Harry S Truman College (City Colleges of Chicago): Student Discipline, Dismissal & Federal Court

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

Harry S Truman College is a public community college in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood, at 1145 West Wilson Avenue since 1976 — one of the seven City Colleges of Chicago that form Community College District No. 508, accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, with students from 160 countries. Most rules that decide a case here are district-wide. Truman’s own belong to the district’s only cosmetology program, where time is the currency of discipline: the Cosmetology & Barber handbook requires 1,500 state clock hours, says a student short on hours “will not pass the course,” and allows removal from class for the rest of the day — hours the handbook warns “may not be able to be made up.”

Harry S Truman College is a public community college, so two bodies of law apply on top of its own policies. The first is constitutional due process: the college is a state actor, and Goss v. Lopez, 419 U.S. 565 (1975), requires notice of the charge and a meaningful chance to respond. The second is the deference courts give genuine academic judgment — 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). In the Seventh Circuit a due process claim also needs a protected interest: there is no free-standing property interest in a public education, and a student has to point to a specific promise the college made — Charleston v. Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois at Chicago, 741 F.3d 769 (7th Cir. 2013).

Illinois law treats a community college differently from a state university, and the difference matters. A community college district is a local public entity, not the State: it falls under the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act, 745 ILCS 10/1-206, not the Court of Claims Act, so a breach-of-contract claim against it is brought in circuit court — see Luciano v. Waubonsee Community College, 245 Ill. App. 3d 1077 (1993). Review of the board’s disciplinary decision does not run through the Administrative Review Law, which the Public Community College Act does not adopt for these matters; the route is a common-law writ of certiorari (or mandamus) in the circuit court — Maas v. Board of Trustees of Community College District No. 529, 94 Ill. App. 3d 562 (1981). For the City Colleges, that district is Community College District No. 508, and Inwang v. Community College District No. 508, 117 Ill. App. 3d 608 (1983), confirmed that the district board’s action is reviewable by mandamus or certiorari rather than under the Administrative Review Act. And in federal court the district is not an arm of the State and has no Eleventh Amendment immunity — Hostrop v. Board of Junior College District No. 515, 523 F.2d 569 (7th Cir. 1975) — so under Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658 (1978), it can be sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 where its own policy or custom caused the constitutional violation.

A federal claim arising at Harry S Truman 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, ADA or due process complaint for a Truman 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.

In cosmetology and barbering, a removal costs hours

The Cosmetology & Barber Student Handbook (Fall 2025) describes itself as a “supplement (not replace)” to the district manual, so every district procedural right below still applies. What it adds is a clock. The handbook calls these clock-hour programs meeting the state licensing agency’s standards, and draws the consequences plainly:

• Students “deficient in the designated hours per course will not pass the course and will need to repeat the course.”
• Only a licensed cosmetology or barber educator can grant hours; you sign in and out under the instructor’s rules, and you “may not earn hours while out of uniform.”
• A student who does not meet program expectations may be “removed from the class for the remainder of the day,” referred to Truman’s conduct process, or dismissed from Cosmetology & Barber courses. The listed grounds run from threats and disruption to “regular uniform non-compliance,” signing in or out without permission, and performing services outside the instructional setting.
• Cheating “will result, minimally, in the grade of ‘F’ by the educator” — a floor the district’s own integrity rule, which leaves the penalty to the instructor’s discretion, does not set.

That makes the sign-in record the most important document in a cosmetology dispute. A removal is a sanction with a price in hours, and the price is written down somewhere.

How a Truman conduct case starts and runs

At Truman a complaint usually begins as a Security Incident Report completed with a Safety and Security officer, or on the Truman Internal Incident Form, and is routed to the Dean of Student Services as conduct officer. The district code then gives you “no later than two (2) academic days” after notice to give your version in writing; academic days are weekdays, excluding holidays, when classes are in session. A pre-hearing meeting follows, and the hearing date must reach you in writing within two academic days of it. Truman’s 2026 Annual Security Report adds written charges at least 24 hours before the hearing and a preponderance standard, which the manual itself never states.

With students who speak more than ninety languages, one rule matters here. You may ask for a translator, but the request must be in writing “within three (3) academic days prior to any hearing,” the college will only “attempt to locate” one, and the translator “cannot be a friend or family member and cannot be another student.” At the hearing you may call witnesses and question adverse ones, bring one observer who may not speak, and present your own case; skipping it without just cause forfeits any appeal. A suspension over five academic days, a dismissal or an expulsion can be appealed within ten academic days of receiving the President’s decision, and the Provost’s ruling is final.

Sexual misconduct goes instead to the district EEO Office, within 180 days. 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 district’s June 2025 Title IX policy provides a live video hearing at which your advisor cross-examines from questions screened in advance.

Grade appeals: use the current procedure, not the old handbook

To contest a final grade or an academic-dishonesty finding, start within thirty calendar days with the instructor, who has seven calendar days to answer; then the department chair, with fourteen calendar days to appeal and fourteen to decide; then the Academic Vice President, whose decision is final. Truman still posts a Faculty Handbook that cites the 2015 policy manual and describes a six-step grade appeal ending with the College President. Work from the March 2026 district procedure; it is the one in force.

What a student defense lawyer can do here

Most of the value is early and quiet: setting Truman’s actions against the written rules; drafting the two-day statement and any appeal on the grounds the policy accepts; preserving Title IX, Section 504 and ADA, and FERPA issues so they exist on the record; and finding comparators, because a sanction far from what similar cases received is persuasive.

At Truman two moves stand out. In cosmetology or barbering, get the hour log, the syllabus make-up policy and the reason for any removal in writing before the term ends, while hours can still be recovered. In any conduct case, request a translator or accommodation in writing the day the first letter arrives, not the week of the hearing.

The limit: a campus hearing is not a trial. No discovery, no rules of evidence, and the college judges its own case first — so the record made now is all a reviewing court will see.

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 Truman College’s own rule on that — the district rule 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.

What to do first

1. Diary two academic days from the complaint notice for your written statement, and ten from the President’s decision for any appeal.
2. In cosmetology or barbering, ask for your hour records and the instructor’s make-up policy in writing.
3. Request a translator or accommodation in writing — three academic days is the outer limit.
4. Ask for the incident report and the evidence by email. District policy allows 45 calendar days to produce records, so do not wait for them before filing anything.
5. Use the March 2026 manual as a dated PDF. My Illinois student defense page covers other schools.

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 college writes its own conduct, academic-standing and appeal rules, and the deadlines are rarely the same from one campus to the next. These pages set out the procedure at other community colleges in the Northern District of Illinois:

• Highland Community College
• Illinois Valley Community College
• Joliet Junior College
• Kennedy-King College (City Colleges of Chicago)
• Kishwaukee College
• Malcolm X College (City Colleges of Chicago)

Common questions about Truman College student cases

Can Truman College remove me from a cosmetology class?

Yes. The Cosmetology & Barber handbook allows a student to be removed for the rest of the day, referred to Truman’s conduct process, or dismissed from Cosmetology & Barber courses. Grounds include disruption, threats, repeated uniform violations and signing in or out without permission. The removal also costs clock hours, which the handbook warns may not be recoverable.

What happens if I am short on hours in Truman’s cosmetology program?

The handbook says a student deficient in the designated hours for a course will not pass it and must repeat it — as the handbook puts it, Illinois requires cumulative training hours for licensure. Only a licensed educator can grant hours, and none are earned out of uniform. Check your sign-in records early and ask in writing for any error to be fixed.

How long do I have to appeal a discipline decision at Truman College?

Ten academic days from receiving the College President’s decision, and only for a suspension longer than five academic days, a college dismissal or an expulsion. Academic days are weekdays, excluding holidays, when classes are in session. The Provost’s decision on appeal is final.

Can I have a translator at my Truman College hearing?

You may request one, in writing, within three academic days before any hearing. The district rule says the college will attempt to locate a translator connected to the college, and that the translator cannot be a friend, a family member or another student. Ask early, and keep a copy of the request.

Can I bring a lawyer to my Truman College hearing?

In a campus conduct hearing you may bring one observer, who may not speak; you present your own case. In a Title IX case the district policy allows an advisor of your choice, who conducts the cross-examination. A lawyer’s most useful work is usually before the hearing, on the written statement and the record.