Represented myself in an expulsion hearing and beat the case

[u/SeaworthinessJumpy95]

Dinner: falafel plate. Are you supposed to combine everything? I always do.

Either way, I almost got expelled. I found out I was getting referred to the expulsion committee in July.
I’m in graduate school getting my MSW and my focus is in child welfare.

I got referred to the Academic Concerns Board at my school because I got fired from one internship and I quit another one. Both times, I felt unsupported in my roles as a foster care worker and intern.

I was heavily burnt out at the first internship and eventually got fired for testing positive for marijuana (I think they just wanted an excuse to fire me because most people in the office smoked). Either way, I have my medical marijuana card so I still got unemployment and life moved on.

The second organization I was placed with is extremely conservative and currently having a mass exodus of staff due to their new “statement of faith” which requires all employees to sign a statement to work there which says they believe in the teachings of Jesus, marriage is only between a man and a woman, there’s only two genders, and you don’t support abortion. So, naturally, I wanted to get the fuck out of there and I requested a new placement. My school reluctantly agreed after my professor initially told me I was “running away” from the situation and this was “my calling” in social work to work for this bigoted child welfare agency.

Me and my professor stopped getting along after this interaction and it all went downhill from there.

Because two placements went awry, my field professor referred me to the Director of Field to determine if I could stay in the program and she recommended I be “discharged” due to “unprofessional conduct and not following technical standards”. I never talked to this woman or met her in my life and she wanted to expel me because my professor said I missed meetings with my her (which is true), I vape in my car on my lunch break, and they have concerns about me completing field in general. I was informed I could not start field again until we had a hearing. The hearing was October 5 and they told me I could bring an “attorney or advisor”. That’s when it truly dawned on me I was getting expelled.

I was a paralegal in my past life before I pursued social work, so in my defense I compiled an 8 page statement with 77 exhibits that corresponded to support my position that I was justified, or at least not solely at fault, for the reasons these placements didn’t work out.

I went to the hearing and they rolled me over the coals and I fought for my life. I detailed the inaccurate dates in the referral, the butting heads with my professor all semester, the testing positive for marijuana, the bigoted agency that won’t let LGBTQIA families adopt or foster children. I argued and advocated for myself for two hours.

The hearing results came back and I am not getting expelled and I get to resume field right away. They’re going to do a registration override to get me back into my internship and I am finally getting back on track.

This was genuinely traumatizing and I don’t know how I kept on keeping on throughout the waiting period and the process of it all but I did it. And I won.

I just kept thinking of the quote, “doing it scared is just as brave”.

[u/No_Macaron_5029]

Holy crap. This program needs to be burned to the ground, honestly. Maybe after you graduate so it doesn't affect your academic standing.