Midwestern University (Downers Grove): Student Discipline, Dismissal & Federal Court

How do student discipline and dismissal cases work at Midwestern?

This page covers Midwestern University’s Downers Grove campus, in DuPage County; the Glendale, Arizona campus has its own page and its own catalog. Midwestern is a private, not-for-profit health-sciences university accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. The Downers Grove campus, on 133 acres, houses six colleges: the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine; the College of Pharmacy, Downers Grove; the College of Health Sciences (physician assistant studies, physical therapy, occupational therapy, clinical psychology and speech-language pathology); the College of Dental Medicine-Illinois; the Chicago College of Optometry; and the College of Graduate Studies. The institution began in 1900 as the American College of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery, and its osteopathic college moved to Downers Grove after the campus was bought in 1986. One rule in the 2026–2027 Student Handbook should change how any conduct appeal is planned. Midwestern finds a violation on a preponderance of the evidence, but a student who appeals “must prove the appeal ground(s) by clear and convincing evidence” — a heavier burden on the student than the University carried — and has five business days from the date the decision is issued to file.

Midwestern 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.

A federal claim arising at Midwestern University’s Downers Grove campus is filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois — DuPage 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 Midwestern 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.

Conduct: preponderance to find it, clear and convincing to undo it

The Student Judicial System in the 2026–2027 Student Handbook covers non-academic discipline and academic or professional misconduct serious enough to remove a student from good standing; it does not replace the promotions committees, and minor concerns can be handled with a Non-Disciplinary Incident Report, which does not affect good standing but puts the student on notice. “Day” means “a business day when Midwestern University is open.” Allegations go to the Dean of Students and your college dean; you receive written notice of the allegations, the general range of possible outcomes and the next step, and notice is “deemed provided” if you refuse or fail to accept delivery. You are offered a meeting with the Dean of Students “ordinarily within five (5) days of notice”; the Dean of Students sends a recommendation to the college dean ordinarily within ten days of the meeting, and the college dean issues the decision, typically within ten days more. The standard is preponderance, and if the evidence is evenly balanced the University “must find the student not responsible.”

The definitions are written for a health-sciences campus and for the present. Cheating includes the unauthorized use of “artificial intelligence tools (including generative AI),” plagiarism includes “unattributed AI-generated output,” and the handbook warns that unauthorized or undisclosed AI use “may constitute cheating, plagiarism, fabrication, or other misconduct depending on the context.” Professional misconduct runs to twenty-one categories, down to arriving late to examinations three or more times in a term. The academic-misconduct sanction is harsher than students expect: a possible zero on the work, a disciplinary status, and no retake or comprehensive re-examination of any kind, even when the zero causes a course or rotation failure. See AI academic integrity accusations.

The appeal is where Midwestern’s rules are unusual. It goes to the Chief Academic Officer or Provost “within five (5) days of the date the written decision is issued” — issued, not received — on four grounds only: an important process mistake that likely affected the outcome; new information that could not reasonably have been provided earlier; a specific conflict of interest or bias, which the appeal must document by who, what, when and where, the supporting evidence and how it changed the outcome; or an excessive sanction. The handbook calls the appeal “not a second review of the whole case,” says “Facts are given strong weight,” and requires the student to prove both the ground and its likely effect on the outcome by clear and convincing evidence. An appeal without enough specific facts may be denied “without further review.” A disability-related ground must identify the accommodation, when and how it was requested, and how its denial or non-implementation likely affected the outcome. The Provost may reduce or increase the sanction, and the Provost’s written decision is final. Nowhere does the Student Judicial System mention advisors or attorneys; it publishes no advisor rule at all. See student conduct code defense.

Two related powers sit beside that process. The Dean of Students may recommend an interim suspension in extraordinary circumstances, and a temporary suspension “may continue until such time as the issue in dispute is resolved.” Separately, under the handbook’s Mandatory Medical Assessments policy, the Dean of Students or an academic dean may require a medical or psychological assessment, place the student on temporary suspension until a clinical evaluator clears a return, and require a release of information. One drafting gap is worth checking in any case brought under a college rule: the 2026–2027 catalog sections for osteopathic medicine, health sciences, graduate studies, dental medicine and optometry still define professional misconduct by reference to numbered appendices of the Student Handbook (“Appendices 2 and 4”), and the 2026–2027 Handbook has no appendices. Ask which text the college is applying.

Promotions committees: three days to appeal, and only you in the room

Each college has its own promotions committee and its own appeal, and the clocks are short. At the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine, the Promotions Committee requires students with two or more course or rotation failures to appear, and “Failure to appear, when required, may result in disciplinary action and does not constitute a reason for appeal.” Academic probation follows two failures or any COMLEX-USA failure; three failures in any combination, failing a course a second time, or three COMLEX-USA failures bring a recommendation of dismissal. The first COMLEX-USA Level 1 attempt must come within 90 days of finishing the OMS II requirements, and a retake “no later than 10 days after completing Directed Study” — the catalog does not say whether those are calendar or business days. Disciplinary probation may be shared with clinical sites and documented in the Medical Student Performance Evaluation. An appeal goes to the Dean “within three business days,” on bias, material information not available to the committee, or procedural error, and you must keep attending class. The readmission rule is absolute: “Students who have been dismissed are not eligible for readmission,” and neither are students who withdraw when facing dismissal. See medical school dismissal and remediation.

The other colleges follow one pattern in different words. In the College of Pharmacy, Downers Grove, the Student Promotion and Graduation Committee gives at least two working days’ written notice before reviewing you; you may send a reflection letter and appear, but must say so in writing at least 24 hours ahead, and “this prerogative extends to the involved student only and not to any other individuals.” A dismissal or extended-track decision may be appealed to the Dean “within three working days.” The College of Health Sciences works through a program Student Academic Review Committee, with at least two business days’ notice, the same student-only appearance rule, and grade-point floors that vary by program: 3.000 for occupational therapy, clinical psychology and speech-language pathology, and 2.750 for physical therapy and physician assistant studies, where a PA student below 2.750 cannot begin clinical rotations. An appeal goes to the CHS Dean within three business days, followed by a required meeting with the Dean within five business days and a final decision typically within five business days more. Two or more required course failures “will typically result in dismissal,” and a failed course may be retaken only once. The College of Dental Medicine-Illinois gives at least 48 hours’ notice of its progress committee and three working days to appeal; the Chicago College of Optometry and the College of Graduate Studies also allow three working days. See promotions and progress committees.

Two details catch students. A grade appeal that could change the committee’s decision has to be made before the committee meets — within one business day of the grade’s posting for a didactic course and two business days for a failing clinical grade — and you must tell the committee chair that you have filed. And a student in a rotation may be placed on a mandatory leave while an appeal is pending, in pharmacy, health sciences and optometry alike. Readmission after a health-sciences or dental dismissal is possible but narrow: a new application within the first two years after dismissal, with readmission granted only once.

Sexual misconduct: two standards of proof in the same year

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). At Midwestern the Dean of Students serves as Title IX Coordinator. A formal complaint leads to an investigation and a live hearing, with the student respondent’s Academic Dean as decision-maker. Both parties may have an advisor present at every meeting, interview and proceeding, and “Students may choose to have a lawyer as their advisor,” though Midwestern “may establish restrictions regarding the extent to which the advisor may participate,” applied equally to both sides. The procedure does not commit to a method of questioning at the hearing: it allows either questions proposed by the parties and asked by the hearing officer, or questions asked by each party’s advisor. Each major stage “will typically occur within 5 school days.” An appeal goes to the Provost “within 5 business days of notification” of the decision, on procedural irregularity, new evidence, or conflict of interest or bias; the Provost may confirm the decision, alter sanctions or ask for more information, and “The final decision rests with the Provost.” See Title IX hearings and cross-examination.

The standard of proof is where Midwestern’s two 2026–2027 documents part company. The Student Handbook says “The University standard for determining the validity of a complaint is the ‘preponderance of evidence’ standard.” The Downers Grove catalog’s version of the same passage says it is “the ‘clear and convincing’ evidence standard.” A respondent should not assume the higher standard will be applied, and a complainant should not accept it without asking: put the question to the Title IX Coordinator in writing, before the hearing, along with the question of how witnesses will be questioned. Harassment and discrimination outside Title IX follow a separate catalog procedure — an investigation begun, if possible, within three working days, findings on a preponderance of the evidence, and an appeal to the President within 14 calendar days of notification of findings.

What a student defense lawyer can do here

Most of the value is early and quiet. It is reading Midwestern’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 Midwestern the conduct appeal has to be built before it is filed. Because the student must prove a ground — and its likely effect on the outcome — by clear and convincing evidence, within five business days of the decision being issued, the evidence of a process mistake, a conflict or a disproportionate sanction has to be gathered while the investigation is still open: a written request for the policy step that was skipped, a contemporaneous objection, comparable sanctions in similar cases. The appeal also carries a risk to weigh, because the Provost may increase the sanction. Before a promotions committee, only the student may appear in pharmacy, health sciences, optometry and graduate studies, so the work is the written statement and preparation for the room — and the notice deadlines for saying you will appear are measured in hours.

What a lawyer cannot do is turn a campus hearing into a trial. The rules of evidence do not apply, there is no discovery, and the school decides its own case at first instance. That is exactly 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 Midwestern’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.

What to do first

1. Write the deadline down in your college’s unit. Three business days to appeal a promotions decision in osteopathic medicine and health sciences; three working days in pharmacy, dental medicine, optometry and graduate studies; five business days, counted from the date the decision is issued, for a conduct appeal; five business days from notification for a Title IX appeal.
2. Answer the committee’s invitation in writing. Say whether you will appear or submit a statement by the deadline in the notice — 24 hours ahead in pharmacy and optometry — and send the statement with the documents attached.
3. File any grade appeal before the committee meets. One business day after posting for a didactic grade, two for a failing clinical grade, and tell the committee chair you have filed.
4. Start the conduct appeal file at the notice stage. Keep the notice, every email, the meeting date and any request you made that was refused; at Midwestern those are the materials a clear-and-convincing appeal is built from.
5. Raise accommodations before the next exam, not after. Midwestern’s accommodations start on the date you are notified of approval and “cannot be applied retroactively,” and it provides no provisional accommodations while a request is pending. A denial may be appealed to the Dean of Students within one week. See disability accommodations under Section 504 and the ADA.
6. Do not withdraw from osteopathic medicine to avoid a dismissal. Students who withdraw when facing dismissal are not eligible for readmission. Save the catalog for the year you matriculated — its academic policies apply “throughout the entire time a student is enrolled” — and see the Illinois student defense hub for how federal court fits around the campus process.

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 Midwestern

Midwestern University students, across both of its campuses, Downers Grove and Glendale, Arizona, took on $276.1 million in federal Direct Loans in the 2025–26 award year — with 3,372 graduate and professional students also borrowing through Grad 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, Midwestern University’s most recent published composite score is 3.0 (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, all campuses.

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:

• Moody Bible Institute
• Morrison Institute of Technology
• National Louis University
• National University of Health Sciences
• North Central College
• North Park University

Common questions about Midwestern student cases

How long do I have to appeal at Midwestern?

Very little time. A promotions decision may be appealed within three business days in osteopathic medicine and health sciences, and within three working days in pharmacy, dental medicine, optometry and graduate studies. A conduct decision may be appealed to the Provost within five business days of the date it is issued, and a Title IX decision within five business days of notification. A grade appeal before a committee meeting is due within one business day of posting.

Can I bring a lawyer to a Midwestern promotions committee meeting?

Not in pharmacy, health sciences, optometry or graduate studies, whose procedures say that appearing before the committee “extends to the involved student only and not to any other individuals.” The osteopathic and dental procedures do not address advisors, and the conduct process publishes no advisor rule. Only the Title IX procedure speaks to lawyers: “Students may choose to have a lawyer as their advisor,” subject to equal limits Midwestern may set. In a committee case, a lawyer’s work is the written submission and your preparation.

What standard of proof does Midwestern use?

For conduct cases, preponderance of the evidence, and evenly balanced evidence means a finding of not responsible. On appeal the burden flips to the student, who must prove the appeal ground, and its likely effect on the outcome, by clear and convincing evidence. For sexual misconduct, the 2026–2027 Student Handbook says preponderance while the Downers Grove catalog says clear and convincing, so ask the Title IX Coordinator in writing which one will be applied.

Can I be readmitted to the osteopathic medical school after a dismissal?

Not under the 2026–2027 catalog: “Students who have been dismissed are not eligible for readmission,” and students who withdraw when facing dismissal are not eligible either. That makes the three-business-day appeal to the Dean the decisive step. Health-sciences and dental students are treated differently: they may reapply within two years of dismissal, and readmission is granted only once.

Can a Midwestern appeal make my sanction worse?

In a conduct case, yes. The Student Handbook lets the Provost change the sanction, “including reducing or increasing sanctions,” and the Provost’s decision is final. In a Title IX case the Provost may confirm the decision, alter any sanctions or ask for more information. Weigh that before filing, and make sure the appeal fits one of the listed grounds.

Do these rules apply at Midwestern’s Glendale campus?

This page covers Downers Grove. The Student Handbook applies to students on both campuses, but each campus has its own catalog, and the college promotions and appeal rules described here come from the Downers Grove catalog. Glendale students should read their own catalog and see Midwestern University’s Arizona page.