Taylor Business Institute: Student Discipline, Dismissal & Federal Court

How do student discipline and dismissal cases work at Taylor Business Institute?

Taylor Business Institute (TBI) is a small, private, for-profit college in Chicago’s Loop, in Cook County — its catalog gives the campus as 29 E. Madison St., Suite LL — accredited by the Higher Learning Commission to award Associate of Applied Science degrees and certificates. It offers career associate degrees, English as a Second Language and USMLE preparation, and enrolls students from more than 35 countries. One of its rules is measured in hours: a grievance that reaches its last step must go in writing to the President “within 48 hours of receipt of the grievance.”

Taylor Business Institute 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 Taylor Business Institute 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 Taylor Business Institute 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.

Termination: a list that is “not intended to be all inclusive”

Both the 2026–2028 catalog (Volume 70) and the 2025–2027 Student Handbook let TBI terminate a student who fails academic progress, shows “excessive tardiness or absences,” falls behind on payments, damages property, or engages in “unlawful or improper conduct.” The list “is not intended to be all inclusive,” and TBI “may deem actions committed by a student to be a conduct violation although the action does not appear on a list of examples.” A student carrying a weapon is “subject to immediate termination.” Neither document publishes a notice period, hearing, standard of proof or advisor rule for discipline; the only process is the grievance policy. See conduct code defense.

AI, cheating and a permanent transcript note

TBI’s academic dishonesty rule reaches AI directly: “Using AI tools to generate content, complete assignments, or perform tasks without explicit permission from the instructor is prohibited,” and permitted use must be disclosed. Once “an instructor or the administration” decides dishonesty occurred, sanctions run from a zero to a failing grade, to “Terminate the student from the class and place a permanent note on that student’s transcript,” to suspension from the college. No hearing is described. See AI academic integrity accusations.

The grievance policy runs in hours

Three conferences come first: the person involved, the Dean of Academic Affairs and, for non-academic matters, a supervisor. Step Four is a written statement of “all facts relevant to the grievance” to the President, and it “must be completed within 48 hours of receipt of the grievance” — the policy does not say whose receipt, or whether weekends count. “Within 24 hours of receipt of a written grievance,” the President schedules a Grievance Committee Hearing before the President or a designee and two uninvolved staff or faculty members. “All persons directly involved, or their representatives, must be present,” and the decision follows within 48 hours. It is final unless the student asks the Board of Governors to review it at board@tbiil.edu, for which no deadline is published.

Grades move fast too. The handbook requires raising a grade with the instructor “within two weeks of receiving the grade,” or “the student waives the right to an appeal,” and the catalog considers no grade-change review beyond the second week after grades post. See grade appeals.

Academic progress, attendance and coming back

Courses require at least 70% attendance. Progress is measured each 10-week quarter against a cumulative GPA floor of 1.5 after the first quarter, 1.7 after the second and 2.0 from the third on. A first miss means SAP Warning; a second, SAP Suspension, which can be appealed by “written petition to the Dean of Academic Affairs” — no deadline is published. A student terminated for academic progress stays out of regular enrollment “for at least one quarter,” and anyone dismissed may return “only after an interview with the Dean of Academic Affairs” showing the problem is fixed “to the mutual satisfaction” of student and Dean. See SAP appeals.

Title IX: a live hearing, and seven days to appeal

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). TBI’s Title IX Sexual Harassment Policy tracks that rule: the 2020 regulation requires postsecondary institutions to hold a live hearing at which each party’s advisor conducts cross-examination, and TBI’s policy lets each advisor question the other party and witnesses “directly, orally, and in real time.” The hearing officer applies preponderance of the evidence. An appeal goes to the Faculty Senate President “within seven (7) days,” which the policy counts as calendar days ending at 5:00 p.m. central time. An advisor may be an attorney but otherwise plays a “passive role,” and TBI supplies an advisor for the hearing if a party has none. See Title IX hearings and cross-examination.

What a student defense lawyer can do here

Most of the value is early and quiet: reading TBI’s policy against what the school actually did; writing the response or appeal on the grounds the policy recognizes, not 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 finding comparators, because a sanction far outside what similar cases drew is one of the few arguments that reliably moves a decision-maker.

At TBI, the specific moves are timing and record: drafting the Step Four statement while the earlier conferences are still under way, because 48 hours leaves no time to start from scratch; and, in an AI case, asking in writing what “explicit permission” the instructor gave and what the evidence shows — before an instructor alone imposes a failing grade or a permanent transcript note.

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 TBI 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 Taylor Business Institute’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.

For grievances, TBI’s undefined “representatives” is the only opening, so ask in writing who may attend.

What to do first

1. Start the grievance in writing now. The last step runs on 48 hours.
2. Raise a grade within two weeks, in writing to the instructor, or the appeal is waived.
3. Save the documents: the 2026–2028 catalog (updated August 24, 2026) and the 2025–2027 Student Handbook, with dates visible.
4. Ask for the evidence, including any AI-detection report and the instructor’s written AI permissions.
5. International students: the catalog routes withdrawal questions through the Designated School Official, so see that office before you withdraw. See international students and 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:

• Telshe Yeshiva Chicago
• Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago
• University of Chicago
• University of Illinois Chicago
• University of Illinois Chicago School of Law
• University of Saint Mary of the Lake (Mundelein Seminary)

Common questions about Taylor Business Institute student cases

How long do I have to file a grievance at Taylor Business Institute?

No deadline is published for starting, but the end runs on hours. After conferences with the person involved and the Dean of Academic Affairs, the written statement to the President “must be completed within 48 hours of receipt of the grievance,” and the hearing is scheduled within 24 hours. A grade complaint must be raised within two weeks.

Can Taylor Business Institute fail me for using AI?

Yes. Using AI to generate content or complete assignments “without explicit permission from the instructor is prohibited,” and an instructor or the administration can impose anything from a zero to a failing grade, a permanent transcript note or suspension. No hearing is described, so answer in writing quickly.

Can I bring a lawyer to a Taylor Business Institute hearing?

In a Title IX case, yes: an advisor may be an attorney and questions the other party and witnesses at the live hearing, though otherwise the role is passive. For a grievance hearing, the policy says “All persons directly involved, or their representatives, must be present,” without defining who may serve. Ask in writing.

How long do I have to appeal a Title IX decision at Taylor Business Institute?

Seven days from notice of the determination, to the Faculty Senate President. The policy counts weekends and federal holidays and ends the period at 5:00 p.m. central time on the last day, or the next business day if that day is a weekend or holiday. Appeals are limited to procedural irregularity, new evidence, and conflict of interest or bias.