Richard J. Daley College (City Colleges of Chicago): Student Discipline, Dismissal & Federal Court

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

Richard J. Daley College is a public community college at 7500 South Pulaski Road on Chicago’s Southwest Side — a Hispanic-Serving Institution with a satellite campus at the Arturo Velasquez Institute, and the City Colleges’ center of excellence for advanced manufacturing. It is one of the seven City Colleges of Chicago (Community College District No. 508), accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, and its discipline rules are district-wide — which produces the most useful fact in them: being dismissed from Daley is not the same as being expelled from all seven colleges, and the district’s appeal rule includes a ground few codes have — “exceptional circumstances to limit an expulsion to a certain college or colleges” — with the Provost empowered to “permit the student to enroll in another City College.”

Richard J. Daley 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 Richard J. Daley 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 Daley 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.

Dismissed from Daley, or expelled from all seven

Warnings, disciplinary probation, restitution, community service and loss of privileges can be imposed without a formal hearing; suspension, college dismissal and expulsion come out of one. Under §8.22 of the City Colleges Academic and Student Policy manual (March 2026) only a suspension longer than five academic days, a college dismissal or an expulsion can be appealed.

• Deadline. Ten academic days from receiving the President’s decision — weekdays, excluding holidays, when classes are in session.
• Grounds. Appeals “are not re-hearings.” The six grounds are an unfair hearing, insufficient evidence, new information, a sanction out of proportion, a substantial deviation from policy, and exceptional circumstances to limit an expulsion to certain colleges. The district’s Discipline Appeal Form lists five of them and omits new information; if that is your ground, use the form’s “Other” box and cite §8.22(a).
• Outcome. A District Judicial Affairs Committee advises the Provost, who may uphold, shorten or reverse the sanction, or let you enroll at another City College, within ten academic days. The decision is final and effective immediately.
• The way back. “In exceptional instances,” a student dismissed or expelled for discipline may petition for readmission no sooner than five years later, with evidence of good citizenship and a personal statement. The President of the college you want to attend decides, with the Provost’s approval.

Safety cases run on a separate track. Where a student is “a substantial and sustained threat,” the President, with Supportive Intervention Team input and district approval, may order an administrative removal “from the College or all City Colleges,” after notice and a chance to submit medical information; appeals go to the Provost within ten academic days.

How a Daley case gets to a hearing

At Daley a complaint is filed on the college’s Student Conduct Complaint Form and reviewed by the conduct officer, the Associate Dean of Student Development. Once notified, you have two academic days to give your version in writing. A pre-hearing meeting explains your due process rights, and the hearing date must follow in writing within two academic days; Daley’s 2026 Annual Security Report promises written charges at least 24 hours before the hearing and a decision on the preponderance of the evidence — a standard the manual itself never states. At the hearing you may testify, call witnesses and question adverse ones, bring one observer who may not speak, and present your own case; failing to appear without just cause forfeits the appeal. The President may reduce the committee’s recommendation but not increase it, and any suspension over five days, dismissal or expulsion goes to the Provost for approval with a summary of the evidence. Prior violations within one calendar year can be counted toward a heavier sanction.

Sexual misconduct goes 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 policy provides a live video hearing at which each party’s advisor cross-examines.

In the shop: a weapons rule written for manufacturing labs

Daley is the only City College offering degrees in welding engineering technology, mechatronics and computer-aided drafting engineering technology, and it shares CNC machining with Wright College. The district weapons rule reaches that work directly: it is a violation to engage in “3D printing, machining, or otherwise producing/ drawing/ designing” a prohibited item “or their parts using CCC property or on CCC premises.” The list of prohibited items includes realistic toy guns and “any instrument, item, or material used with the intent of causing harm.” If a project could be read that way, get the assignment and the instructor’s approval in writing before the file reaches a machine.

What a student defense lawyer can do here

Most of the value is early and quiet: reading the district rules against what Daley did; writing the statement and the appeal on the grounds the policy recognizes; preserving Title IX, Section 504, ADA and FERPA issues; and identifying comparators, because a sanction far beyond what similar cases drew persuades.

Two moves are specific to this district. When expulsion is on the table, the appeal can ask for something short of reversal — an expulsion limited to Daley, or permission to enroll at another City College. And because the President must send a summary of the evidence to the Provost, that summary is worth requesting and answering.

The limit: a conduct hearing is not a trial. There is no discovery and no rules of evidence, and the college decides first, so the written record built now is what a court would 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 Daley 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. Identify the sanction exactly — suspension (how many days), college dismissal or expulsion — because it decides whether you can appeal.
2. Count ten academic days from the day you received the President’s decision.
3. Ask in writing for the hearing record and the summary of evidence sent to the Provost. Records requests can take 45 calendar days, so do not wait for them to file.
4. If a shop project is involved, collect the assignment, the design files and any instructor approval.
5. Keep 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:

• Rock Valley College
• Sauk Valley Community College
• South Suburban College
• Triton College
• Waubonsee Community College
• Wilbur Wright College (City Colleges of Chicago)

Common questions about Daley College student cases

What is the difference between dismissal and expulsion at Daley College?

A college dismissal removes you from Daley; an expulsion removes you from all seven City Colleges. Both come out of a formal disciplinary hearing, both can be appealed within ten academic days of the President’s decision, and both carry the same five-year wait before a readmission petition. The appeal can ask to limit an expulsion to certain colleges.

Can I enroll at another City College after being disciplined at Daley College?

Possibly. On appeal, the Provost may permit a student to enroll in another City College, and one listed appeal ground is exceptional circumstances to limit an expulsion to a certain college or colleges. The request needs evidence of those circumstances, not just a wish for a fresh start.

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

Ten academic days from receiving the College President’s decision, counting weekdays, excluding holidays, when classes are in session. Only a suspension longer than five academic days, a college dismissal or an expulsion can be appealed. The Provost decides within ten academic days, and that decision is final.

When can I come back after a disciplinary dismissal from Daley College?

Not for at least five years from the date of dismissal or expulsion, and then only by petition “in exceptional instances.” It needs documented good citizenship and a personal statement showing insight and change. The President of the college you want to attend decides, subject to the Provost’s approval.

What standard of proof does Daley College use?

The district manual does not state one for conduct hearings. Daley’s 2026 Annual Security Report says the hearing committee’s recommendation is based on the preponderance of the evidence — more likely than not — and the district’s Title IX policy uses the same standard.