State University of New York (SUNY)

The sixty-four geographically dispersed campuses of the State University of New York bring educational opportunity within commuting distance of virtually every New Yorker and comprise the nation’s most diverse system of public higher education. Because of its structure and comprehensive programs, SUNY offers students a wide diversity of educational options to select from: short-term vocational/technical courses, certificate programs, baccalaureate degrees, graduate degrees, and postdoctoral studies. The university offers access to almost every field of academic or professional study somewhere within the system – some 7,500 programs of study overall.

The thirty locally sponsored two-year community colleges operating within the SUNY network offer programs that are directly and immediately job related as well as degree programs that provide job-entry educational experience or a transfer opportunity to a baccalaureate degree at a senior campus. In the forefront of efforts to meet the accelerating pace of technological developments and the requirements of continuing educational opportunity, community colleges furnish local industry with trained technicians and help companies and employees with retraining and skills upgrading.

As a public university, SUNY has a special responsibility to make its rich and varied resources accessible to all. By focusing its educational system on the needs of the state, the university – whose motto is To Learn – To Search – To Serve – becomes a valuable resource for meeting those needs for today and tomorrow. SUNY is committed to serving as the state's strongest economic and quality-of-life driver and providing quality education at an affordable price to New Yorkers and students from across the country and the world.

EDUCATION LAW, STATE OF NEW YORK

A7224-a. Students unable because of religious beliefs to register or attend classes on certain days. 

1. No person shall be expelled from or be refused admission as a student to an institution of higher education for the reason that he or she is unable, because of his or her religious beliefs, to register or attend classes or to participate in any examination, study or work requirements on a particular day or days.
2. Any student in an institution of higher education who is unable, because of his or her religious beliefs, to attend classes on a particular day or days shall, because of such absence on the particular day or days, be excused from any examination or any study or work requirements.
3. It shall be the responsibility of the faculty and of the administrative officials of each institution of higher education to make available to each student who is absent from school because of his or her religious beliefs an equivalent opportunity to register for classes or make up any examination, study, or work requirements that he or she may have missed because of such absence on any particular day or days. No fees of any kind shall be charged by the institution for making available to the said student such equivalent opportunity.
4. If registration, classes, examinations, study, or work requirements are held on Friday after four o’clock post meridian or on Saturday, similar or makeup classes, examinations, study, or work requirements or opportunity to register shall be made available on other days, where it is possible and practicable to do so. No special fees shall be charged to the student for these classes, examinations, study, or work requirements or registration held on other days. 
5. In effectuating the provisions of this section, it shall be the duty of the faculty and of the administrative officials of each institution of higher education to exercise the fullest measure of good faith. No adverse or prejudicial effects shall result to any student because of his or her availing himself or herself of the provisions of this section.
6. Any student who is aggrieved by the alleged failure of any faculty or administrative officials to comply in good faith with the provisions of this section shall be entitled to maintain an action or proceeding in the supreme court of the county in which such institution of higher education is located for the enforcement of his or her rights under this section.
   1. It shall be the responsibility of the administrative officials of each institution of higher education to give written notice to students of their rights under this section, informing them that each student who is absent from school because of his or her religious beliefs must be given an equivalent opportunity to register for classes or make up any examination, study, or work requirements that he or she may have missed because of such absence on any particular day or days. No fees of any kind shall be charged by the institution for making available to such student such equivalent opportunity. 

As used in this section, the term “institution of higher education” shall mean any institution of higher education, recognized and approved by the Regents of the University of the State of New York, that provides a course of study leading to the granting of a post-secondary degree or diploma. Such term shall not include any institution that is operated, supervised, or controlled by a church or by a religious or denominational organization whose educational programs are principally designed for the purpose of training ministers or other religious functionaries or for the purpose of propagating religious doctrines. As used in this section, the term “religious belief” shall mean beliefs associated with any corporation organized and operated exclusively for religious purposes, which is not disqualified for tax exemption under section 501 of the United States Code 

SUNY Chancellor’s Office

John B. King, Jr., J.D., Ed.D., Chancellor

SUNY Board of Trustees