The Florida Senate

1002.21  Postsecondary student and parent rights.--

(1)  STUDENT RECORDS.--Parents have rights regarding the student records of their children, and students 18 years of age and older have rights regarding their student records, including right of access, right of waiver of access, right to challenge and hearing, and right of privacy, in accordance with the provisions of ss. 1002.22, 1005.36, and 1006.52

(2)  LEARNING DISABLED STUDENTS.--Impaired and learning disabled students may be eligible for reasonable substitution for admission, graduation, and upper-level division requirements of public postsecondary educational institutions, in accordance with the provisions of ss. 1007.264 and 1007.265

(3)  EXPULSION, SUSPENSION, DISCIPLINE.--Public postsecondary education students may be expelled, suspended, or otherwise disciplined by the president of a public postsecondary educational institution after notice to the student of the charges and a hearing on the charges, in accordance with the provisions of s. 1006.62

(4)  RELIGIOUS BELIEFS.--Public postsecondary educational institutions must provide reasonable accommodations for the religious practices and beliefs of individual students in regard to admissions, class attendance, and the scheduling of examinations and work assignments, in accordance with the provisions of s. 1006.53, and must provide and describe in the student handbook a grievance procedure for students to seek redress when they feel they have been unreasonably denied an educational benefit due to their religious beliefs or practices.

(5)  STUDENT HANDBOOKS.--Each state university and community college shall provide its students with an up-to-date student handbook that includes student rights and responsibilities, appeals processes available to students, contact persons available to help students, student conduct code, and information regarding HIV and AIDS, in accordance with the provisions of s. 1006.50

(6)  STUDENT OMBUDSMAN OFFICE.--Each state university and community college shall maintain a student ombudsman office and established procedures for students to appeal to the office regarding decisions about the student's access to courses and credit granted toward the student's degree, in accordance with the provisions of s. 1006.51

History.--s. 93, ch. 2002-387; s. 8, ch. 2003-8.