XII. Retention Rules

Section Contents

1. Ineligibility criteria
2. Notice and right to request reinstatement
3. Committee process and standards
4. Appeal to the Dean
5. Reports to the faculty

6. Academic supervision

   Notes

Adopted 11/2004; amended 5/2011; 9/2017; 11/2017; 5/2022; 12/2022; 5/2023. 

Except as stated below, the following rules apply to all students who are currently enrolled in the J.D., M.S.L., S.J.D., or L.L.M. degree programs in the College of Law:

A. Ineligibility criteria

A student will be ineligible to continue as a student at the College of Law under any of the following circumstances, subject to the rules about reinstatement below:

1. Inadequate cumulative grade point average

   A student who fails to maintain a cumulative average of 2.6 after the completion of two semesters following matriculation, regardless of hours registered or earned, shall be ineligible to continue as a student in the College of Law. A semester in which a student is granted a leave of absence is not considered a semester for purposes of this rule. Intersessions and summer sessions are not “semesters” for purposes of this rule; however, grades from all courses taken, including in the fall and spring semesters, intersessions, and summer sessions, count toward the calculation of the cumulative grade point average. For purposes of these rules, averages shall be computed at the end of the fall and spring semesters.

2. Failure to complete the degree within 84 months

   A student who fails to complete all the requirements for a J.D. degree within 84 months (7 calendar years) of the student’s matriculation at Iowa, or (in the case of a transfer student) at another law school shall be ineligible to continue as a student at the College of Law. A student who fails to meet this requirement is not eligible for reinstatement under sections (B) – (D) of this policy and cannot be enrolled at the College of Law except in extraordinary circumstances and with permission of the Dean. When calculating the months and calendar years elapsed under this subsection, all time since a student’s matriculation shall count, even if the student has been granted a leave of absence, has been allowed to take a reduced load, or is not attending classes for other reasons. If the College of Law grants credit for prior law study at a law school outside the United States as permitted under ABA Standard 505 (c), only the time commensurate with the amount of credit given counts toward the length of study requirements.

3. Failure to make reasonable progress toward the degree

   1. A student who fails to make reasonable progress toward their degree shall be ineligible to continue as a student in the College of Law. Failure to make reasonable progress toward a degree shall be defined as follows:
      1. As to J.D. students, failure to complete the first year requirements, with a passing grade, within 24 months of a student’s matriculation in the University of Iowa College of Law or at another law school from which the College of Law has accepted transfer hours; OR
      2. As to all students, failure in any fall or spring semester to complete 10 semester hours toward a law degree, except insofar as the Dean of Student Affairs has granted a leave of absence to the student or permitted the student to register for or complete fewer than 10 hours.
   2. A student who fails to make reasonable progress under subsection (3)(a)(ii) solely because of one or more grades of incomplete in a particular semester shall be eligible to continue as a student in the law school, provided that each incomplete received during a particular semester must be replaced by a grade of at least 1.8 by the end of the following semester (not including the summer) following the initial entry of the grade of incomplete or the student will become ineligible to continue as a student at the College of Law.
   3. Subsection (A)(3) applies regardless of the reasons for a student’s failure to make reasonable progress toward a degree. All students must meet the reasonable progress standards established above, including, but not limited to, students who withdraw from courses, who are repeating courses they previously failed, who are receiving credit for transferred course work, or who are engaged in non-credited course work of any sort. 

   A student who is ineligible under any of the above criteria will be subject to the provisions of Sections (A) through (D) of this policy regardless of whether they have first undergone academic supervision under Section (F).

B. Notice and right to request reinstatement

1. Notice

   When the College of Law determines that a student is ineligible to continue as a student under these Rules, it shall notify a student of their ineligibility by regular mail sent to the student address indicated on the student’s official transcript and by email to the student’s University email address. A student shall be disenrolled from the College of Law 30 days after the email notice is sent, subject to the following rules.

2. Request for reinstatement

   A student who is ineligible to continue at the College of Law under subsections (A)(1) or (A)(3) may submit a written request for reinstatement to the Dean no later than 30 days after the email notice of ineligibility is sent. The request should set forth the reasons why the student meets the criteria for reinstatement set out in subsection (C)(2) below and bring to the Dean’s attention all matters the student believes are pertinent to those criteria. The Dean shall promptly forward any such timely request to the Retention Committee for consideration. If the student submits a timely written request for reinstatement, the student may continue enrollment until the final resolution of the request, except the student may not be enrolled in any clinical or field placement course during that time.

   After the College of Law receives a timely written request for reinstatement, the student shall be disenrolled from the College of Law if:

   1. The student withdraws the request for reinstatement;
   2. The Retention Committee determines that the student should not be reinstated and the student does not file an appeal to the Dean within the time stated in Section D; or
   3. After a timely appeal under Section D, the Dean or Dean’s designate affirms the Committee’s decision not to reinstate the student.

3. Effective date of disenrollment

   Any time a final resolution of a student request for reinstatement under these rules results in that student’s disenrollment to continue as a student at the College of Law, the student will be disenrolled immediately, except that the Dean or Dean’s designate, at their discretion, may extend the effective date of the student’s disenrollment for up to thirty days after the date of the final resolution.

4. Withdrawal pending request for reinstatement

   A student who submits a request for reinstatement under these rules may withdraw from College of Law classes for the semester(s) during which the request is pending. Students should understand that any entitlement to refund of tuition or fees is governed by other University and/or College of Law policies and that they may be responsible for payment of tuition and fees for courses they fully or partially complete even if the ultimate decision on reinstatement is unfavorable to them.

C. Committee process and standards

1. Record

   After receiving a written request for reinstatement under these Rules, the Retention Committee shall examine the student’s complete record, academic and otherwise, the student’s request for reinstatement and any additional information provided by the student, and any other relevant information. The Committee may consult with some or all of the student’s instructors. The Committee may, and at the student’s request shall, interview the student.

2. Criteria for reinstatement.

   As expeditiously as possible under the circumstances, which will ordinarily be within 45 days of the student’s submission of a request for reinstatement, the Committee shall make a determination on the student’s request. The Committee may reinstate a student if it determines that 

   1. for students who are ineligible to continue because of an inadequate cumulative grade point average under subsection (A)(1) of this policy, their prior performance would have resulted in a cumulative average of 2.6 but for adverse circumstances which reasonably accounted for past performance;
   2. for students who are ineligible to continue for failure to make reasonable progress toward their degree under subsection (A)(3) of this policy, that they would have completed the required first year courses within two years but for adverse circumstances which reasonably accounted for their failure to make reasonable progress toward their degree; and
   3. for all students who are ineligible to continue for whatever reason, they are likely to maintain a 2.6 average in subsequent semesters, to make reasonable progress toward graduation, and to satisfy the requirements for graduation in a timely manner.

3. Among the factors that will be considered in making these determinations are (1) extraordinary hardship, such as extended illness or disability, and other personal problems productive of serious emotional strain or loss of study time; (2) significant improvement in performance from semester to semester, coupled with good faith efforts by the student to improve his or her academic performance; or (3) identifiable deficiencies in the student’s academic background that have been or can be shown to be corrected or substantially improved at the time of the retention decision.

   The fact that a retention decision will not be made until after the beginning of a summer session, intersession, or academic semester for which the student has enrolled shall not be considered by the Committee in its investigation and consideration of a student’s request for reinstatement.

4. Conditions on reinstatement

   The Committee may condition reinstatement on proof of compliance and may impose other conditions as will serve the best interests of the student and the school, provided, however, that all the reinstatements will be conditional upon the student achieving in each subsequent semester an average of 2.6 or more on a minimum of 12 semester hours of work. The 12 hour requirement may be waived when warranted as a reasonable accommodation to a student with a disability.

D. Appeal to the Dean

A student denied reinstatement may appeal to the Dean by submitting a written notice of appeal to the Dean within 14 days of the adverse decision. The student’s notice of appeal may include a written argument for why the Retention Committee’s decision is clearly erroneous under the criteria set out in subsection (C)(2) above, but shall not refer to arguments or evidence that were not presented to the Committee. Within 28 days from the filing of the notice of appeal, the Dean or the Dean’s designate shall make a final decision about the student’s reinstatement. Absent clear error, the decision of the Retention Committee shall be affirmed. 

Students who enrolled in the College of Law prior to the Fall of 2023 may choose to pursue an appeal under the prior version of this policy.¹

E. Reports to the faculty

The Retention Committee (or, in the case of an appeal to the Dean, the Dean), at each earliest opportunity, shall report to the full faculty on each case involving a request for reinstatement and the action taken in each case.

F. Academic supervision

1. Any student who fails to achieve a cumulative grade point average of at least a 2.8 after the first semester will be placed under academic supervision.
2. Consequences of academic supervision
   1. First-year students will be required to successfully complete a program designed to reinforce core law school competencies during the second semester of their first year.
   2. Students will be required to meet with the Dean of Student Affairs prior to the start of the semester and must obtain the approval of the Dean of Student Affairs for course selection every semester the student is under academic supervision.
3. A student shall be released from academic supervision when their cumulative average is at least 3.0.

Notes

1. The previous version of this policy provided: “A student denied reinstatement may appeal to the faculty as a whole by filing a written notice to the Dean within 10 days of the adverse decision.  The faculty will consider the student’s appeal at the next regularly scheduled faculty meeting no fewer than thirty days from the date of the appeal except on exceptional circumstances in the discretion of the Dean.   The Dean will give the student a minimum of fifteen days’ notice of the date the faculty will consider the student’s appeal. The student may appear at the meeting with or without counsel, or other representative, to make an oral presentation to the whole faculty and may, in addition to the oral presentation or in lieu of the oral presentation, submit written materials the student deems appropriate. At the conclusion of the student’s presentation, if any, the faculty will go into executive session to consider the appeal on the merits.”