Diné College Student Defense Lawyer

Students reach me about Diné College at three points: when an instructor reports plagiarism and the file moves to the Dean of School, when the Dean of Student Success opens a conduct review, and after a probationary semester ends in academic suspension. Each carries a short clock, and each is decided on a written record built in the first few days.

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

Diné College is neither a state institution nor an ordinary private college, and nearly everything on this page follows from that. It is chartered by the Navajo Nation, and its Board of Regents is appointed by the Nation. The code carries a Diné name, Ołta’í Bibeehaz’áanii, and rests its principles on Sa’ąh Naagháí Bik’eh Hózhóón. That is not decoration. It tells you which body of law you are inside.

Three consequences follow. First, a tribe and its arms are not state actors, so there is no Fourteenth Amendment due process claim here. Goss v. Lopez, 419 U.S. 565 (1975), Board of Curators of the University of Missouri v. Horowitz, 435 U.S. 78 (1978), and Regents of the University of Michigan v. Ewing, 474 U.S. 214 (1985) shape discipline at a state university; they are cases about state actors, and Diné College is not one. Second, sovereign immunity presumptively bars suit unless it has been waived. Third, exhaustion runs through the College’s own appeal and then the courts of the Navajo Nation. The analogue to constitutional due process is the Indian Civil Rights Act, 25 U.S.C. § 1302, enforced in tribal forums for anything short of detention.

Geography confuses this more than anything else. The main campus is at Tsaile, Arizona, with a branch at Shiprock, New Mexico and a site at Crownpoint. A Shiprock student sits in San Juan County, New Mexico and still has a Navajo Nation matter, because the code claims jurisdiction over all violations “regardless of location of the community campus or centers.” New Mexico law does not supply the process. The affirmative-consent statute, NMSA 1978 § 21-1-51, reaches public post-secondary institutions, and Diné College is not one. New Mexico decisions on handbooks and on governmental immunity concern that state’s institutions, so authority a New Mexico search turns up is usually beside the point. Federal funding conditions are separate and real: the code recites the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX and Section 504, and names a Title IX Coordinator.

Where do Diné College cases come from?

Diné College enrolls 1,434 students. That figure is institution-wide, across Arizona and New Mexico together, not a Shiprock number, and it matters when someone quotes it as a campus figure. Instruction runs through four schools: Arts and Humanities; Business and Social Science; Diné Studies and Education; and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Besides Tsaile and Shiprock, the policies name sites at Window Rock, Chinle, Tuba City and Crownpoint.

That structure drives the caseload. The code tells center students to work with the center director or manager and lets those directors handle minor violations locally, but the resulting disciplinary action must still be filed with the Dean of School at the main campus. A case that begins informally hundreds of miles from Tsaile becomes a main-campus file, and the student who treated it as a conversation learns later that it was the record.

The stakes are structural rather than dramatic. Academic suspension means you may not enroll for the semester of the suspension, and you return on probation. In a sequenced program with one intake a year, one semester out is a year out. Conduct sanctions run from warning and loss of privilege through probation, suspension, eviction from residence life and expulsion, plus a record hold on transcripts or diplomas until a sanction’s terms are met. At a remote campus, eviction from housing is separation from the program even when nobody has said the word suspension.

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

Diné College splits cases across several offices, and answering the wrong one spends the response you get. An incident report must be filed within two business days, and where it goes decides everything after: academic infractions to the Dean of School, non-academic infractions to the Dean of Student Success, residence life matters to the Residence Life Manager. Minor violations are handled by that official; major violations go to a Hearing Committee and a Due Process Hearing. Sexual harassment reports go to the Title IX Coordinator, with a hearing required within 45 days. Academic standing is a fourth track, run by the Registrar and the Academic Standards Committee, with no finding of wrongdoing.

Match your letter to the track before you write a word: academic misconduct, conduct code charges, Title IX, or academic dismissal and suspension. One incident can open two of these at once, on two clocks, before two people who are not talking to each other.

What should you do first?

Get both documents in the versions that apply to you. Conduct rules are in the Student Code of Conduct, adopted in 2008 and last revised in December 2019; academic standing, grade appeals and the plagiarism policy are published separately. Then collect the syllabus and the assignment instructions. The plagiarism policy gives faculty broad discretion, says intent is not relevant, and notes that the College subscribes to a detection service — which makes the instructor’s stated course policy the document that decides a dishonesty case.

Use the notice period. You are entitled to written notice of the charges five business days before the hearing, stating the violation and the facts alleged. That is five days to ask questions in writing, gather documents and decide whether to bring counsel. Preserve drafts, version history, learning management timestamps and instructor emails before anything auto-deletes. Do not sit for the hearing before you know the allegation. If you have already been removed under an emergency temporary suspension, see interim suspension. If the accusation rests on an AI-detection score, read the page on AI accusations.

What does Diné College’s own policy actually say?

The conduct code carries unusually specific procedure; the academic policies are separate. Where a field is published, this list states it; where it is not, it says so.

• Conduct office: the Dean of Student Success for non-academic matters, the Dean of School for academic matters, and the Residence Life Manager for residence life, all under the Diné College Student Code of Conduct.
• Governing policy: that code, Ołta’í Bibeehaz’áanii, adopted 16 August 2008 and revised through 20 December 2019 by the Division of Student Affairs. No New Mexico system policy or state rule governs it. The code treats criminal offenses under tribal, state or federal law as major violations and enforces itself regardless of how an outside court comes out, so campus and criminal cases run in parallel.
• Academic integrity: a published table of consequences. Cheating, fabrication and plagiarism each carry a written warning or a reduction of grade with conditions on a first offense, and dismissal with a failing grade on a second. A false statement during an investigation runs to probation, then expulsion.
• Appeal window, conduct: ten business days after verbal or written notification of the consequence, to the Vice-President of Student Affairs for non-academic matters and the Provost for academic ones. That officer reviews within two business days and issues a written decision within five business days, which is final. Expulsion is stated to be final and not appealable, and a student absent from the hearing waives the right to appeal.
• Appeal window, academic standing: no campus-specific day-count located. Probation and suspension appeals go to the Academic Standards Committee on a form filed with the Registrar, but no filing deadline is published. Ask the day your notice arrives. Grades may be appealed within one academic year, through the instructor, the Dean of School, then the Committee.
• Standard of proof: no campus-specific standard of proof located. The code calls a violation “substantiated” when reasonable evidence is found to prove it occurred, but that labels the outcome; it is not a burden the Hearing Committee is told to apply.
• Advisor: the field the code answers, and answers well. A parent, guardian or designee may attend, but “may not address the hearing committee.” Separately, students “have the right to be represented by law or legal counsel of the student’s choice,” at their own cost. If you exercise it, the committee must be notified immediately and the hearing is rescheduled so both sides have counsel.
• Academic standing: published in the Diné College academic policies. A 2.00 cumulative grade point average is required, and bachelor’s programs may require more. A semester below 2.00 means probation for the next semester of attendance; missing the standard again means suspension for a semester, after which you return on probation. Neither is recorded on the transcript. One caution: the policies cap a probationary load at 14 credit hours in one place and 12 in another, so confirm the operative number in writing.
• Title IX: reports go to the Title IX Coordinator, who must notify the complainant in writing of the result.

Conduct records sit with the Vice-President of Student Affairs for five years; expulsion records are kept permanently. A record hold can sit on your transcript or diploma during a sanction, separately from the sanction itself; see transcript holds. If a documented condition explains part of the record, it belongs in the file early — see 504 and ADA accommodations.

What can a student defense lawyer do here?

The honest answer starts with what is not available. There is no Fourteenth Amendment claim, because Diné College is not a state actor. Sovereign immunity presumptively bars suit absent a waiver. Review beyond the campus runs through the courts of the Navajo Nation, not a New Mexico state district court and not the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico, and the analogue to due process is the Indian Civil Rights Act, 25 U.S.C. § 1302. I am licensed in Florida and I am not a member of the Navajo Nation Bar, so I do not appear in its courts. If someone promises you a federal or state lawsuit against Diné College, ask them to identify the waiver.

What that leaves is what decides these cases anyway. The internal process is not one route among several; it is the case:

• 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 turns on policy, and here it is favorable: the code grants counsel of your choice. That right is worth only what you do with the five days of notice.

Other New Mexico 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 New Mexico colleges:

• New Mexico Junior College
• Northern New Mexico College
• San Juan College
• Southeast New Mexico College
• Southwestern College
• St. John’s College Santa Fe

Common questions about Diné College student cases

I attend the Shiprock campus in New Mexico. Can I sue Diné College in state court?

Almost certainly not, and the campus address does not change that. Diné College is chartered by the Navajo Nation, and its code claims jurisdiction over all violations regardless of which campus you attend. Sovereign immunity presumptively bars suit unless it has been waived. The College is also not a state actor, so the Fourteenth Amendment claim available against a state university is unavailable. Review runs through the Navajo Nation courts.

Can I bring a lawyer to a Diné College due process hearing?

Yes, and the code says so directly. Students have the right to be represented by law or legal counsel of their own choice, and any fees are the student’s to pay. If you exercise that right, the Due Process Hearing Committee must be notified immediately and the hearing is rescheduled so both sides have counsel. A parent or other designee may also attend, but may not address the committee.

How long do I have to appeal a Diné College disciplinary decision?

Ten business days after you receive verbal or written notification of the consequence. The appeal goes to the Vice-President of Student Affairs for non-academic matters or the Provost for academic ones, who reviews within two business days and issues a written decision within five. That decision is final, and expulsion is stated to be final and not appealable. For academic probation or suspension, no campus-specific day-count located, so ask the Registrar immediately.

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 New Mexico 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 New Mexico and does not advise on New Mexico state law.