Law / United States / 
Massachusetts
Fair educational practices: limits on application inquiries about race, religion, color, national origin and criminal history
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 151C, § 2(c) and (f)
In force.
A sensitive categories rule binding public and private bodies.
- Instrument type
- an act of a legislature
- Obligation class
- Prohibition, Governance
What it requires
- If you are a college, university, school or other educational institution that accepts applications from the public generally and is not distinctly private, do not cause a written or oral inquiry about the race, religion, color or national origin of a person seeking admission; a religious or denominational institution that has certified its status to the commission may ask about religious or denominational affiliation (chapter 151C, section 2(c)).
- Do not request, or make or keep a record of, information about an arrest, detention or disposition in which no conviction resulted or a conviction was vacated, a first conviction for drunkenness, simple assault, speeding, minor traffic violations, affray or disturbance of the peace, or a misdemeanor conviction more than five years before the application unless the applicant was sentenced to imprisonment or has been convicted of any offense within the five years, and do not use an application form that requests it (chapter 151C, section 2(f)).
- Do not exclude, limit or otherwise discriminate against a person because the person did not furnish that information in a written application or oral inquiry (chapter 151C, section 2(f)).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, which investigates a verified petition alleging an unfair educational practice and may order the respondent to cease and desist
What this law does
Section 2 of chapter 151C of the General Laws makes it an unfair educational practice for an educational institution to cause a written or oral inquiry concerning the race, religion, color or national origin of a person seeking admission. A religious or denominational educational institution that has certified its status to the commission may inquire about the religious or denominational affiliation of applicants.
Section 2(f) makes it an unfair educational practice to request, or to make or keep a record of, information about an arrest, detention or disposition in which no conviction resulted or in which a conviction has been vacated, and to use an application form that requests it.
Section 2(f) also reaches a first conviction for drunkenness, simple assault, speeding, minor traffic violations, affray or disturbance of the peace, and a misdemeanor conviction more than five years before the application, unless the applicant was sentenced to imprisonment or has been convicted of any offense within the five years.
An educational institution is any institution for instruction or training, including colleges, universities and primary and secondary schools, that accepts applications for admission from the public generally and is not in its nature distinctly private. On a finding of an unfair educational practice the commission may order the respondent to cease and desist.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app serves schools or universities.
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