FIU Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine — Dismissal & Appeals

Who decides whether an FIU medical student is dismissed?

The Medical Student Evaluation and Promotion Committee (MSEPC) decides at FIU’s Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. The College promises an appeal from its decisions — but no public FIU document states the appeal deadline, names the officer who hears it, or sets out the procedure. That gap is the most important fact about defending a case here.

The appeal FIU promises but does not publish

Policy AA.058 describes its own scope as covering the MSEPC’s composition, purpose, rules, processes, evaluation process, procedures for professional conduct, appeals process, dissemination and recusal. The accompanying Procedure AA.059P, which is where that detail should live, contains no appeals section at all.

The Medical Student Handbook describes only the grounds: an appeal may be based on violations of due process, the emergence of new relevant information, or outcomes felt to be excessively severe. It then directs students back to the policy — which does not contain the procedure. The two documents point at each other. The policy’s own Related Resources cite an “MSEPC Charter,” and that charter is not published.

We searched the full handbook for any day-based deadline. The only ones in the document are a three-day minimum for an excused absence and tuition reminders at thirty and seven days. There is no appeal deadline in it.

Two things follow. First, a student should request the MSEPC Charter in writing immediately and record the date of the request and of any response. Second, an institution cannot fairly enforce a filing deadline it has never published against a student who was never told what it was — a point that goes both to basic notice and to LCME Element 9.9, which requires a medical school to publish its academic progress and appeal procedures. In the meantime, file as quickly as possible; the argument above is a shield, not a schedule.

The deadlines FIU does publish

  • Notice of the MSEPC meeting: at least 10 business days before it.
  • The student’s written response: at least 24 hours before the meeting.
  • The chair notifies the student of the action within 14 business days of the committee’s determination.
  • Conduct track under Regulation FIU-2501: appeal by 5:00 pm on the seventh business day after the delivery date of the hearing decision letter. FIU may charge a student within 180 calendar days of receiving the incident report.

Two units can dismiss you, and only one lets your lawyer speak

FIU says this expressly: dismissal “may be determined to be warranted by two units” — the Office of Student Conduct and Academic Integrity under Regulations 2501, 105 and 106, and the HWCOM MSEPC under the Medical Student Handbook.

The routing makes this concrete. Professionalism reports go to the University’s reporting system and are reviewed by Student Conduct first. If Student Conduct finds no violation, the matter is referred back to the College’s deans, who may still refer it to the MSEPC. A student can therefore be cleared by the University’s conduct process and dismissed by the medical school on the same facts — and the second proceeding is the one without a participating advocate.

At the MSEPC the student “may be accompanied by a person of the student’s choice to provide support to the student. The supporting person may not participate directly in the proceeding.” Under FIU-2501 an advisor “may be present to advise the Respondent and may participate in all aspects of the proceeding but shall not testify,” and where that advisor is an attorney the same restrictions apply as to anyone else.

FIU is a public institution, so Fla. Stat. § 1006.60 reaches its conduct proceedings: § 1006.60(3)(g) gives a student an advisor, advocate or legal representative who may “directly participate in all aspects of the proceeding, including the presentation of relevant information and questioning of witnesses,” and § 1006.60(3)(b) places the burden on the institution to prove a violation by a preponderance. The College preserves the gap by treating professionalism as academic progression rather than conduct. Which track a case sits in is therefore not a technicality — it decides whether counsel may speak.

One right the MSEPC does give: students receive the names of any witnesses with the meeting notice and “will have the opportunity to question them during the meeting.”

The rule that cannot be appealed

“The time-to-degree limit cannot be appealed.” FIU states it flatly. The limit is six years from matriculation, “defined as the first day of enrollment and inclusive of leaves of absences and repeated course years.”

That changes how a leave of absence should be considered. At most schools a leave pauses the problem. At FIU it consumes the clock on an outcome that carries no appeal. Any student approaching the six-year mark needs that arithmetic done before agreeing to a leave, a repeat year or a step-out for a failed examination.

Other rules that decide cases

  • Repeat years are capped twice over: a student required to repeat an academic year “is not eligible to repeat any other academic year,” and “no single academic year may be initiated more than two times.”
  • Probation is expressly not an adverse action and does not appear on the MSPE — but it lasts at least one calendar year and bars officer and committee positions and conference and international travel. Because it is not an adverse action, the appeal right may not attach to it at all.
  • USMLE: failing Step 1 or Step 2 CK requires the student to step out of current academic work until the examination is repeated, including on a repeat failure. No attempt cap is stated — but the non-appealable six-year clock keeps running throughout.
  • Fitness for duty: the MSEPC may require an independent evaluation on a reasonable belief of impairment, by a practitioner chosen by the College, with the report going to the College. Students may also be required to submit random drug screens at the request of the Associate Dean for Student Affairs or any clinical site.

The recusal rule is worth invoking

Members must recuse for a prior close relationship, for having provided health care to the student, for having given a failing grade in their own course, or for prior involvement in the professionalism incident. Ask for the membership list and check it against those four categories before the meeting.

What standard of proof applies?

None is published for the MSEPC. The handbook’s glossary defines preponderance of the evidence — “more likely than not that the alleged violation occurred” — but never assigns it to the MSEPC anywhere in the handbook or the policy. It appears to be carried over for the conduct process, which does apply it. So the committee that can end a medical career operates without a published evidentiary threshold.

Check which version governed you

Policy AA.058 and Procedure AA.059P carry an initial effective date of June 2025 and a revision in July 2025. A student dismissed under an earlier framework was governed by different rules. Obtain the version in force on the date the College acted — not the one on the website today.

Where the governing documents are

Verified as loading on 3 September 2026:

The MSEPC Charter is cited by the policy and is not published. No public URL was located.

Related reading

Other Florida health-professional programs

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 health-professional programs:

Common questions

How long do I have to appeal an FIU MSEPC decision?

FIU does not publish a deadline. Request the MSEPC Charter in writing at once, file as quickly as you can, and keep a record of what you asked for and when — the absence of a published deadline is a point in your favour if timeliness is later raised against you.

Can I bring an attorney to the MSEPC?

You may bring one person for support, but they may not participate directly. In FIU’s conduct process an advisor, including an attorney, may participate in all aspects of the proceeding.

Student Conduct cleared me. Can the medical school still dismiss me?

Yes. FIU routes professionalism reports through Student Conduct first, and where no violation is found the matter returns to the College’s deans, who may refer it to the MSEPC anyway.

Can I appeal being dismissed for exceeding the six-year limit?

No. FIU states that the time-to-degree limit cannot be appealed, and the six years include leaves of absence and repeated years.

Does probation carry an appeal at FIU?

Probably not. FIU classifies probation as not an adverse action, and the appeal right is framed around adverse actions — even though probation lasts at least a year and carries real restrictions.