Hastings College Student Defense Lawyer

Students call about Hastings College at three points: when a faculty member reports suspected academic dishonesty, when the college opens a conduct file under a handbook it does not publish, and, usually too late, after the Student Academic Affairs Committee has entered an academic suspension. Each carries a short written deadline, and each is decided on a record built in the first week.

How do student discipline and dismissal cases work at Hastings College?

Hastings College is a private nonprofit institution. A private college is not a state actor, so the Fourteenth Amendment does not reach its decisions and there is no constitutional due process claim. What you have instead is contract — the catalog and handbook are the promise — plus Title IX, Title VI, Section 504 and the ADA, and accreditor rules.

Nebraska is a good state to bring that contract argument in. In Armstrong v. Clarkson College, 297 Neb. 595, 901 N.W.2d 1 (2017), the Nebraska Supreme Court held that the student–institution relationship can rest on an implied-in-fact contract whose terms come from handbooks and policy manuals, and that this is generally a jury question. It held too that academic deference “is not an affirmative defense, but instead relates to the proper standard for reviewing a plaintiff’s claim,” and that “not every decision by an academic institution is subject to deference.” A finding that a student cheated is not an academic judgment merely because it happened in a classroom.

The same case carries the warning that decides most of these files. Exhaustion is a condition precedent: where an institution provides a mandatory grievance procedure, “the enforceability of a party’s rights under the contract is conditioned on the exercise of that grievance procedure,” and that doctrine applies to private entities. At Hastings that means the ten-day appeal to the Student Academic Affairs Committee is not optional paperwork; miss it and the claim is very likely gone before anyone reads the file. Nebraska’s only statutory scheme does not help: Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 85-601 to 85-605 guarantee a public hearing and a written order with findings of fact entered within thirty days, but § 85-605 limits the covered governing body to the Board of Regents or the Community College Board of Governors, so a private college sits outside it. That leaves the school’s own written promise, which is why the breach of contract theory carries these cases.

Where do Hastings College cases come from?

Hastings College enrolls roughly 956 students on a residential campus in Hastings, and it runs on an eight-week block schedule rather than a conventional semester. In a block, students typically take one or two courses carrying four to eight credits, with twelve to sixteen credits in a semester.

That calendar changes the stakes. When a student takes two courses in eight weeks, one failed course is a large fraction of a term’s credit, and an incomplete or withdrawal moves the completion-rate calculation quickly. It also compresses deadlines: an appeal window measured in days can consume much of the block it concerns.

Two program structures generate the harder files. The first is Teacher Education, which runs on published gateways — admission is Gateway #1, permission to student teach is Gateway #2 — each requiring the candidate to demonstrate dispositions for effective teaching alongside a 2.75 grade point average. A dispositions concern is a judgment about you, not a score, and can end a licensure pathway with no conduct charge; that is the territory of professionalism findings. The second is the cooperative academic programs, in which Hastings students work toward Nursing, Radiologic Technology, Respiratory Therapy, Pharmacy or Athletic Training with partner institutions. There, a problem at the partner school and one at Hastings are two records under two sets of rules, and the student is the only person holding both.

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

The label on the letter picks the office, the clock and the protections, and the Hastings catalog is explicit about the boundaries. It routes academic complaints other than dishonesty to the student academic complaint policy, dishonesty to the Academic Integrity section, Title IX, bias and discrimination complaints to the HC Cares Policy, and student life complaints to the Student Conduct Policy in the handbook. Four routes, four documents.

So an academic misconduct allegation goes to the Associate Dean of Academic and Student Affairs, a conduct code charge to Student Life under the handbook, a Title IX matter to the Title IX Coordinator, and academic standing to the Student Academic Affairs Committee on the numbers. Those clocks run at once, and answering in the wrong track spends the one response you get.

What should you do first?

Get the current catalog and read the appeal paragraphs first. Then ask in writing for the Student Handbook, which Hastings does not publish at a public address; it sits behind authentication on the college portal. Send that request to the dean of students’ office, ask for the edition in force on your incident date, and keep the response. A policy you cannot reach is not adequate published notice of the rules you are judged by, and the written request is worth having in the file.

Then collect the record: the syllabus, the assignment instructions, the graded work, the course policy on collaboration and software, and any email showing what your instructor permitted. Preserve drafts, version history, repository commits, learning management timestamps and group chats before anything auto-deletes. Do not sit for a faculty conference before you know what is alleged. If the accusation rests on an AI-detection score or a similarity percentage, read the page on AI accusations first.

What does Hastings College’s own policy actually say?

Two publication facts shape this list. The conduct code is not public, and the catalog is served as a Google document rather than a page on the college website. That is how Hastings publishes it, not an error.

• Conduct office: not published at a public URL. The Student Conduct Policy sits inside a handbook behind authentication on the college portal, so nothing is linked here. Request it in writing from the dean of students’ office, ask for the version in force on your incident date, and keep the response. An inaccessible link is not adequate published notice.
• Governing policy: for conduct, the Student Conduct Policy inside the Student Handbook, which the catalog names but does not reproduce; for anything academic, the catalog. No Nebraska system code sits above either, and §§ 85-601 to 85-605 do not reach a private college.
• Academic integrity: published in the Hastings College academic catalog. A faculty member first holds a conference with the student, and may require the assignment redone, fail the assignment, or fail the course. If a penalty is imposed, the faculty member must file a written report with the Associate Dean of Academic and Student Affairs, who acknowledges the offense by letter; that letter goes into the student file as a warning, and the catalog states the violation is not on the transcript. Repeat offenses can bring a required course on academic honesty, probation for a semester, or academic suspension.
• Academic integrity appeal: a hearing before the Student Academic Affairs Committee. The student files a written appeal through the Academic Affairs Office, all further correspondence runs through that office, and the committee reviews the appeal and the faculty evidence, inviting each side to meet separately. Its determination “may not be appealed.” No campus-specific day-count located; ask the Academic Affairs Office in writing for the deadline the day the letter arrives.
• Appeal window for standing: ten days. A student appeals to the Student Academic Affairs Committee by emailing the Associate Dean “with a formal appeal in writing within ten days of receiving notice of probation or suspension,” then may file a final written appeal with the Vice President of Academic Affairs, whose decision is final.
• Standard of proof: the catalog publishes none, and the conduct policy is not public. No campus-specific standard of proof located; ask the Associate Dean in writing which standard the decision-maker will apply, and keep the answer.
• Advisor: the catalog says nothing about whether a student may bring an advisor to a faculty conference or committee meeting, whether that advisor may be a lawyer, or whether the advisor may speak. No campus-specific advisor rule located; confirm in writing before any meeting.
• Academic standing: also in the catalog. Satisfactory progress requires completing at least 67 per cent of all coursework and a cumulative and semester grade point average of 1.65 after one semester, 1.8 after two, 1.9 after three, and 2.0 after four or more. Students below those standards go on probation, and the Student Academic Affairs Committee reviews each probationary record each semester and may remove, continue, or suspend. A student earning 1.25 or below in any semester is referred for possible immediate suspension, skipping the usual probation semester. A suspended student may apply for readmission after one semester and always returns on probation; failing to qualify for removal after a suspension brings dismissal. See academic dismissal and suspension.
• Title IX and equal opportunity: the catalog directs Title IX questions to the Title IX Coordinator, under the HC Cares Policy.

Because the catalog lives in a Google document the college edits, the version on screen today may not be the one that governed your case. Ask the Academic Affairs Office in writing which edition applied on your incident date, and save your own copy.

What can a student defense lawyer do here?

A federal claim arising at Hastings College — Title IX, Title VI, or Section 504 and the ADA — is filed in the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska, where I am admitted to the bar, so no pro hac vice motion and no sponsoring local attorney is needed. Because Hastings is private and not a state actor, there is no Fourteenth Amendment claim, and a contract claim on the catalog and handbook is a state-law claim. Few of these matters reach court. 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

What a lawyer can do in the room is genuinely unknown here, because the document that would answer it is not public. That is a reason to get the handbook in writing early rather than find out at the meeting. The written work is unaffected either way, and with a committee determination that cannot be appealed on the integrity side and a ten-day clock on the standing side, the written submission is usually the whole case. See appeals and court review.

Other Nebraska colleges

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 Nebraska colleges:

• Little Priest Tribal College
• Nebraska Methodist College
• Ricketts Great Books College
• Summit Christian College
• Universal College of Healing Arts
• Bryan College of Health Sciences

Common questions about Hastings College student cases

Where is the Hastings College student code of conduct published?

Not at a public address. Hastings names its Student Conduct Policy in the catalog but keeps the Student Handbook behind authentication on the college portal, so a student cannot download the rules being applied. Request it in writing from the dean of students office, ask for the edition in force on your incident date, and keep the response. A policy a student cannot reach is not adequate published notice, and the written request belongs in the file.

How long do I have to appeal academic probation or suspension at Hastings College?

Ten days from receiving notice. The appeal goes in writing by email to the Associate Dean of Academic and Student Affairs and is decided by the Student Academic Affairs Committee. If that fails, a written final appeal may be filed with the Vice President of Academic Affairs, whose decision is final. Under Armstrong v. Clarkson College, missing a mandatory internal procedure like this one can forfeit the contract claim entirely.

What happens after an academic dishonesty finding at Hastings College?

The faculty member may require the assignment to be redone, fail the assignment, or fail the course. If a penalty is imposed, a written report goes to the Associate Dean of Academic and Student Affairs, who sends a letter kept in the student file as a warning; the catalog says the violation is not reported on the transcript. Repeat offenses can bring a required academic honesty course, probation, or suspension, and a committee determination on appeal may not be appealed further.

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 Nebraska student defense page.

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, the United States District Court for the District of Colorado, the United States District Courts for the Northern and Southern Districts of Illinois, the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska, the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico, and the United States District Court for 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 Nebraska and does not advise on Nebraska state law.