Aurora University: Student Discipline, Dismissal & Federal Court

How do student discipline and dismissal cases work at Aurora University?

Aurora University is a private, nonprofit university in Aurora, Kane County — 4,230 undergraduate and 1,891 graduate students by its own count — accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, with CCNE-accredited nursing programs. The fact a student most needs is buried in its academic-integrity procedure: on a second or “egregious” violation you have 10 business days from the electronic notice to arrange a hearing, and “Failure to do so shall be taken as acknowledgement that a violation has occurred.” Silence counts as an admission — and a student dismissed under the Code of Academic Integrity “shall not be re-admitted to the university.”

Aurora University 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. Federal law does not care that the school is private: Title IX, Title VI and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act apply because it takes federal funds, and the ADA applies to it as a place of public accommodation.

One footnote belongs on this page: Raethz v. Aurora University, cited above, involved this university. Its current documents disclaim a contract in their own words — the A-Book “is not a contract or offer of a contract,” and the catalog “does not constitute a contract.” How that sits beside Raethz is a question for a court; see breach of contract claims against universities.

A federal claim arising at Aurora University is filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois — Kane 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 an Aurora University 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.

Academic integrity: silence is an admission, and dismissal is permanent

The Code of Academic Integrity (Policy Statements F1–F3 in the undergraduate and graduate catalogs) prohibits cheating, fabrication and plagiarism “regardless of intent.” Once notified, you may not change your registration in the course, and withdrawing does not help: you “may not return to the university until a pending violation is resolved.”

• First violation. The faculty member reports it with the syllabus sanction; Academic Affairs confirms it within five business days and sends an electronic notice. To contest it you have “one week from the date indicated on the electronic notification of Finding and Sanction” to write to the University Registrar — the catalog does not say calendar or business, so count seven calendar days. The Academic Conduct and Integrity Committee decides, finally.
• Second, egregious or referred violation. The hearing track, with the 10-business-day rule. If the Committee finds a violation, “the student shall be immediately disciplined or dismissed from the university.”
• Dismissal appeal. To the Provost “within one calendar week” of the decision; the Provost and two appointed faculty decide, finally.

The Code publishes no standard of proof and no advisor rule, and the transcript of a dismissed student reads “dismissed with cause.” See academic misconduct and honor code cases.

Conduct cases: an investigator decides, and the sanction cannot be appealed

Non-academic misconduct runs under the Code of Conduct in the 2026–2027 A-Book. There is no hearing panel: an administrative investigation officer notifies you, offers a meeting, gathers facts and decides responsibility and sanction (§§ 6.03–6.06). Fail to respond within five (5) business days and a hold blocks registration and graduation while the case proceeds without you (§ 6.05). The standard is preponderance (§ 6.11); the procedure says nothing about advisors.

The appeal goes in writing to the appeals officer named in your notice within seven (7) calendar days, on the record, on four grounds: a finding “contrary to the substantial weight of the evidence,” a wrong reading of policy, bias, or new evidence (§§ 8.01–8.04). Then the sentence that shapes every strategy: “Code of Conduct sanctions are not subject to appeal.” One appeal, final (§ 8.06). See conduct code defense.

An emergency removal takes effect when notice is sent, and its appeal is due to the Dean of Students within three (3) business days (§ 5.05). Withdrawing mid-case puts the allegation on your transcript (§ 7.03.n). An involuntary leave under Policy Statement H allows only a “non-attorney advisor,” and the appeal goes to the Senior Vice President for Student Success “within seven (7) days” (unit unstated) — yet the next sentence says “The Dean of Students will decide the appeal,” the official whose decision is under appeal. See forced medical withdrawal.

Sexual misconduct runs on two different clocks

Policy Statement A-1, the Title IX policy (updated August 3, 2026), gives each side ten calendar days to answer the evidence and the report, then a live hearing — by video unless held in person — at which each party’s advisor, who “may be, but is not required to be, an attorney,” asks the questions. The standard is preponderance; the appeal goes to the Senior Vice President for Student Success within seven (7) calendar days, and one ground is that “The sanction is disproportionate with the violation.” 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). The 2020 regulation requires postsecondary institutions to hold a live hearing at which each party’s advisor conducts cross-examination.

Policy Statement A-2 covers sexual misconduct outside that regulation, and investigators decide with no hearing. You get three (3) business days to comment on the preliminary report and three (3) business days after the Final Investigative Report to appeal, and “All sanctions will be in effect during any appeal.” See Title IX and sexual misconduct cases.

Academic standing and the nursing program

Undergraduates below a 2.0 cumulative GPA go on academic warning and are dismissed unless they then reach 2.0 cumulative or for the next semester (3.0 for graduate students). The reinstatement appeal has no published deadline — “Instructions for submitting the appeal will be communicated to students at the time of their dismissal” — and the Academic Conduct and Integrity Committee decides, finally.

The 2026–2027 School of Nursing Student Handbook is stricter: 77.0% to pass a BSN course (80% for graduate students), “Two nursing course failures will result in dismissal from the nursing program,” and “Two withdrawals equal one failure.” Professional-conduct referrals go to the Professional Practice Review Committee, with a “recommended three working day window” for your written response. Dismissal is permanent, “Subject to University appeal policies,” and the dismissal letter carries the appeal information — so the deadline lives in that letter. See nursing school dismissal.

What a student defense lawyer can do here

Most of the value is early and quiet. It is reading Aurora University’s policy against what the university 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 here. In an integrity case, make contact inside the 10 business days before anything else, and ask in writing what standard of proof the Committee will apply, since the Code names none. In a conduct case, put the whole argument into the finding, because the sanction itself cannot be appealed.

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 the university decides its own case. That is why the written record built on campus 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 Aurora University’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.

Here, Policy A-1 lets your advisor conduct the hearing questioning but otherwise not speak for you, and Policy A-2 bars advocacy outright and requires 24 hours’ notice before an advisor who is an attorney or holds a J.D. attends.

What to do first

1. Find your clock. Ten business days to arrange an integrity hearing; one week (unit unstated) to contest a first finding; one calendar week to the Provost; seven calendar days for a conduct or Title IX appeal; three business days under Policy A-2 or after an emergency removal.
2. Answer the investigation officer within five business days, even only to schedule the meeting.
3. Save the A-Book, Policy Statements F1–F3 and any program handbook as dated PDFs.
4. Ask in writing for your file — the faculty report and evidence, or the incident report and fact-finding.
5. Do not withdraw mid-case without advice, and say now if a disability or a denied accommodation is part of the story. Other campuses are on 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.

The federal money on the line at Aurora University

Aurora University students and families took on $44.2 million in federal Direct Loans in the 2025–26 award year — including $3.9 million borrowed by 256 parents through Parent PLUS.

Every dollar of it rides on academic standing. A dismissal, a failed Satisfactory Academic Progress evaluation, or a mid-term withdrawal sets off federal rules that decide whether aid continues, whether money already disbursed has to go back, and — under the borrowing caps in effect since July 1, 2026 — whether a student who leaves can still finance a return. The academic fight and the financial aid fight are the same fight, and the windows are short. How those rules work: SAP appeals and academic dismissal.

On the Department’s financial responsibility test, Aurora University’s most recent published composite score is 2.8 (fiscal year 2022–23) — a passing score on the –1.0-to-3.0 scale, where 1.5 and above passes. How to read that number: the federal warning signs guide.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid Data Center, Direct Loan volume by school, award year 2025–26 (cumulative through June 30, 2026). Institution-wide federal Direct Loan totals.

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:

• Benedictine University
• Bexley Hall Seabury Western Theological Seminary Federation
• CAAN Academy of Nursing
• Catholic Theological Union at Chicago
• Chamberlain University (Illinois campuses)
• The Chicago School (Chicago campus)

Common questions about Aurora University student cases

How long do I have to appeal at Aurora University?

A conduct finding: seven calendar days, in writing, to the appeals officer named in your notice. A first integrity finding: one week from the date on the electronic notice, unit unstated. An integrity dismissal: one calendar week to the Provost. Title IX: seven calendar days. Policy A-2 and emergency removals: three business days. A GPA dismissal: whatever your dismissal instructions say, because no number is published.

What happens if I ignore an academic integrity notice at Aurora University?

On a second, egregious or referred violation you have 10 business days to contact Academic Affairs or the Registrar to arrange a hearing. If you do not, the failure “shall be taken as acknowledgement that a violation has occurred,” and discipline up to dismissal follows. Because an integrity dismissal bars readmission, no window at Aurora University matters more.

Can I appeal my sanction at Aurora University?

Not under the Code of Conduct, which says “Code of Conduct sanctions are not subject to appeal.” The appeal must attack the finding: the weight of the evidence, a wrong reading of policy, bias, or new evidence. Both sexual misconduct policies are different — Policy A-1 and Policy A-2 each allow an appeal on the ground that the sanction is disproportionate.

Can I bring a lawyer to my Aurora University meeting or hearing?

The Code of Conduct says nothing about advisors, so ask the investigation officer in writing first. An involuntary-leave meeting allows only a “non-attorney advisor.” In a Title IX case your advisor may be a lawyer and conducts the hearing questioning. Under Policy A-2 a lawyer may attend as your advisor on 24 hours’ notice but may not advocate for you.