Hebrew Theological College: Student Discipline, Dismissal & Federal Court

How do student discipline and dismissal cases work at Hebrew Theological College?

Hebrew Theological College is a private Orthodox Jewish college founded in 1921, with its men’s Beis Midrash and college on North Carpenter Road in Skokie and the Sarah Hartman Women’s College of Touro on West Touhy Avenue in Chicago — both in Cook County. It awards the B.A. and has been part of the Touro system since 2015. Its rules are built on religious authority, and that is the first thing to understand: HTC’s code of conduct reaches “actions that are not consonant with religious beliefs and laws,” and its handbook says “The Rosh HaYeshiva is the ultimate decisor of disciplinary actions.” In academic integrity cases, which run under Touro’s policy, a student’s appeal window is three business days, and an attorney may not appear at the hearing.

Hebrew Theological College is a private institution. There is no state action, so there is no constitutional due process claim, and arguing one wastes an appeal. The theory is contract: Illinois holds that a college and its students have a contractual relationship whose terms come from the catalog and the handbook — Raethz v. Aurora University, 346 Ill. App. 3d 728 (2004), restated by the Fourth District in Urso v. Bradley University, 2023 IL App (4th) 230165 — while adding that the relationship “is unique and cannot be strictly categorized or characterized in purely contractual terms.”

The limit is the standard of review, and it decides most of these cases before anyone reaches the facts. A student has a remedy for an adverse academic decision only if it was made arbitrarily, capriciously, or in bad faith. Frederick v. Northwestern University Dental School, 247 Ill. App. 3d 464 (1993), puts it bluntly — courts have been loath to review, much less overturn, academic dismissals — and Bosch v. NorthShore University Health System, 2019 IL App (1st) 190070, holds that a school which departs somewhat from its handbook still wins unless the departure was material. The federal courts in Chicago apply the same test: in Doe v. Columbia College Chicago, 933 F.3d 849 (7th Cir. 2019), the Seventh Circuit affirmed dismissal of a student’s contract claim where the college had investigated and reasoned its way to a decision, and in Gash v. Rosalind Franklin University, 117 F.4th 957 (7th Cir. 2024), it held that calling a process arbitrary or predetermined, without specific facts, is not enough. What survives is specific: in Liu v. Northwestern University, 78 F. Supp. 3d 839 (N.D. Ill. 2015), a former law student’s claim went forward where the school imposed what amounted to an integrity charge while denying her the handbook procedure for contesting one. Which federal statutes reach Hebrew Theological College depends on facts worth confirming early — whether it receives federal financial assistance, and, for a religiously controlled institution, whether it claims the religious exemptions some of those statutes allow.

A federal claim arising at Hebrew Theological College is filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois — Cook County sits in its Eastern Division under 28 U.S.C. § 93(a), and the statute fixes the places of holding court for that division at Chicago and Wheaton. I am a member of the general bar of that court, admitted on my Florida license under its Local Rule 83.10, which opens the general bar to an attorney in good standing before the highest court of any state. That means a Title IX, Section 504 or ADA complaint for a Hebrew Theological College student is one I file and litigate under my own name, with no pro hac vice motion. The Northern District abrogated its local-counsel designation rule in July 2023, so a member of its bar with no office in the district no longer has to designate local counsel. One limit, stated plainly: the court keeps a separate trial bar, and under Local Rule 83.12 a general-bar member who is not on it — that is me — appears alone in everything except testimonial proceedings, meaning evidentiary hearings and trial, where a trial-bar member must sit as advisor unless the judge grants the rule’s narrow waiver.

Touro’s rules, HTC’s handbook and a new accreditor

HTC’s handbook states that it “is a branch of Touro University and, therefore, adheres to all Touro policies,” and HTC’s website links Touro’s Title IX and Academic Integrity policies rather than its own. The handbook it posts is the Student Handbook 2023–2026, which still says HTC is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. That changed this summer: HTC’s public disclosure notice reports that it “voluntarily resigned its accreditation with the Higher Learning Commission effective July 7, 2026,” intending to keep accreditation through Touro University, and HTC’s About page now says it is “fully accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.” HLC’s notice adds that credits and degrees earned before July 7, 2026 remain accredited. For a case arising this fall, ask the Dean in writing which handbook and which Touro policies govern.

Conduct: a religious standard and a religious final authority

The handbook’s Personal Conduct Policy asks students to live by tznius, the Shulchan Aruch’s standard of modesty in “behavior, speech, and even thoughts,” and sets dress codes for men and women; violations, or “abrogation of any section of this Student Handbook,” can lead to discipline “and potentially to expulsion.” The Code of Conduct then lists twenty-five violations — the expected ones, such as theft, threats, harassment and academic dishonesty, and some that are not: “actions that harm the reputation of the College,” “conviction of a felony crime while enrolled,” and “actions that are not consonant with religious beliefs and laws.” Violators face discipline “at the discretion of HTC.” More on conduct code defense is on its own page.

The procedure is graduated. A first infraction draws an oral warning; a repeat, an incident report in your advising file. “Two incidents of similar nature will result in a formal hearing” before the Student Residence Supervisor or the Mashgiach or Menahel Ruchani and one other faculty or staff member not involved; you hear the complaint and may present a defense, and the record goes into your permanent file. You may appeal to the Dean or the Grievance Committee “only if there are disputes in fact or additional information or extenuating circumstances not considered previously.” After further infractions the Dean of the division, consulting the Mashgiach or Menahel Ruchani, decides suspension or expulsion, with an appeal to the Rosh HaYeshiva. None of this carries a published deadline or standard of proof, and an expelled student may apply for reinstatement. HTC’s sexual misconduct policy defines expulsion in one line — “HTC may terminate a student’s status at the college at any time” — and says HTC may expel without first issuing a warning or probation.

Academic integrity: three business days, and no attorney in the room

Integrity cases follow Touro’s policy, reproduced in the handbook. The department Chair reports to Touro’s Chief Academic Integrity Officer. An informal resolution with the instructor can carry only the lightest, Class C, sanctions, and once you accept it, it “cannot be appealed”; it is not available after a prior violation. If you deny the charge, a formal hearing should take place between five and twenty calendar days later, with at least two business days’ notice, before a committee of at least three that excludes your instructor and decides by majority. You may review, but not copy, the information against you, and appear in person or by video; the committee may proceed without you. “Student representation by an attorney or other representative at the hearing is not permitted.” A support person may come but must wait “in an anteroom.” Recordings are not allowed and transcripts are not required. Sanctions run to suspension of up to twenty-four months or expulsion. More on academic misconduct is on its own page.

The appeal clock is short. Either side may appeal to the Appeals Dean within three (3) business days, but only for bias, new material not available at the time, or procedural error; a further, discretionary appeal to the Chief Academic Officer is due three business days after that decision, and the officer’s decision is final. HTC counts its own business days: “a Jewish Day of Observance as delineated on the HTC calendar does not count as a business day.” Check the HTC calendar before you count.

Grades and academic standing

A student must keep a cumulative GPA of 2.0. Below it comes probation with an individual tracking program, and the college “may withdraw the privilege of continuing” from a student still below 2.0 after a second semester on probation. Reinstatement is by letter to the Dean of the division; no deadline or hearing is published. A disputed grade goes first to the instructor, then to the Dean, and then, by written petition to the Rosh HaYeshiva, to a Grievance Committee of the Rosh HaYeshiva or Menahel Ruchani, the Dean and one or two faculty from outside the department, which “will issue a final grade.” Touro’s general complaint procedure, with its sixty-calendar-day limit, expressly cannot be used to appeal “grades, dismissals, or academic decisions.” See academic probation and grade appeals.

Sexual misconduct: Touro’s 2020 policy, with a live hearing

For sexual misconduct, the federal rule is the 2020 Title IX regulation: the 2024 rule was vacated nationwide on January 9, 2025, in Tennessee v. Cardona, and on September 29, 2026 the Department of Education formally repealed it and restored the pre-2024 text (91 Fed. Reg. 61,308). Touro’s Title IX Grievance Policy, effective August 14, 2020, names Hebrew Theological College among the institutions it covers, and Touro now posts it under the title “Pre-August 2024 Title IX Grievance Policy.” The 2020 regulation requires postsecondary institutions to hold a live hearing at which each party’s advisor conducts cross-examination. Touro’s policy confirms it: each party chooses a Process Support Person who “may be, but does not have to be, an attorney,” all questions at the hearing go through that person, and Touro supplies one for cross-examination to a party who has none. The standard is preponderance of the evidence. An appeal goes to the Title IX Coordinator within seven (7) business days of the written determination; the other side has three business days to respond; and an Appeals Panel decides within twenty business days. Conduct outside Title IX goes under HTC’s own sexual misconduct policy — a fact finder, the same standard, an advisor of choice whose role HTC may limit equally for both sides, and the same seven-business-day appeal. The 2023–2026 handbook’s older text asks the fact finder whether there is “probable cause,” then defines preponderance in the next paragraph; hold the college to preponderance, the standard both Touro policies state. More on Title IX hearings and cross-examination is on its own page.

What a student defense lawyer can do here

Most of the value is early and quiet. It is reading HTC’s policy against what it actually did and finding the gap; writing the response or the appeal so it argues the grounds the policy recognizes rather than the ones that feel most unfair; preserving the federal issues — Title IX, Section 504 and the ADA, FERPA — so they are in the record if the case ever leaves campus; and identifying comparators, because a sanction far outside what similar cases drew is one of the few arguments that reliably moves a decision-maker.

Two moves are specific to HTC. First, because no attorney may appear at an integrity hearing and you will speak for yourself, the work happens before it: reviewing the information you are allowed to see, preparing a written statement with your documents, and rehearsing your account — then drafting an appeal that fits one of the three permitted grounds inside three HTC business days. Second, a conduct appeal is limited to disputed facts, new information or extenuating circumstances, so it should be built on exactly those, using the written record of the hearing that the handbook says goes into your file.

What a lawyer cannot do is turn a campus process into a trial. The rules of evidence do not apply, there is no discovery, and HTC decides its own case at first instance. That is why the written record built during the campus process is the whole ballgame: by the time a court looks at it, the record is closed.

The one Illinois statute that gives you procedure

Illinois has no general statute setting notice periods, hearing formats, standards of proof or appeal rights for college students. The Illinois School Code, 105 ILCS 5, has a detailed suspension and expulsion scheme, and it applies to elementary and secondary schools, not here. The exception is the Preventing Sexual Violence in Higher Education Act, 110 ILCS 155, and it is a real one. It reaches every higher education institution in the state — public universities, community colleges, and private not-for-profit and for-profit institutions alike — and it requires timely written notice of the allegations to all parties, an investigation that is adequate, reliable and impartial, written notice of the outcome, and appeal rights. It requires the school to make confidential advisors available, trained to a statutory standard and kept separate from the people deciding the case. Both parties are entitled to an advisor of their choice, and that advisor may be an attorney — although the institution may limit how far an attorney-advisor participates in a hearing, which is why Hebrew Theological College’s own rule on that, set out above, still governs what your lawyer may do in the room. The standard of proof is preponderance of the evidence, applied the same way to both sides.

At HTC the answer depends on the process. In a Title IX case Touro’s policy lets your attorney serve as Process Support Person and conduct the cross-examination; in other sexual misconduct cases HTC may limit the advisor’s role so long as it does so for both sides; and in an integrity hearing no attorney may appear at all.

What to do first

1. Count HTC business days. Integrity appeals are due within three, Title IX appeals within seven, and Jewish Days of Observance on the HTC calendar do not count. If a notice gives a date, work to the earlier one.
2. Get both rulebooks. Save the HTC Student Handbook 2023–2026 and the Touro policy HTC links, with the date visible, and ask the Dean in writing which governs after the July 2026 accreditation change.
3. Review the evidence before an integrity hearing. You may review but not copy it, so take careful notes and ask for enough time, as the policy allows.
4. Put your account in writing. Conduct and integrity decisions rest on what you submit; a support person can come with you but cannot speak.
5. Raise disability early. Touro’s rules say accommodations “are never provided on a retroactive basis,” so meet the Accommodations Officer before exams, not after. See also the Illinois student defense hub.

One honest caveat about geography. Illinois has three federal districts. I am admitted to two of them, the Northern and the Southern. A federal claim arising at a school in Springfield, Peoria, Champaign-Urbana or the Quad Cities falls in the Central District; I am not a member of that bar, and those matters I handle with local counsel in that district or by pro hac vice admission. Appeals from the Northern District go to the Seventh Circuit, which keeps its own bar; my appellate admission is in the Eleventh. I say so before a retainer rather than after.

Where I am licensed. I am licensed to practice law in Florida. I am admitted to the bars of the U.S. District Courts for the Southern, Middle and Northern Districts of Florida, 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, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Federal court admission is not a license to practice the law of the state in which the court sits. I am not licensed in Illinois and do not advise on Illinois state law or appear in Illinois state court.

Other schools in the Northern District of Illinois

Every school writes its own dismissal, appeal and conduct rules, and the deadlines are rarely the same from one campus to the next. These pages set out the procedure at other schools in the Northern District of Illinois:

• Illinois College of Optometry
• Illinois Institute of Technology
• Institute for Clinical Social Work
• Judson University
• Lake Forest College
• Lewis University

Common questions about Hebrew Theological College student cases

Can I bring a lawyer to an HTC academic integrity hearing?

No. The Touro policy in HTC’s handbook says “Student representation by an attorney or other representative at the hearing is not permitted.” You may bring a support person, who must wait in an anteroom and cannot participate. You present your own case, in person or by video, after reviewing — but not copying — the information the committee will see. A lawyer’s help comes before the hearing and in drafting the appeal.

How long do I have to appeal at Hebrew Theological College?

It depends on the process. An integrity decision is appealed to the Appeals Dean within three business days, and a further appeal to the Chief Academic Officer is due three business days later; Jewish Days of Observance on the HTC calendar do not count. Title IX decisions are appealed within seven business days. For conduct decisions and academic dismissal the handbook publishes no deadline, so act at once.

Who has the final word on discipline at HTC?

The handbook says “The Rosh HaYeshiva is the ultimate decisor of disciplinary actions.” For repeated infractions the Dean of the division decides suspension or expulsion after consulting the Mashgiach or Menahel Ruchani, and the appeal goes to the Rosh HaYeshiva. Integrity cases end with Touro’s Chief Academic Officer, and Title IX cases with a Touro Appeals Panel.

Is Hebrew Theological College still accredited?

HTC voluntarily resigned its Higher Learning Commission accreditation effective July 7, 2026, intending to keep accreditation as part of Touro University, and its website now says it is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. HLC’s notice says credits and degrees earned before July 7, 2026 remain accredited. Confirm your own program’s status with the registrar in writing.

What GPA do I need to stay at HTC?

A cumulative 2.0. Below that you are placed on probation with an individual tracking program, and HTC may withdraw the privilege of continuing if you are still below 2.0 after a second semester on probation. A student suspended for inadequate progress may apply for reinstatement by writing to the Dean of the division; explain what changed and show a plan.