6A-19.002. Treatment of Students - General

All guidance, counseling, financial assistance, academic, career and vocational programs, services and activities offered by each institution shall be offered without regard to race, sex, national origin, marital status or handicap. There shall be no discrimination in recreational, athletic, co-curricular or extracurricular activities.

(1) Guidance and Counseling. Each institution shall assure that, in guidance and counseling practices, there is no discrimination on the basis of race, sex, national origin, marital status or handicap. Factors of race, sex, national origin, marital status or handicap shall not be used to encourage or discourage a student’s enrollment in a particular program or participation in a particular activity or to measure or predict a student’s prospects for success in any career, occupation, program, course or activity.

(a) If particular programs or disciplines have disproportionate enrollments of male or female students, minority or nonminority students, or handicapped students, the institution shall examine its policies, procedures and practices to determine whether the disproportion is the result of discriminatory counseling activities.

(b) Qualified handicapped students shall not be counseled toward more restrictive career or academic objectives than nonhandicapped students with similar abilities and interest. This requirement does not preclude the providing of factual information, at the postsecondary level, about licensing or certification requirements that may present obstacles to handicapped persons in their pursuit of particular careers.

(c) Counselors shall communicate with national origin minority students having limited-English-language skills and with students having hearing impairments. This requirement may be satisfied by having interpreters available.

(d) Counseling materials and other publications used by the institution shall not state or imply through text or illustration, that applicants, students or employees are treated differently on the basis of race, sex, national origin, marital status or handicap. This does not prohibit the inclusion of information designed to meet the needs of national origin minority students with limited-English-language skills, handicapped students needing special services or as may be appropriate for affirmative action purposes.

(e) Appraisal instruments selected by the institution shall not discriminate based on race, sex, national origin, marital status or handicap. Counseling tests and instruments, which result in disproportionate enrollment in any course or program, shall be examined by the institution for discrimination in the instrument or in its application. Institutions are not required to conduct additional examination of state-required instruments.

(f) Institutions which use testing or other materials for appraising or counseling students shall not use different materials for students on the basis of sex or use materials which permit or require different treatment of students on this basis unless these different materials cover the same occupations and interest areas and the use of these different materials is shown to be essential to eliminate sex bias.

(g) Promotional efforts, including activities of school officials, counselors, instructional staff, school-related parent groups, school-related community or business groups, shall not be conducted in a manner that states or implies that the institution restricts access to its programs, activities or services on the basis of race, sex, national origin, marital status or handicap. Promotional efforts include, but are not limited to, career awareness activities, open houses, parent programs, shop and laboratory demonstrations, student visitations and summer camps.

(h) Promotional or counseling materials and activities shall not state or imply, through text or illustration, that access to those programs, services or activities is restricted on the basis of race, sex, national origin, marital status or handicap.

(i) Student recruitment activities shall be conducted so as not to exclude or limit opportunities on the basis of race, sex, national origin, marital status or handicap.

(2) Admission to Courses, Programs and Activities. Institutions shall not base admission decisions on race, sex, national origin, marital status or handicap. Special selection criteria for admission within the institution for participation in programs or courses shall be related to program standards or requirements. If it has been empirically demonstrated that a selection criterion which has an adverse impact is predictive of success during the program, course or activity, and that there has been a reasonable search for equally valid criteria which do not have a disproportionate adverse impact, or if the criterion is required by law, then the criterion shall not be considered discriminatory. Selection criteria for admission, which are in use on the effective date of this rule, shall not be considered discriminatory if demonstrated to be predictive of success within one year from the effective date of this rule.

(a) Race or National Origin. No person, on the basis of race or national origin, shall be excluded from participation in, denied benefits of, or subjected to discrimination in any course, program, service or activity operated under the authority or direction of an institution within the state system of public education.

1. Institutions shall not unnecessarily restrict admission to vocational, career or academic programs solely because the applicant, as a member of a national origin minority with limited-English-language skills, cannot participate in and benefit from instruction to the same extent as a student whose primary language is English, except as provided in subsection 6A-19.002(2), F.A.C.

2. If there is a concentration of national origin minority students with limited-English-language skills, as determined by the institution, in particular programs, services or activities, then the institution shall examine its policies, procedures and practices to determine whether the concentration is the result of discrimination at the institution.

(b) Sex or Marital Status. No person, on the basis of sex or marital status, shall be excluded from participation in, denied benefits of, or subjected to discrimination under any course, program, service or activity operated under the authority or direction of an institution within the state system of public education.

1. Preference shall not be given to one person over another on the basis of sex by establishing numerical limitations of the number or proportion of persons of either sex. Exempt from this provision are membership practices of YMCA, YWCA, YMHA, YWHA, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Camp Fire Girls, social fraternities and social sororities at institutions of higher education, and the membership practices of voluntary youth service organizations whose membership has traditionally been limited to persons of one sex and principally to persons of less than 19 years of age.

2. Students shall not receive different treatment based on their parental, family or marital status. Students shall not be excluded from any course, program, service or activity because of pregnancy, parental, family or marital status.

3. Participation in any separate program of instruction for pregnant students shall be voluntary on the part of the student. Any such separate program of instruction provided to pregnant students shall be comparable to the regular program of instruction and in no way limit the student’s academic, career, vocational or extracurricular options.

4. Pregnancy and childbirth shall be treated in the same manner as temporary disabilities with respect to, but not limited to, requirements for a physician’s certificate to return to the institution, medical and hospital benefits, or policies and procedures of the institution.

5. In determining whether a person satisfies any policy or criterion for admission, or in making any offer of admission, no preadmission inquiry as to the marital or family status of an applicant for admission, including number of dependents and whether such applicant is “Miss” or “Mrs.”, shall be made.

6. In determining whether a person satisfies any policy or criterion for admission, no rules shall be applied concerning the actual or potential parental, family or marital status of a student or applicant.

(c) Handicap. No qualified handicapped person shall be excluded from participation in, denied benefits of, or subjected to discrimination under any course, program, service or activity, operated under the authority or direction of an institution within the state system of public education solely on the basis of handicap. Each program, service and activity shall be operated so that the program, service or activity, when viewed in its entirety, is readily accessible to handicapped persons.

1. Qualified handicapped persons shall not be denied access to vocational, career or academic programs, courses, services or activities because of architectural or equipment barriers, or because of the need for auxiliary aids or related aids and services. Auxiliary aids may include taped texts, interpreters or other effective methods of making orally delivered materials available to students with hearing impairments, classroom equipment adapted for use by students with manual impairments, and other similar services and actions. Institutions need not provide attendants, individually prescribed devices, readers for personal use or study, or other devices or services of a personal nature.

2. Access to vocational and academic programs or courses shall not be denied to qualified handicapped students on the basis that employment opportunities in any occupation or profession may be more limited for handicapped persons than for nonhandicapped persons.

3. In administering admissions policies, each institution shall assure that admissions tests are selected and administered so as best to ensure that, when a test is administered to an applicant who has a handicap that impairs sensory, manual or speaking skills, the test results accurately reflect the applicant’s aptitude or achievement level or whatever other factor the test purports to measure, rather than reflecting the applicant’s impaired sensory, manual or speaking skills, except where those skills are the factors that the test purports to measure. Admissions tests that are designed for persons with impaired sensory, manual or speaking skills shall be offered as often, and in as timely a manner, as are other admissions tests. Admissions tests shall be administered in facilities that, on the whole, are accessible to handicapped persons.

4. Institutions shall make such modifications to its academic requirements as are necessary to ensure that they do not discriminate or have the effect of discriminating, on the basis of handicap, against a qualified handicapped applicant or student. Academic requirements that the recipient can demonstrate are essential to the program of instruction being pursued by the student, or to any directly related licensing requirement, will not be regarded as discriminatory. Modifications may include changes in the length of time permitted for the completion of degree requirements, substitution of specific courses required for the completion of degree requirements, and adaptation of the manner in which specific courses are conducted.

5. Institutions shall not impose upon handicapped students other rules, such as the prohibition of tape recorders in classrooms or of dog guides in campus buildings, that have the effect of limiting the participation of handicapped students in the institution’s education program or activity.

6. In course or program examinations, or other procedures for evaluating students’ academic achievement in its program, the institution shall provide methods for evaluating the achievement of students who have a handicap that impairs sensory, manual or speaking skills which will ensure that the results of the evaluation represents the student’s achievement in the course or program, rather than reflecting the student’s impaired sensory, manual or speaking skills, except where those skills are the factors that the test purports to measure.

7. A postsecondary institution shall not make preadmission inquiry as to whether an applicant is a handicapped person except when the institution is taking remedial steps to increase the participation of handicapped persons in programs and courses in which handicapped students have been traditionally underrepresented as specified in Section 1000.05(4), F.S., and under those conditions all written and oral inquiries must make clear that the information requested is intended for use solely in connection with remedial steps; the information is being requested on a voluntary basis; the information will be kept confidential as required by federal law; and that refusal to provide such information will not subject the applicant to any adverse treatment. However, after admission, an institution may make inquiries on a confidential basis as to handicaps that may require accommodation.

8. Nonacademic, co-curricular, extracurricular and physical education services and activities shall be provided in such a manner as is necessary to afford handicapped students an equal opportunity for participation in such services and activities.

9. An institution that offers physical education or that operates or sponsors interscholastic activities, clubs, intercollegiate or intramural athletics shall provide an equal opportunity for participation to qualified handicapped students.

10. Physical education and athletic activities that are separate or different from those offered to nonhandicapped students may be offered only if the institution can show that this is necessary to meet the needs of the handicapped students. Qualified handicapped students shall be provided the opportunity to compete for teams or to participate in physical education courses or activities that are not separate or different.

11. In choosing among available methods to ensure that programs, services and activities are accessible, priority shall be given to those methods that offer programs, services and activities to handicapped persons in the most integrated setting appropriate.

12. Any facilities, services or activities that are identifiable as being for handicapped persons shall be comparable to other facilities, services and activities.

13. Access to information regarding admission to programs, courses and activities shall be provided to handicapped persons.

14. Any activity or program which is not operated by the institution but which is considered a part of, or equivalent to, an institution’s program, shall be operated in a manner which provides equal opportunities to qualified handicapped persons.

Rulemaking Authority 1000.05(5), 1001.02(1) FS. Law Implemented 1000.05(2), 1001.02(1), 1004.65 FS. History–New 3-11-85, Formerly 6A-19.02.