CAAN Academy of Nursing: Student Discipline, Dismissal & Federal Court

How do student discipline and dismissal cases work at CAAN Academy?

CAAN Academy of Nursing is a small, private, not-for-profit nursing school in Matteson, in southern Cook County, operated by the Coalition of African American Nurses. It is accredited by the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools (ABHES), approved by the Illinois Board of Higher Education, and runs a 59-week Practical Nursing program and a 60-week LPN-to-RN associate degree. Its rules are strict and, where it matters most, inconsistent: the 2025–2026 LPN-RN catalog says readmission “will be implemented only once during the program” — and, twenty pages later, that students “may request readmission to the LPN-RN Program twice.”

CAAN Academy of Nursing 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.

A federal claim arising at CAAN Academy of Nursing 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 CAAN Academy 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.

One readmission or two? The catalog says both

Every LPN-RN course requires a 77.5% (“C”) average, the ATI benchmark and a clinical “Pass.” A final average of 77.4% or below “will require the student to withdraw from the course and apply for Readmission,” which the grading section says happens “only once.” The Readmission section allows two requests and one repeat of any course, and dismisses a student who fails a third course — while the Repeats of Courses section permits third attempts “only with the Director’s authorization.” Because the catalog is part of the contract described above, that conflict belongs in writing before the Program Director decides. The request is due “within thirty (30) days of exit” — calendar or business days, the catalog does not say — with a Plan of Action, and “Incomplete submissions will not be considered.” See readmission after dismissal.

Attendance and clinical: the fastest ways out

The LPN-RN attendance policy says “More than (3) unexcused absences in 15-week courses will result in dismissal from the program”; in a 5- or 4-week course the limit is one, and only one clinical absence is allowed. The same catalog’s progress section says “may result in dismissal,” as does the PN catalog — a difference worth raising when an absence count is the whole case — and the probation policy promises a written warning first. Clinical is Pass/Fail, with a 100-point minimum on the evaluation tool; a clinical failure makes the whole course an “F,” and a student “deemed to be unsafe” in a skill may be dismissed. A felony that blocks clinical clearance, or a positive drug screen, can also end enrollment. See nursing school dismissal and removal from clinical rotations.

Conduct and cheating: a committee, a board, no published hearing

Conduct infractions go to the “Grievance Committee and Advisory Council” under the LPN-RN catalog and to a “Disciplinary Team” under the PN catalog; neither publishes a notice period, a hearing format, a standard of proof or an advisor rule. Plagiarism brings at least a zero, and “At the discretion of the school Board, the student may be suspended and/or expelled from the program.” The Change of Grade rule even refers to “the dismissal hearing,” which neither catalog describes — so ask in writing whether there will be one.

The appeal route: three working days, then seven

The Student Complaint/Appeal/Grievance Procedure runs from the instructor to the Program Director, in writing, and then to the Chief Administrative Officer, who “will respond within three (3) working days”; the final decision follows “within seven (7) Days of the CAO’s response,” a period the catalog does not label calendar or business days. No filing deadline is published, but the 30-day readmission clock keeps running, so file both. A financial-aid progress appeal is due “within 72 hours of receipt of failure notice,” only two are allowed in the program, and the Financial Aid Committee’s decision is final. See SAP appeals.

Sexual misconduct and disability

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). CAAN’s Sexual Misconduct Policy applies the preponderance of the evidence standard but describes no hearing, no advisor of choice and no appeal deadline, and its Survivor’s Rights sheet promises “A summary of CAAN’s complaint resolution procedures, under 110 ILCS 155/25” that is not posted, so ask for the procedure in writing before any interview. Accommodation documentation must be “Current, within the past (3) three years” and submitted “upon registration into programs,” and CAAN says it “is not required to provide any special accommodation” if that procedure is not followed. See Title IX and sexual misconduct and disability accommodations.

What a student defense lawyer can do here

Most of the value is early and quiet. It is reading CAAN’s policy against what the school 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.

At CAAN, two moves are specific: putting the competing readmission and repeat provisions in front of the Program Director inside the 30-day window, with the Plan of Action; and, in an attendance or clinical case, rebuilding the record absence by absence and skill by skill.

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 CAAN 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 CAAN Academy’s own rule on that — which it does not publish — 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.

CAAN’s published documents say nothing about advisors at all, so ask the Program Director in writing who may come with you, and what that person may do.

What to do first

1. Count thirty days from your exit. The readmission letter and Plan of Action are due “within thirty (30) days of exit”; the catalog gives no unit, so count calendar days. A financial-aid appeal is due within 72 hours of the notice.
2. Save the catalog that governs you. Download the 2025–2026 PN or LPN-RN catalog with the date visible; older editions are still posted.
3. Ask for the record in writing: the attendance roster, the clinical evaluation tool, the skills checklist, remediation notes and every warning.
4. Ask who is deciding — the committee, the “school Board” or the Program Director — and whether a dismissal hearing will be held.
5. Put disability, illness or pregnancy facts in writing now. For how cases work across the state, see 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:

• Catholic Theological Union at Chicago
• Chamberlain University (Illinois campuses)
• The Chicago School (Chicago campus)
• Chicago State University
• Chicago Theological Seminary
• Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology

Common questions about CAAN Academy student cases

How long do I have to ask CAAN Academy for readmission?

Thirty days. Both 2025–2026 catalogs require a written request to the Program Director “within thirty (30) days of exit,” with a Plan of Action; incomplete submissions are not considered. The catalog does not say calendar or business days, so count calendar days. Readmission must also occur within one year and depends on space and a passing readmission exam.

Can CAAN Academy dismiss me for absences?

Yes. The LPN-RN attendance policy says more than three unexcused absences in a 15-week course, or more than one in a 5- or 4-week course, “will result in dismissal,” and allows one clinical absence. The catalog’s progress section and the PN catalog say “may.” Check whether each absence was truly unexcused and whether you got the written warning the probation policy describes.

Can I bring a lawyer to a CAAN Academy meeting?

CAAN publishes no rule either way, for conduct cases or sexual misconduct. In a sexual misconduct case, the Preventing Sexual Violence in Higher Education Act entitles both parties to an advisor of their choice, who may be an attorney, though a school may limit that advisor’s role. Ask the Program Director in writing before the meeting.

How do I appeal a decision at CAAN Academy?

Through the grievance procedure: the instructor, the Program Director in writing, then a written complaint to the Chief Administrative Officer, who “will respond within three (3) working days.” The final decision follows within seven days of that response, with no unit stated. A financial-aid progress appeal is separate and due within 72 hours.