DePauw University Student Defense Lawyer
DePauw students reach me for a narrower set of reasons than students at a large public university, and the reasons track the shape of the place. DePauw is a private liberal arts college in Greencastle, about forty-five miles west of Indianapolis, with a residential campus, a music program dating to 1884, and a fraternity and sorority community that includes a majority of the student body. That combination produces two recurring categories: integrity allegations in small courses where an instructor knows the student’s work well, and conduct allegations out of residential and Greek life. Both are handled inside a community where everyone involved knows everyone else, which changes how a case should be approached.
Overview
DePauw is private, so the Fourteenth Amendment does not supply the procedure. What governs is the college’s own material — the student handbook, the academic integrity policy, the catalog, and any organizational policy applying to a chapter. Those are the contract, and most cases turn on contract questions: what did DePauw promise, and did DePauw do it. That framework is on my breach of contract against universities page.
Federal law still reaches a private college receiving federal funds — Title IX, Section 504 and the ADA, and FERPA all apply. Where the challenge runs to an academic evaluation, the reasoning of 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) — that academic judgment is not for a reviewer to redo — sets the ceiling on what any appeal can accomplish. The leverage is procedural.
Where DePauw cases come from
Small classes cut both ways. An instructor who has read every draft can spot a change in voice quickly, which is why integrity referrals at a college this size often begin with an impression rather than with software. Where software is involved, the same scrutiny applies: an AI-detection percentage is a statistical output, not an observation of what a student did, and it should be tested against drafting history and the written course policy. See my academic misconduct and honor code page.
The fraternity and sorority system is the second source. Because a substantial majority of DePauw students affiliate, chapter events, housing, and alcohol allegations account for a disproportionate share of conduct matters, and individual and organizational discipline often proceed at once on different tracks. A student can be a witness in the organizational case and a respondent in the individual one, and what is said in one does not stay there. Those matters are covered on my student conduct page, and Title IX matters on my Title IX and sexual misconduct page.
The music program adds a third category. Studio, jury, and ensemble decisions are treated as academic judgment, which means they receive the deference described above and are best contested through the program’s own written standards rather than as an argument about artistic merit.
Which process you are in matters
Academic integrity, student conduct, Title IX, and academic standing run on separate rules with separate deadlines and appeal rights, and organizational discipline is a fourth track. The label determines who decides, whether an advisor may attend, and what the outcome is called, and a separation that operates as discipline but is routed as an academic standing decision receives less procedure by design. Establish your track from the policy text before you respond — see academic dismissal and suspension.
What to do first
Download the current student handbook and academic integrity policy from DePauw’s own site, in the edition in effect for your matter, and note the date. Pull the course syllabus alongside it, because a syllabus that permitted collaboration, editing help, or a particular tool can answer an allegation outright. Do not work from a summary, including this one.
Calendar the deadline, request your file and the evidence the college intends to rely on, and preserve drafts, version histories, group chats, and email now — in Greek life matters especially, the messages that establish what happened tend to be deleted first. Do not sit for an interview before you understand what the college has; a separate finding for dishonesty is easier to prove than most underlying allegations.
What I can help with
- Reading the governing policy against the charge or decision letter
- Helping you prepare your account, your documents, and your questions
- Testing whether the school followed its own published procedures
- Scrutinizing software-based evidence, including AI-detection and similarity reports
- Assisting with the written response and appeal, to the extent the policy permits
- Serving as your advisor where the process allows it
- Negotiating sanction terms, notations, and disclosure language
What a lawyer may actually do in your case depends on that school’s policy. Some processes allow counsel to participate, some allow a non-participating advisor, and some allow no outside person in the room at all. Reading the current policy is the first step, and it determines what form the assistance can take.
Common questions
My chapter is under investigation and I have been asked to give a statement. Should I?
Not before you know whether you are a witness or a target, and not before you know what the college does with statements given in an organizational case. Ask in writing what your status is and whether what you say can be used in an individual proceeding against you. If nobody will answer that in writing, treat the answer as yes.
Does a small college handle appeals differently?
The structure is simpler — fewer layers, a shorter route to a final decision — which cuts both ways. There is less bureaucracy, but also fewer chances to correct an error, and the same small group of administrators may appear at more than one stage. That makes the first written submission more important than at a large university, because it is frequently the only complete statement of your position anyone reads.
What if I have accommodations that were not honored?
Put it in the record now rather than saving it for appeal. If you had approved accommodations that were not provided, or if you sought accommodations and the request was mishandled, that belongs in the initial response with the documentation attached. See disability accommodations under Section 504 and the ADA.
Related Indiana pages cover Butler University, Indiana University Bloomington, the University of Evansville, and Valparaiso University. The full list is on the Indiana student defense page, and the flat-fee record review is described on the fees and scope of services page.
This is general information about the matters I handle and the law that applies to them. It is not legal advice about your situation, and the law in this area can change. For advice on your matter, start with the Full Read + Game Plan — your entire file read, straight answers, and exactly what to do next, in what order.
This page is informational and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the institution named on it.
Attorney advertising. Zachary Gaynor is admitted in Florida and its federal courts, not in Indiana; Indiana matters are handled through the framework described on the nationwide practice page — federal-law assessment, campus-process support where the school’s policy permits an advisor, and association with local counsel or pro hac vice admission where required.