrity allegation, a Title IX or sexual misconduct matter, and an academic dismissal or program dismissal decision have different decision-makers, different appeal rights, and different rules about what an advisor may do. Graduate and professional students should watch for fitness and practicum review, which often arrives without any misconduct charge attached.

What should you do first?

Download the Honor Code edition in force for the relevant year from DU rather than from a summary, including this one, and download your program handbook if you are in a graduate or professional program. Read the syllabus alongside them. Calendar the deadline in writing, request the file the university is relying on, and preserve drafts, version history, and messages before they age out. Do not sit for an interview until you understand what the evidence actually is.

What does DU’s own policy actually say?

DU handles conduct and academic integrity through Student Rights & Responsibilities under one document, printed on its cover as “HONOR CODE STUDENT RIGHTS & RESPONSIBILITIES — Community Standards and Procedures 2025-2026.” Appeals are due within five Business Days of the Proper Written Notification, the same window applies to an appeal of an Interim Action, and the Appellate Officer decides within ten Business Days. The standard is a preponderance of the evidence: an allegation is proven where the relevant evidence on one side outweighs the other. A Support Person of the student’s choice may be present throughout, but Support Persons “are restricted to consulting with the party they are there to support.” The sharper limit is on the appeal itself: “The Student (rather than a third-party such as a Support Person, Parent/Legal Guardian, or attorney) must submit and have written the appeal.” Support Persons may not record any meeting, and the student is responsible for a Support Person’s unauthorized recording.

• Conduct office: Student Rights & Responsibilities (SRR)
• Governing policy: Honor Code: Student Rights & Responsibilities — Community Standards and Procedures 2025-2026; no policy number
• Academic integrity: Academic Integrity Community Standards and the Academic Integrity Misconduct Process — in the same Honor Code document; the faculty member makes the initial determination on the preponderance standard and files an Academic Integrity Report Form
• Appeal window: Five (5) Business Days of Proper Written Notification, for both outcomes and Interim Actions; the Appellate Officer decides within ten (10) Business Days. SRR aims to resolve cases, appeals included, within ninety (90) Business Days.
• Standard of proof: Preponderance of the Evidence — the relevant evidence on one side outweighs the other
• Advisor: A Support Person of the student’s choice throughout, restricted to consulting with the party they support. The student, not a Support Person, parent, or attorney, must write and submit the appeal. Support Persons may not record meetings, and the student answers for an unauthorized recording. Student Appeal Board meetings are closed to everyone but the parties, approved Support Persons and witnesses, SRR staff, and Board members.
• Title IX / equal opportunity: Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity (CREO)
• Disability accommodations: Student Disability Services (SDS)

DU is one of the few schools in this set that regulates who writes the appeal, not merely who files it. The document has to be the student’s own work and submitted by the student, so any outside help has to happen before the writing rather than in place of it. The recording ban carries a liability the student cannot delegate either: if the person sitting beside them records a meeting, the student is the one held responsible.

What can a student defense lawyer do here?

A federal claim arising at the University of Denver — Title IX, Section 504 and the ADA — is filed in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado, where I am admitted to the bar. That court grants no pro hac vice admission at all: a lawyer is either a member of its bar or cannot appear there.

• Reading the governing policy against the charge or decision letter
• Helping you prepare your account, your documents, and your questions
• Testing whether DU followed its own published procedures
• Scrutinizing software-based evidence, including AI-detection and similarity reports
• 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, notations, and disclosure language

What a lawyer may actually do in your case depends on that school’s policy. Some tracks permit an advisor of choice who may be an attorney, some permit a non-participating advisor, and some permit no outside person at all. Reading the current policy is the first step, because it determines what form the assistance can take.

Common questions about DU student cases

DU is private. Do I have fewer rights?

Different rights, not necessarily fewer. Constitutional due process does not apply, but the Honor Code and the handbooks are enforceable commitments about how the university will proceed, and private institutions are frequently more procedurally careful than public ones because that contract is the whole of their exposure.

Which version of the Honor Code applies to me?

Ordinarily the edition in force when the conduct occurred. DU publishes the Honor Code by academic year, and a decision letter that quotes the current edition against older conduct is worth checking line by line before you respond.

I am a Sturm law student. How much does this matter?

A great deal. Academic-standing and conduct outcomes in law school are reported into bar character and fitness review, where the omission is usually worse than the underlying event. The quiet early stage of these matters deserves more attention than it typically gets.

Related Colorado pages: Colorado College, Regis University, CU Denver, and CU Boulder. The full list is on the Colorado student defense page.

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.

Attorney advertising. Zachary Gaynor is licensed to practice law in Florida and is admitted to the bars of the United States District Courts for the Southern, Middle, and Northern Districts of Florida, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and the United States District Courts for 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. Federal court admission is not a license to practice the law of the state in which the court sits; he is not licensed in Colorado and does not advise on Colorado state law. Colorado matters are handled through the framework described on the nationwide practice page — federal-law assessment, campus-process support where the school’s policy permits an advisor, federal litigation in the District of Colorado, and association with Colorado counsel where a state-court proceeding is required.

One Colorado-specific point worth knowing before you hire anyone: the District of Colorado grants no pro hac vice admission, so a lawyer is either already a member of that court’s bar or cannot file your case there at all. Here is what that means in practice.