University of Illinois Chicago: Student Discipline, Dismissal & Federal Court

How do student discipline and dismissal cases work at the University of Illinois Chicago?

UIC — the University of Illinois Chicago — is a public research university in Chicago, in Cook County — 33,906 students in 16 colleges in fall 2024, by its own count — accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, with seven health sciences colleges and regional sites in Peoria, Rockford, the Quad Cities, Springfield and Urbana. The rule most worth knowing before you answer any email from the university sits in its Student Disciplinary Policy: five business days of silence mean opposite things depending on which notice you ignored. Let an Academic Liaison proposal sit and it becomes “an automatic rejection.” Let a Mutual Agreement notice sit and it becomes “an automatic acceptance” — of responsibility for every listed violation, with your hearing and your appeal waived.

The University of Illinois Chicago is a public university, so two bodies of law apply on top of its own handbook. The first is constitutional due process: the university 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), under which an academic decision stands unless it is such a substantial departure from accepted academic norms that no professional judgment was actually exercised.

The Seventh Circuit adds a hurdle that decides many of these cases at the pleading stage. There is no free-standing property interest in a public university education; a student has to point to a specific promise, such as a promise not to be dismissed without good cause, and Charleston v. Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois at Chicago, 741 F.3d 769 (7th Cir. 2013), dismissed a medical student’s due process claims for not doing so, adding that there is no fundamental right to a graduate education. The other route is liberty: in Doe v. Purdue University, 928 F.3d 652 (7th Cir. 2019), a formal finding of sexual violence that changed the student’s status, and that the university itself disclosed to the Navy, was enough — and the court held that a process in which panel members had not read the investigative report, the evidence was never shared with the student, and the decision-maker never heard from the accuser fell short of what even a high school must provide.

Illinois adds structural points that catch people out. Review of the university’s decision does not run through the Administrative Review Law, because the enabling acts do not adopt it; the vehicle is a common-law writ of certiorari in the circuit court — Dusthimer v. Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, 368 Ill. App. 3d 159 (2006) — on which the court asks whether the body proceeded legally and whether the evidence supports what it did. Money damages go somewhere else again: the state universities are arms of the State, and the Court of Claims Act, 705 ILCS 505/8, sends contract claims against the State and tort claims against the named university boards — the University of Illinois’s, which governs UIC, among them — to the Illinois Court of Claims. In federal court the university likewise has Eleventh Amendment immunity (Moore v. Watson, 838 F. Supp. 2d 735 (N.D. Ill. 2012), applied that to Chicago State), so the federal route is prospective relief against university officials in their official capacities. The state-court counterpart is Leetaru v. Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, 2015 IL 117485: a student may seek an injunction in circuit court where university officials act in violation of law or in excess of their authority — but the bar is a fundamental disregard of core rules, not a technical slip, and it is a remedy for a proceeding that is still running.

A federal claim arising at the University of Illinois Chicago 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 UIC 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.

Five business days, and silence can be a plea

UIC’s Student Disciplinary Policy, effective September 25, 2025, is administered by the Office of the Dean of Students. Its definition of time controls every deadline in the policy: “days” means “regular university business days (Monday through Friday) when most university offices are open,” excluding federal, state and university holidays and closings.

• Academic Liaison Process — academic integrity only, first alleged violation only. The faculty member proposes a resolution, which can be a failing grade for the course, and you have five business days to accept or reject it. Silence is “an automatic rejection,” after which the faculty member decides what happens next and may refer the case for formal discipline.
• Mutual Agreement Process — relatively minor infractions. You have five business days to accept or reject responsibility. Accepting waives the hearing and “any appeal rights” and admits responsibility for “ALL of the specified Standards of Conduct regulations.” Silence “will constitute an automatic acceptance.” The process is not offered to anyone previously found responsible for similar behavior.
• Hearings. Minor matters go to an administrative hearing before Dean of Students staff, which is not recorded. Serious ones go to a Student Conduct Committee panel — four to six voting faculty, staff and student members — that decides by majority vote whether it is “more likely than not” that you violated the policy, and only then looks at your prior record. The written decision is due within five business days, and a copy of the hearing record must be requested in writing within ten business days.

Your advisor or support person “shall not be permitted to directly participate in any conference or hearing.” If that person is an attorney, the Dean of Students needs the name and contact details at least five business days ahead, and the University “may have an attorney from the Office of University Counsel present.” Postponements are considered “only in extraordinary circumstances,” and withdrawing does not end the case: the Dean may hold registration, graduation and transcripts until it is resolved. One right is worth knowing by heart — Addendum B protects you from “compulsory self-incrimination regarding behaviors that may also be the subject of criminal charges.”

Interim suspension is reserved for an immediate threat to health or safety or a threat of significant disruption, and the Dean of Students must schedule a hearing within five business days of your receipt of the notice; the restrictions stay in place until that hearing ends. See interim suspension.

The appeal. File the Student Conduct Appeal Form “no later than five (5) days after receipt of the outcome,” with your grounds, your evidence and the outcome you want. There are three grounds: a procedural error that substantially affected the outcome; new evidence not reasonably available at the hearing (it does not count as new if you skipped the hearing or held it back); or a sanction “substantially disproportionate” to the violation. The Appeal Committee is confined to the record, decides within 30 business days, and its decision is final. A disciplinary dismissal lasts a set period, after which you must reapply — and it stays on your transcript permanently.

Academic integrity: AI is named, and the college can choose the forum

UIC’s definition of cheating lists “artificial intelligence” alongside unauthorized materials, people and study aids, and collaboration is unauthorized “unless expressly part of the assignment in question, or expressly permitted by the instructor.” The policy also makes breaching a college’s professional standards — including conduct at clinical, practicum and internship sites — a disciplinary violation, with a college representative invited to explain the standard. Most important, where conduct is both academic and disciplinary, it is “at the discretion of the faculty member, academic unit, or college” whether the matter goes to the college’s own process or to the Dean of Students. The forum decides the decision-maker, the procedure and the appeal, so it is the first thing to pin down. See AI-related accusations.

College rules sharpen the definitions. The College of Medicine’s AI policy, revised August 5, 2026, treats using AI “to directly author the response” as a violation of academic integrity and professionalism and expects you to cite any tool you used. The Retzky College of Pharmacy’s Honor Code, approved September 30, 2025, reaches plagiarism committed “intentionally or unintentionally,” bans uploading lecture slides or assignments into AI without permission, and lets the college’s Student Integrity Committee decide whether to handle a case inside the college or send it to the Dean of Students. Pharmacy adds a consequence that is easy to miss: a course failed because of an honor-code violation is not eligible for remediation.

College of Medicine: professionalism is treated as academics

The University of Illinois College of Medicine has three campuses — Chicago, Peoria and Rockford — and its Academic Policies and Professional Standards for 2025–2026 (approved August 6, 2025, with later revisions) put academic standing in the hands of the College Committee on Student Promotions (CCSP). The policy says that in the College “professional behavior is considered an academic expectation,” handled in the first instance by the faculty and the promotions committees rather than the campus conduct system. That framing matters in court, because academic decisions receive the deference described above, and it is why Charleston deserves a second look here: it involved a medical student at UIC itself. A claim arising at the Peoria campus belongs in a different federal district; see the caveat below.

• Professionalism. Behavioral reports go to the college-wide Student and Educational Affairs Deans, who can forward them to the CCSP’s Professionalism Subcommittee. The CCSP decides adverse actions and whether a concern goes into your Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE), and the College may impose a “temporary administrative pause” of your curricular activities while it reviews.
• Thresholds. Three unmet requirements in M1, or two in M2, halt your progress and make you eligible for dismissal; only one repeat year is allowed. In Phases 2 and 3, “A third Fail is grounds for dismissal,” even after repeating and passing the first two. Students matriculating in 2026 or later must finish Phase 1, including USMLE Step 1, within three years and graduate within six.
• The paper trail. Campus progress review subcommittees require a structured self-report each term from students under review, and their report goes to the CCSP. “Any determinations reached by the College Committee on Student Promotions will be reported” in the MSPE.

Before dismissing a student, the CCSP either grants an exception to policy or invites the student to meet with it. An invited student must be told the committee’s concerns, given access to the materials it reviewed, and allowed to submit written materials and be heard in person or by video — but “may appear before the CCSP only once for the specific adverse action being considered.” An advisor may come but “may not directly address the committee”; an attorney requires at least five days’ written notice — the policy does not say calendar or business days — and may bring University Counsel into the room. The College departs from its standards only on “documented circumstances that offer compelling and extenuating reasons.” A dismissal “cannot be appealed through the CCSP”: the route is a Level 1 grievance, filed with the College’s Director of Human Resources as Administrative Officer, with the vice dean for education as Grievance Officer. See medical school dismissal and remediation.

Academic grievances: 40 business days, and a real hearing for dismissals

UIC’s Student Academic Grievance Policy (effective April 27, 2017) and its procedures cover academic decisions that directly and adversely affect your academic standing; disciplinary matters are excluded. Every period in the procedures is in “working or business days.” You must first try to resolve the matter informally with the person who decided — not required where discrimination or sexual misconduct is alleged — and the formal grievance must reach the Administrative Officer within 40 business days of notice of the decision. Deadlines run from the date a decision “is received by the Grievant, or is due, whichever date is earlier.”

A Level 1 grievance covers a decision that will stop you continuing toward the degree in good standing, such as dismissal. The Administrative Officer decides within ten business days; you then have ten business days to request a Formal Hearing, and the Grievance Officer must seat three faculty within ten business days and schedule the hearing within 30 business days. For professional students the panel is three faculty “with whom the Grievant has not had substantial academic interactions.” You may call witnesses (list due five business days ahead) and propose questions for the panel to put; your advisor may not address the panel or witnesses, and an attorney again triggers five business days’ notice and possible University Counsel. The Grievance Officer is not bound by the panel. An appeal to the Chancellor, within five business days, lies only for discrimination, sexual misconduct or a significant procedural error. Level 2 grievances get a written review and a five-business-day appeal.

Nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, graduate and undergraduate standing

Nursing. Under the 2026–2027 catalog, one grade of D or lower, or a U, brings a warning letter from the Undergraduate Admissions and Academic Standards Committee, academic notice and a required repeat; a second makes you “subject to dismissal pending formal review” by that committee. A nursing course may be repeated once, and failing the repeat means dismissal from the college. Missed clinical days cannot be made up, and if a background check or drug test blocks placement at any point in your enrollment, you must withdraw. Petitions for exceptions go to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs within thirty days of when you knew or should have known of the problem; the catalog does not say whether those are calendar or business days. The College of Nursing’s 2026–27 Student Handbook sits behind a university login. See nursing school dismissal.

Pharmacy. The Retzky College’s Academic Standing and Progression Policy, effective August 24, 2026, dismisses a student who cannot finish within six years, ends a third semester on academic notice still out of good standing, fails a core course twice, fails any two Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences, or fails more than three courses. The appeal is due “within 10 business days” — and it goes back to the same Academic Standing Committee, on grounds of new evidence, procedural error or undue severity. The policy is silent about the campus grievance route, so ask in writing whether you may use it too. See pharmacy school dismissal.

Dentistry. The College of Dentistry keeps its student policies on a login-protected intranet. A DMD dismissal is still an adverse academic decision under the campus grievance procedures, with the professional-student hearing panel described above.

Graduate College. Graduate students need a 3.00 Graduate Degree GPA and get two terms of academic notice to recover; departments may set stricter limits in writing. The Graduate College may also dismiss on a program’s recommendation where “a rule or policy in the program’s student handbook has been violated,” and “failure to receive notice does not change” your status, so track it yourself. For Level 1 grievances the Grievance Officer is the Dean of the Graduate College.

Undergraduates. A term GPA under 2.00 brings term notice as a warning; a cumulative or UIC GPA under 2.00 brings academic notice, with conditions set by your dean; missing those conditions while still under 2.00 can mean dismissal. Colleges may set their own criteria for dismissal from a curriculum without any prior notice, but the catalog also says the dismissal rules “may be waived” when your college judges that your overall record warrants it — which is what a well-documented petition asks for.

Sexual misconduct: two UIC documents, two questioning rules

Sexual misconduct is investigated by the Office for Access and Equity under UIC’s Comprehensive Policy and Procedures for Sexual Misconduct Grievance Process, effective January 1, 2026, which uses preponderance of the evidence and counts its “days” as calendar days, excluding university holidays and semester breaks. For a student respondent, the investigative report goes to the Dean of Students for a live hearing under “these procedures and the Student Disciplinary Policy” — and the two documents describe questioning differently. The Comprehensive Policy’s hearing procedures, written under its employee-respondent heading, require cross-examination “directly, orally, and in real time” by each party’s advisor, with an advisor supplied if you have none. The Student Disciplinary Policy’s sexual-misconduct article instead has parties propose questions that the Hearing Chair asks. 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 2020 regulation requires postsecondary institutions to hold a live hearing at which each party’s advisor conducts cross-examination, so settle in writing, before the hearing, which rule UIC will apply to you. Outside the federal definition, the investigator only recommends a finding, and the Dean of Students “is not bound by, nor is it required to adopt,” it. Either party may appeal within five business days. See Title IX hearings and cross-examination.

What a student defense lawyer can do here

Most of the value is early and quiet: reading UIC’s policy against what the university actually did and finding the gap; writing the response or the appeal on 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 UIC three moves come first. Answer every Academic Liaison or Mutual Agreement notice in writing inside five business days, because at UIC the clock can enter a plea for you. In the College of Medicine, treat your single CCSP appearance and every progress self-report as the record a grievance panel and a court will later read, and remember that the Level 1 grievance is where you get a recorded hearing before three faculty who were not involved in the decision. And in a sexual-misconduct case, fix the questioning rule in writing before the hearing date, not at the hearing.

What a lawyer cannot do is turn a campus hearing into a trial. UIC’s policy says strict rules of evidence do not apply, there is no discovery, and the university decides its own case at first instance. That is why the written record built during the campus process is everything: 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 UIC’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. Identify the notice and its clock. Liaison and Mutual Agreement notices and conduct appeals: five business days. Academic grievances: 40 business days from receipt or from when the decision was due, whichever is earlier. Pharmacy dismissal appeals: 10 business days. Comprehensive Policy timelines: calendar days.
2. Answer in writing, on time. Accept, reject or ask for time by email so the date exists. Never let a deadline lapse on its own.
3. Get the file. Ask the Dean of Students for the complaint and supporting materials; in the College of Medicine, ask for the materials the CCSP reviewed; after a conduct hearing, request the hearing record within ten business days.
4. Save the governing versions as dated PDFs — the Student Disciplinary Policy effective September 25, 2025, your college’s policies for your cohort, and the Comprehensive Policy effective January 1, 2026.
5. Raise disability and accommodation issues now. Accommodation requests for conduct proceedings go through the Disability Resource Center, and an accommodation approved but not delivered belongs in the record before the decision, not after it.
6. Read the neighboring pages. Law students should start with the UIC School of Law page; the Illinois overview 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.

The federal money on the line at University of Illinois Chicago

University of Illinois Chicago students and families took on $274.0 million in federal Direct Loans in the 2025–26 award year — including $27.4 million borrowed by 1,217 parents through Parent 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.

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.

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:

• University of Illinois Chicago School of Law
• University of Saint Mary of the Lake (Mundelein Seminary)
• University of St. Francis
• VanderCook College of Music
• Wheaton College
• Worsham College of Mortuary Science

Common questions about University of Illinois Chicago student cases

How long do I have to appeal a conduct decision at UIC?

Five days after you receive the outcome, and the Student Disciplinary Policy defines days as business days — Monday through Friday when most university offices are open, excluding holidays and closings. File the Student Conduct Appeal Form with your grounds, your supporting evidence and the outcome you want. The Appeal Committee reviews the record, decides within 30 business days, and its decision is final.

Can I bring a lawyer to my UIC conduct hearing?

Yes, as a support person who “shall not be permitted to directly participate.” Give the Dean of Students the attorney’s name and contact details at least five business days before the conference or hearing; UIC may then have University Counsel attend. Sexual-misconduct hearings differ: your advisor, who may be an attorney, has a questioning role, although UIC’s two governing documents describe that role differently.

What happens if I ignore a UIC conduct notice?

It depends on the notice. Ignoring an Academic Liaison proposal for five business days is an automatic rejection, after which the faculty member can refer the case for formal discipline. Ignoring a Mutual Agreement notice for five business days is an automatic acceptance of responsibility for every listed violation, waiving your hearing and appeal. Hearings can also go ahead without you, and the Dean of Students can hold your records.

Can the UIC College of Medicine dismiss me without a hearing?

Before a dismissal, the College Committee on Student Promotions either grants an exception or invites you to meet with it: it must tell you its concerns, give you access to the materials it reviewed, and hear you once, in person or by video, with a silent advisor. Its dismissal decision cannot be appealed within the committee. The hearing comes next: a Level 1 grievance, filed within 40 business days, entitles you to a Formal Hearing before three faculty, scheduled within 30 business days of your request.

What standard of proof does UIC use?

Preponderance of the evidence — “more likely than not” — in the Student Disciplinary Policy, and the same standard in the Comprehensive Policy for sexual misconduct. Academic decisions in the colleges work differently: the College of Medicine applies written thresholds and departs from them only for documented, compelling and extenuating circumstances, so the record you build before the committee carries the case.