Petitions for Readmission

A student who seeks readmission to the School of Law after academic exclusion, withdrawal or failure to return after a leave must file a petition with the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs stating what equities, if any, speak to his or her readmission. In the case of a student seeking to return after academic exclusion, the student will not be readmitted without an affirmative showing that the prior disqualification does not indicate a lack of capacity to complete the Law School's program of legal education and to be admitted to the bar. The Associate Dean will forward the petition to the Petitions and Academic Standards Committee, which will render a decision that includes a statement of the considerations that led to its decision regarding the readmission of the student. 

If readmission is granted, the student may be placed on probation and subjected to conditions of probation, which must be met by the student for advancement. The transcript of a student readmitted under probation will be so noted. Once the conditions of probation have been satisfactorily completed, the transcript will note the student's removal from probation. If the conditions of probation are not satisfactorily met, the student will be excluded automatically. The student does have the right to petition again.

The Petitions Committee does not have the authority to "order" that an excluded student who has completed his or her first year be readmitted to take the first year over again. The Petitions Committee may, however, recommend that an excluded student be readmitted to the first year, but such a recommendation should be made only in "extraordinary circumstances," which circumstances should be detailed by the Committee, accompanying such a recommendation. This recommendation may be for the next Academic Year or for a subsequent Academic Year.

If the Committee does so recommend, the ultimate decision as to whether an excluded student will be readmitted to retake the first year and, if so, whether that student will be "re-offered" financial aid is strictly an administrative decision, which will be made by the Dean and the Assistant Dean of Admissions. The ultimate readmission decision will take into account not only the extraordinary circumstances found to exist by the Petitions Committee, but also issues of class size and the availability of financial aid. The Dean and the Assistant Dean of Admissions may also decide that readmission to the first year is appropriate, but defer such readmission to a subsequent Academic Year.