Equity and Campus Diversity Office
Cleveland Hall 204
(716) 878-6210

equity.buffalostate.edu

1. No person shall be expelled from or be refused admission as a student to an institution of higher education because he or she is unable, due to religious beliefs, to register for 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 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 4:00 p.m. or on Saturday, similar or makeup classes, examinations, study, or work requirements shall be made available on other days, where it is possible and practical to do so. No special fees shall be charged to the student for these classes, examinations, study, or work requirements held on other days.
5. In effectuating the provisions of the Education Law, it is expected that faculty and administrative officials will exercise the fullest measure of good faith. No adverse or prejudicial effects shall result to any student for 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 official 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.
7. The term "religious beliefs" 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.
8. At Buffalo State, we sharpen the mandate of the state and endorse the policy that prohibits administering evaluative examinations on Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Good Friday.