Florida Memorial University Student Defense Lawyer

Students at Florida Memorial University call at three moments: when an instructor reports cheating or plagiarism, when the Dean of Students sends a notice of charges under the Code of Conduct, and after a satisfactory academic progress decision has already cut off financial aid. All three run on short clocks, and all three turn on a written record built in the first week.

How do student discipline and dismissal cases work at Florida Memorial University?

Florida Memorial University is a private, Baptist-affiliated nonprofit university, and that fact frames everything else. A private university is not a state actor. The Fourteenth Amendment does not reach it, so there is no constitutional due process claim to bring. Florida settled the point a century ago. John B. Stetson University v. Hunt, 88 Fla. 510, 102 So. 637 (1924), holds that the relation between a student and an institution of learning privately conducted is “solely contractual in character,” with “an implied condition that the student knows and will conform to the rules and regulations of the institution.” Your case is a contract case, and the contract is the Student Handbook. The university says as much about itself in its own weapons policy: it “is a private institution and asserts its right” to set rules a public campus could not.

The second point is the one Florida students most often get backwards. Florida does have a real statutory due process code for campus discipline. Fla. Stat. § 1006.60(3) requires 7 business days’ written notice, disclosure of the evidence 5 business days out including exculpatory material, preponderance of the evidence with the burden on the institution, an appeal of right that a senior administrator must hear, and at § 1006.60(3)(g) the right to a “legal representative” at “any proceeding, whether formal or informal,” who “may directly participate in all aspects of the proceeding, including the presentation of relevant information and questioning of witnesses.” That statute reaches every Florida College System institution and every state university. It does not reach Florida Memorial. The handbook is the whole of your protection here.

What the handbook gives you is still worth enforcing, because Florida enforces private-school contracts with real money. In Sharick v. Southeastern University of the Health Sciences, 780 So. 2d 136 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000), a student dismissed about two months before graduation won a jury finding that the dismissal was “arbitrary, capricious, and/or lacking any discernable rational basis,” and the Third District held his damages were not capped at tuition: lost future earning capacity is recoverable. A jury later awarded $813,000 past and $3.5 million future lost earnings, affirmed in Nova Southeastern University of the Health Sciences, Inc. v. Sharick, 21 So. 3d 41 (Fla. 3d DCA 2009). Tercier v. University of Miami, No. 3D22-1334 (Fla. 3d DCA Aug. 2, 2023), sets the limit: “only specific promises … in a school’s bulletins, circulars[,] and handbooks … are enforceable,” and general policy statements will not do. A breach of contract claim is built out of numbered steps the university wrote down and then skipped. And finish the campus process first: Gamma Phi Chapter v. University of Miami, 718 So. 2d 910 (Fla. 3d DCA 1998), declined to intervene before “exhaustion of an available administrative remedy.”

Where do Florida Memorial University cases come from?

Florida Memorial enrolls roughly 1,280 students in Miami Gardens and is the only historically Black college or university in South Florida, founded in 1879 and on its present campus since 1968. It is small and residential, and that shapes the caseload. Campus-life referrals move quickly, and a suspension is not just a semester away from class but a semester away from housing, a team, a job and a cohort.

The second driver is money. At an institution where most students carry federal and state aid, the decision that actually ends an enrollment is often not a conduct finding at all. It is a satisfactory academic progress determination. Undergraduates must hold a cumulative GPA of 2.0 and complete at least 67% of attempted courses; graduate students must hold a 3.0 and complete 70%. Fall below and aid stops, and a student who cannot pay out of pocket is out whether or not anyone called it a dismissal. That is why a SAP appeal is often the most urgent document in the file.

Academic dishonesty is the third stream, and it is routed differently from other conduct. The handbook defines cheating, plagiarism, forgery, collusion and credential misrepresentation, and warns that a student found responsible is “subject to disciplinary action, including loss of credit, suspension, or immediate dismissal from the University.” But the procedure is not the Conduct Review Board: “All cases in which an allegation of academic integrity cases shall be resolved through an administrative hearing with the instructor and the provost or designee.” An academic misconduct case never reaches the panel most students prepare for.

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

The label on the letter picks the decision-maker, the deadline and the protections. A Code of Conduct charge goes to the Dean of Students and then either to an administrative hearing or to the Conduct Review Board. An academic integrity allegation goes to the instructor and the provost. A satisfactory academic progress failure goes to the Financial Aid Office and the SAP Appeals Committee, with no hearing at all. A Title IX or discrimination complaint runs under the grievance procedure, where the designated officials are the Assistant Vice President of Student Life, the Provost and Executive Vice President, and the Director of Human Resources.

Answering in the wrong track spends the one response you get. Match the letter to the right process first: conduct code charges, academic dismissal and suspension, or Title IX. If the notice does not say which policy you are charged under, ask in writing and keep the answer.

What should you do first?

Get the edition of the Student Handbook in force on your incident date and read the appeal section before the rule you are accused of breaking. Ask the Dean of Students in writing for the written charges, the hearing date, and the material the Conduct Review Board will see. Ask whether your matter is set for an administrative hearing or a panel hearing, because the two are not the same proceeding.

Then calendar the dates yourself. The hearing is set no less than five and no more than ten calendar days after you are notified, and the appeal is five calendar days from the decision letter. Preserve drafts, version history, learning management timestamps, group chats, emails with your instructor, and the names of everyone present. Do not sit for the investigation meeting before you know what is alleged. If the accusation rests on a similarity report or an AI-detection score, read the page on AI accusations first.

What does Florida Memorial University’s own policy actually say?

The handbook is a dated PDF. Keep the edition you relied on, not the link.

• Conduct office: the Dean of Students, defined in the FMU Student Handbook 2024–2025 as “the Conduct Officer within the Division of Student Life,” who investigates, composes the Conduct Review Board and chairs it.
• Governing policy: the Florida Memorial University Code of Conduct in that handbook. No Florida College System rule and no Board of Governors regulation governs a private university, so nothing sits above it.
• Academic integrity: the Academic Honor Code in the handbook, resolved “through an administrative hearing with the instructor and the provost or designee” rather than before the Conduct Review Board.
• Appeal window: five calendar days. The appeal “must be submitted in writing to the Assistant Vice President for Student Life or an authorized designee within five (5) calendar days from the date that the Respondent was notified,” and that officer “will render a written decision within five (5) calendar days. Their decision is final and cannot be appealed further.” The grounds are new evidence, a procedure not followed, or a sanction of suspension or loss of housing privileges.
• Standard of proof: preponderance, stated as whether “it is more likely than not that the accused student violated the Code of Conduct.” The handbook also says “[t]he burden of proof will always be with the Complainant,” which is a real sentence to hold the university to when it is the complainant.
• Advisor: better than most private handbooks, and still limited. “The Complainant and Respondent have the right to be assisted by any advisor they choose, at their own expense. The advisor may be an attorney.” But “[t]he Complainant and/or the Respondent is responsible for presenting his or her own case,” and “advisors are not permitted to speak or to participate directly in any hearing before the Conduct Review Board.” Questioning runs through the panel.
• Academic standing: the satisfactory academic progress policy, with a 2.0 GPA and 67% completion for undergraduates, a 3.0 and 70% for graduate students. Appeals go to the Financial Aid Office with documented mitigating circumstances and are reviewed by the SAP Appeals Committee; an approved appeal requires an academic plan reaching the required GPA and pace within two semesters. No campus-specific day-count located for filing it — the policy points to a due date on the appeal form, so ask for yours in writing.
• Title IX and equal opportunity: the grievance procedure names the Assistant Vice President of Student Life, the Provost and Executive Vice President, and the Director of Human Resources as the designated officials, with complaints to be reported within 90 days.
• Disability accommodations: the Accessibility Services Office, JC Sams Building, Suite 100. If a condition is part of your case, read the page on 504 and ADA accommodations.

Two provisions deserve a second read. The handbook says “[t]here shall be a single verbatim record, such as a tape or video recording, of all hearings before the Conduct Review Board,” and that “[t]he record shall be the sole property of the University” — at a Florida public college, § 1006.60(3)(i) requires the record to be available for copying on request. And under the immediate-threat provision a student may be involuntarily withdrawn from enrollment on the administration’s discretion, where the handbook states plainly that “[t]he student has no right to appeal such a decision.”

What can a student defense lawyer do here?

A federal claim arising at Florida Memorial University — Title IX, Title VI, or Section 504 and the ADA — is filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, where I am admitted to the bar. There is no Fourteenth Amendment claim against a private university, and the contract claim under Stetson and Sharick is a state-law claim. Almost none of these matters reach a courtroom. What decides them is the campus record:

• Reading the governing policy against the charge or decision letter
• Preparing your account, your documents and your questions
• Testing whether the school followed its own published procedure
• Scrutinising software-based evidence, including AI-detection and similarity reports
• Helping with the written response and the appeal, where policy allows
• Serving as your advisor where the process permits one
• Negotiating sanction terms, notations and disclosure language

Here the handbook answers the advisor question in your favor and then narrows it: the advisor may be an attorney, but may not speak, and you present your own case. That makes preparation the whole job. Your opening and closing statements, your exhibits, the questions you want the board to put to a witness, and the five-day appeal are all written before the hearing.

Other Florida universities

Every school writes its own dismissal, appeal and conduct rules, and the filing deadlines are rarely the same from one campus to the next. These pages set out the procedure at other Florida universities:

• Florida National University
• Florida State University
• Full Sail University
• Herzing University Orlando
• Jacksonville University
• Johnson University Florida Closed: Transcripts, Records, and Loan Discharge

Common questions about Florida Memorial University student cases

Can I bring a lawyer to a Florida Memorial conduct hearing?

Yes, but the lawyer cannot speak. The handbook says both parties have the right to be assisted by any advisor they choose, at their own expense, and that the advisor may be an attorney. It also says the respondent is responsible for presenting his or her own case, and that advisors are not permitted to speak or participate directly in any hearing before the Conduct Review Board. Questioning is done by the board. The preparation, the exhibits and the appeal are where a lawyer works.

How long do I have to appeal a Florida Memorial conduct decision?

Five calendar days. The appeal must be in writing to the Assistant Vice President for Student Life within five calendar days from the date you were notified of the Conduct Review Board decision, and that officer renders a written decision within five calendar days. The handbook says that decision is final and cannot be appealed further. Note also that a student involuntarily withdrawn under the immediate-threat provision has no right of appeal at all.

Does the Florida student due process statute protect me at Florida Memorial?

No. Fla. Stat. section 1006.60(3) requires 7 business days of notice, disclosure of the evidence 5 business days out, preponderance of the evidence with the burden on the institution, an appeal of right, and a legal representative who may question witnesses. It reaches only Florida College System institutions and state universities. Florida Memorial is a private university, so neither that statute nor the Fourteenth Amendment applies to it. Your protections come from the Student Handbook, which is why its exact wording matters.

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. Other campuses are covered on the Florida schools page.

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