Southern Illinois University School of Law — Dismissal & Appeals

Written by Zachary Gaynor, attorney · The Florida Bar, admitted 2016 · court admissions. Reviewed November 2, 2026.

Who decides whether an SIU law student is dismissed?

No committee votes. At the Southern Illinois University School of Law in Carbondale (now styled SIU Simmons Law School), academic dismissal is arithmetic written into Rule III.2 of the School of Law Rules, and each dismissal line carries the same five words: “without right of petition or appeal.” The administrator who runs the rule is the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Student Compliance, who meets with students who fall below the line and sets the probation conditions.

Misconduct runs on a different track. Cheating and plagiarism go through the law school’s own 2025 Honor Code — a Faculty Examiner, a Hearing Officer and an Ethics Appeal Board; the SIUC Student Conduct Code confirms that “Academic dishonesty allegations in the School of Law will be administered through the Professional Ethics Policy of the School of Law.” Non-academic conduct goes through the campus Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities.

Three checkpoints, four numbers: 1.599, 1.800, 1.900 and 2.000

• End of the first semester (Rule III.2(a), added 2023): a student “with a cumulative GPA of 1.599 or below shall be dismissed from the School of Law, without right of petition or appeal.” Students between 1.600 and 1.999 “must meet with the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Student Compliance to receive academic counseling.”
• End of the second semester (Rule III.2(b)): 2.000 or above is “good standing.” Below 1.800 is dismissal, again “without right of petition or appeal.” Good standing is “determined based on all courses in which a final grade has actually been assigned.”
• Probation at 1.800–1.999 (Rule III.2(c)): the student is “eligible to continue studies at the School of Law, but is not in good standing,” and must meet the Associate Dean and the Director of Academic Success “to develop a plan of remediation,” then “achieve a GPA of at least 2.000 in each of the next two full semesters,” reach a cumulative 2.000 by the end of the fourth semester, and “take at least 12 hours per semester.” Missing any one condition means dismissal “without right of petition or appeal” (Rule III.2(c)(iii)).
• End of the fourth semester (Rule III.2(d)–(e)): below 1.900 is dismissal. A student at 1.900–1.999 who was at 2.000 after the second semester gets a second probation with the two meetings as its only conditions; missing either is dismissal.
• Graduation (Rule III.5(c)): an “overall cumulative GPA of at least 2.000” and a 2.000 “in all work completed after the student becomes a third-year student.”

There is no petition after an academic dismissal — so the case is made before grades post

The Rules once had a readmission provision; the Revision History records its removal on 20 April 2010 (“eliminating readmission provision”). The only “petition to the Dean” left in Rule III.2 is for a student who voluntarily withdrew and wants to return more than 15 months later, and that petition “shall be freely granted if justice so requires” (Rule III.2(f)). A student on probation who withdraws “must, upon readmission, continue to satisfy the conditions of probation.”

That leaves four routes, each of which has to be used before the number is final:

• Check the arithmetic. Standing counts only courses where “a final grade has actually been assigned.” An Incomplete (Rule III.1(e)) is not a final grade, and a grade change can move a cumulative figure by a hundredth.
• Grieve the grade, not the standing. Rule III.3(g) allows a grievance against a final course grade only on proof “by demonstrable evidence that the grade was awarded due to prejudice or arbitrary and capricious conduct by the faculty member.” A complaint that “the class standards were too high” or “the grades were too low” is not enough. The deadline is “the first Monday in April” for fall grades and “the first Monday in November” for spring or summer grades, after a required attempt to meet the professor.
• Treat the probation conditions as a contract. Get the meeting dates and the remediation plan in writing, because missing one is itself a dismissal ground.
• Raise disability early. Rule V.7 requires “a timely application” for accommodation; one made after grades post rarely moves a GPA. For anything no specific rule covers, the general grievance in Rule V.5 runs from the Associate Dean to the Dean to “the full faculty who shall serve as the ultimate arbiters of the matter.”

What the Rules leave out: a hearing, a standard, and the lawyer question

Rule III.2 provides no hearing and no decision standard, because the GPA is the decision. In a grade grievance the Associate Dean has “ten days” to decide whether the complaint “creates a reasonable suspicion” of prejudice or arbitrary conduct; if not, it is dismissed “without further right of appeal in the law school.” If referred, the three-member Academic Standards Committee (Rule VI.5(b)) reports within 60 calendar days, and the Dean “may reject those findings only if they are not clearly supported by the evidence.”

On lawyers: Rule III.3(g)(v) says “neither the grievant nor faculty member is entitled to have counsel or other representative present at any hearing or other proceeding that the Committee may conduct.” The probation rules say nothing about who may attend the Associate Dean meetings. “Day” excludes weekends, University holidays and closures (Rule I.1), so ten days is two working weeks.

Cheating, plagiarism and AI: the 2025 Honor Code

The Honor Code “is independent of University conduct codes,” and its Generative AI definition “also includes programs such as Grammarly.” The rule: “Unless explicitly permitted by an instructor, the use of Generative AI for assessments, including assignments and examinations as defined above, is prohibited.” The syllabus and any written permission are the first documents to collect. As published:

• An allegation must reach the Faculty Examiner “no later than 120 days after the discovery of the alleged misconduct” (Procedures III.A).
• A professor may resolve a minor violation with a grade sanction; the student may contest it “within five working days” (IV.C).
• Notice of an Examiner investigation must state “the student’s right to remain silent” and “the student’s right to counsel,” with “five consecutive days” to respond (V.A.2).
• A hearing is set 5 to 15 working days after notice, and the student may “be represented by anyone of the student’s choice” (VII.A). “The Examiner has the burden of proving a violation by clear and convincing evidence” (VII.B.4).
• Appeal to the Ethics Appeal Board “within five calendar days” (VIII.A); its decision “is final, and no further review may be had in the School of Law or elsewhere” (VIII.C).

Sanctions run from a grade adjustment to permanent separation, and an agreed disposition approved by the Dean cannot be appealed. Two lines matter for mitigation: “The stress of law school may not be considered as a mitigating factor,” and “Substance abuse is not a defense.” After a finding, the Dean keeps “a written summary of the misconduct committed by the student and the sanction imposed” in the permanent file, and the student “may prepare a written response, which shall also be made part of the student’s permanent file” (IX.B).

Non-academic matters go to a campus “administrative conference” under the SIUC Student Conduct Code: three days’ notice, a “more likely than not” standard, an advisor in “a non-speaking, non-participatory role,” and an appeal due three days from the outcome email. The campus process is on the SIU Carbondale page.

Illinois character and fitness: how the file travels

Illinois Supreme Court Rule 708(b) asks whether an applicant’s “record of conduct demonstrates that he or she meets the essential eligibility requirements for the practice of law and justifies the trust of clients, adversaries, courts and others.” Under Rule 708(e), “each applicant is under a continuing duty to supplement and continue to report fully and completely to the Board of Admissions to the Bar and to the Committee on Character and Fitness all information required to be disclosed.” The Board’s application instructions require a “Certification of Juris Doctorate” that “must be completed by the dean of your law school.”

So the Honor Code summary in the permanent file, and the student’s written response beside it, are what an Illinois examiner may eventually read. An applicant who loses before the Committee may “petition the Supreme Court for review within 35 days” (Rule 708(h)) — an Illinois licensing proceeding that calls for Illinois counsel.

Why the paper matters more than any meeting

SIU is public, but academic dismissals call for “far less stringent procedural requirements” (Board of Curators v. Horowitz, 435 U.S. 78, 86 (1978)), and courts defer unless a decision is “such a substantial departure from accepted academic norms” that no professional judgment was exercised (Regents of the University of Michigan v. Ewing, 474 U.S. 214, 225 (1985)). At a school whose rules provide no petition, the written record — the grade grievance, the documented probation plan, the accommodation request, the Honor Code response — is the case.

Where the governing documents are

Verified as loading on 2 November 2026:

• Rules of the Southern Illinois University School of Law, Academic Year 2025–2026 (Rules I.1, III.1, III.2, III.3(g), III.5, V.5, V.7, VI.5(b); last revision entry 12 May 2025) — law.siu.edu
• Rules Relating to Academic Standing, Probation, and Withdrawal (excerpt of Rule III.2, amended through 28 April 2023) — law.siu.edu
• SIU Simmons Law School 2025 Honor Code, “A Complete Revision Replacing All Prior Versions” (file dated June 2025) — law.siu.edu
• SIUC Student Conduct Code, 2023–2024 edition (amended through 9 November 2022) — law.siu.edu
• Student Services page linking all three — law.siu.edu
• Illinois Supreme Court Rule 708, Committee on Character and Fitness (amended effective 1 January 2014) — illinoiscourts.gov
• Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar, application instructions (Certification of Juris Doctorate) — ilbaradmissions.org

Not public: any procedure, form or deadline for the Associate Dean meetings under Rule III.2; the content of a “plan of remediation”; the Academic Standards Committee’s hearing procedures beyond Rule III.3(g); who may attend a probation meeting; the identity of the current Faculty Examiner, Hearing Officer and Ethics Appeal Board; the School of Law Policy Concerning Applicants and Students with Disabilities cited in Rule V.7; and whether an academic dismissal, as opposed to an Honor Code finding, is reported to the Board of Admissions. All are worth requesting in writing.

Related reading

• Law school dismissal and academic standing
• Professionalism and fitness-to-practice findings
• Due process at public institutions
• Public or private? A due-process decision tree
• Illinois student defense

Other Illinois schools

Every school writes its own dismissal, appeal and conduct rules, and the filing deadlines are rarely the same from one campus to the next. These pages set out the procedure at other Illinois schools:

• SIU School of Medicine — Dismissal & Appeals
• UIC School of Law
• Chicago-Kent College of Law
• Illinois State University Mennonite College of Nursing — Dismissal & Appeals

Common questions

How low does my GPA have to fall before SIU Law can dismiss me?

1.599 or below after the first semester, below 1.800 after the second, and below 1.900 after the fourth. At 1.800–1.999 after the second semester you continue on probation, but must then earn a 2.000 in each of the next two semesters and a 2.000 cumulative by the end of the fourth (Rule III.2).

Can I appeal an academic dismissal from SIU Law?

The Rules say each dismissal is “without right of petition or appeal,” and the readmission provision was removed in 2010. What remains is a grade grievance under Rule III.3(g), the general grievance under Rule V.5, and the accommodation route under Rule V.7 — all of which work best before the final grade posts.

How long do I have to grieve a grade?

Until the first Monday in April for a fall grade and the first Monday in November for a spring or summer grade, after reasonable efforts to meet the professor. The Associate Dean then has ten working days to dismiss the grievance or refer it to the Academic Standards Committee.

Can a lawyer come with me?

Not to an Academic Standards Committee grade proceeding — Rule III.3(g)(v) excludes “counsel or other representative.” In an Honor Code case the notice must state your “right to counsel,” and at a hearing you may be “represented by anyone of the student’s choice.” The probation rules are silent, so ask in writing.

Will an Honor Code finding follow me to the Illinois bar?

It can. The Dean keeps a written summary of the finding and sanction in your permanent file, and Illinois Supreme Court Rule 708(e) places a continuing duty on every applicant to report fully to the Board of Admissions and the Committee on Character and Fitness. Your written response goes in the same file, so write it for that reader.

Can a lawyer help me prepare the grievance or the Honor Code response?

Yes. A lawyer can help prepare the grade grievance, the probation plan, the accommodation request or the Honor Code response and appeal, and the work is handled case by case; a flat-fee Full Read + Game Plan is described on the fees and scope of services page.

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