The University of Minnesota's Records Retention Policy indicates that a student conduct record be retained for seven years after graduation or last date of attendance. The University of Minnesota will release disciplinary records to third parties, if given permission by the student.
For the Twin Cities campus, this Expungement Petition should be used to request an exception to this policy and have the disciplinary record changed to non-disciplinary before the seven years. Non-disciplinary records are generally not reported to third parties.
If an expungement is petitioned and granted, the student conduct record will be changed to non-disciplinary. As a result, the record of the violation will not be disclosed to external third parties by the Office for Community Standards (OCS) or Housing and Residence Life (HRL) unless you have granted permission or unless OCS is required by law.
Violations of Student Conduct Code subdivision 1: Scholastic Dishonesty are addressed through the Academic Integrity Matters (AIM) process. When an eligible student completes the AIM program and fulfills all AIM requirements, the disciplinary record is changed to non-disciplinary. Therefore, no expungement request is necessary. Students who were not eligible for the AIM program or who did not complete the AIM program are not eligible to have the record changed to non-disciplinary.
The petition to expunge a record is a courtesy provided by the University of Minnesota and is not a requirement of law; the University has no obligation to expunge a student's conduct record.
Petition Requirements
- In order to have your record expunged, you must complete all the requirements of the disciplinary outcome(s) including completion of an associated probationary period, if applicable.
- If you have been involved in an additional incident, expungement will not be considered until that matter is resolved and any outcomes fulfilled.
- If you wish to request multiple record expungements, a separate petition is needed for each individual incident.
Petition Review
The petition will be decided by the Director of the Office for Community Standards or the appropriate designee. Factors that will be considered in the petition include the following:
- The nature of the violation(s)
- The number of violations
- Whether the disciplinary outcomes are complete
- The student’s responses to the petition’s questions and any supporting documentation
An expungement is unlikely to be granted sooner than 18 months from the date that the incident occurred or 3 months after graduation, whichever comes first.
Violations of the Student Conduct Code Section IV. Subd. 6: Harm to Others will require an in depth review of individual circumstances to determine appropriateness for expungement.
Violations of the Student Conduct Code Section IV. Subd. 9: Sexual Harassment, Sexual Assault, Stalking, and Relationship Violence will not be considered.