Florida Statues

For those that wonders if is legal to have a degree from State approved Universities such as California. This is the standing, I spoke to a state attorneys and told me that a California State Approved degree is legal in Florida.


The 2002 Florida Statutes

Title XLVI
CRIMES Chapter 817
FRAUDULENT PRACTICES View Entire Chapter

817.567 Making false claims of academic degree or title.--

(1) No person in the state may claim, either orally or in writing, to possess an academic degree, as defined in s. 1005.02, or the title associated with said degree, unless the person has, in fact, been awarded said degree from an institution that is:

(a) Accredited by a regional or professional accrediting agency recognized by the United States Department of Education or the Commission on Recognition of Postsecondary Accreditation;

(b) Provided, operated, and supported by a state government or any of its political subdivisions or by the Federal Government;

(c) A school, institute, college, or university chartered outside the United States, the academic degree from which has been validated by an accrediting agency approved by the United States Department of Education as equivalent to the baccalaureate or postbaccalaureate degree conferred by a regionally accredited college or university in the United States;

(d) Licensed by the 1State Board of Independent Colleges and Universities pursuant to ss. 1005.01-1005.38 or exempt from licensure pursuant to 2s. 246.085; or

(e) A religious seminary, institute, college, or university which offers only educational programs that prepare students for a religious vocation, career, occupation, profession, or lifework, and the nomenclature of whose certificates, diplomas, or degrees clearly identifies the religious character of the educational program.

(2) No person awarded a doctorate degree from an institution not listed in subsection (1) shall claim in the state, either orally or in writing, the title "Dr." before the person's name or any mark, appellation, or series of letters, numbers, or words, such as, but not limited to, "Ph.D.," "Ed.D.," "D.N.," or "D.Th.," which signifies, purports, or is generally taken to signify satisfactory completion of the requirements of a doctorate degree, after the person's name.

(3)(a) A person who violates the provisions of subsection (1) or subsection (2) commits a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.

(b) In addition to any penalty imposed under paragraph (a), a violator shall be subject to any other penalty provided by law, including, but not limited to, suspension or revocation of the violator's license or certification to practice an occupation or profession.

History.--s. 2, ch. 89-40; s. 32, ch. 94-310; s. 1039, ch. 2002-387.

1Note.--Section 246.031, which created the State Board of Independent Colleges and Universities, was repealed by s. 1058, ch. 2002-387.

2Note.--Repealed by s. 1058, ch. 2002-387. Similar material is now found at s. 1005.32.

 

Re: Florida Statutes

Which schools (that only have BPPVE approval and do not have regional accreditation) are provided, operated, and supported by the California state government?

 

Re: Re: Florida Statutes

and supported by a state government or any of its political subdivisions BPPVE fall in this category. That is why I spoke to an attorney for the state for some clarification, And if you read and understand the statute it has to met one in the list not all! So in other words it legal period.

 

Re: Re: Re: Florida Statutes

The accreditation is not the issue here, the legality is.

 

You can't believe that state licensure implies state "support."

This thread would be more interesting if it was about Florida statues, as its title implies.

 

Once more the issue here is the legality period!

 

Re: Re: Re: Florida Statutes

No, in English (not to mention legalese), if it only had to meet one of the criteria it would read provided, operated, or supported instead of provided, operated, and supported. In any event, the BPPVE does not provide, operate or support any schools.

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Florida Statutes

The issue remains is about the legal use period. It's legal! Peace!

 

In California terms, this seems to refer to the University of California, the California State University (both systems provided, operated and supported by the state government) and to the state's community colleges (provided and operated by local districts and supported by the state). The Naval Postgraduate School and the Defense Language Institute, both in Monterey, apparently would also qualify since they are provided, operated and supported by the US Navy and the US Army, respectively (hence by the federal government).

The BPPVE is the Bureau of *PRIVATE* Postsecondary and Vocational Education. It doesn't provide, operate or support *any* of the schools that it approves.

 

Re: Re: Florida Statues

I did not wrote this statutes, I went and spoke to one of the State attorney's of Florida, he explained it to me, so I take their word I am not a lawyer, but I play one on TV, so I wanted to know it is was legal or not for someone to claim a State Approved degrees such as in the case of California, Bill your point is well taken.

 

This appears to me (I'm not a lawyer so I could easily be wrong) that this is the same law that has been on Florida's books for a long time. If so then the Florida Supreme Court ruled it to be unconstitutional. The problem was that it went too far in that it did not allow any exceptions. For example Bob Jones University is unaccredited but is recognized to be one of the very few perpetually unaccredited schools that is academically equivalent to accredited degrees. The Florida Subreme Court ruled that it was unfairly depriving graduates of academically equivalent schools the right to use their earned degrees. Therefore the law was deemed to be unenforceable.

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Florida Statutes

To me, much more troubling (and of questionable legality) is the following statute concerning foreign degrees.

• 
  (c) A school, institute, college, or university chartered outside the United States, the academic degree from which has been validated by an accrediting agency approved by the United States Department of Education as equivalent to the baccalaureate or postbaccalaureate degree conferred by a regionally accredited college or university in the United States;

First of all, the United States Department of Education does not approve accreditors it recognizes them. Second, although a few accreditors have accredited foreign schools, these are very few indeed. Moreover, professional accreditors and national accreditors are not really in the position to validate degrees as equivalent to those conferred by regionally accredited schools. Typically, evaluation of foreign degrees is done by private firms that provide credential evaluation services. These firms, however, are not accrediting agencies approved by the United States Department of Education.

So precisely which accrediting agency approved by the United States Department of Education, is capable and willing to validate foreign degrees as being equivalent to those conferred by regionally accredited colleges or universities in the United States?

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Florida Statutes

Gus you can take your concern with the State of Florida, as far I am concern they answer my question, don't care about the rest, I won't sweat abou it. Peace!

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Florida Statutes

Not really, Vinipink. What you have is the opinion of a single attorney (and you know what they say about opinions, don’t you?) who probably isn’t even familiar with what constitutes accreditation or state-approval.

The statutes may be unenforceable and constitutionally problematic, but they are quite clear (in fact, it is precisely their clarity that renders them constitutionally problematic). Unless the school that granted your degree is either accredited, has a religious exemption (and your degree is of a religious nature), a foreign school deemed to be equivalent to a regionally accredited one (by no less than an authority than an accrediting agency approved by the United States Department of Education), or is actually funded and run by a state government, the use of your degree would constitute fraud.

Therefore, sorry Vinipink, it is NOT legal. Committing fraud (what the statutes are all about) is NOT legal. And repeating it over and over again will not make it so. You can choose to believe whatever you want, just don’t spread your misinformation here.

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Florida Statutes

My degrees are from American University of Puerto Rico and the Other will be from Upper Iowa University(both accredited by regional), Legal Enough for me. Your reaction is worst that those that enforce the law, and I don't think you are an attorney therefore, your opinion will be less that an actual one, Glad that you are strong believer of your principle, however, you view are yours alone, so they are respected. So this should be started what would make you a criminal if you use the degree in the above manner, I have the chance to read the whole statute with an attorney that practice law in the State of Florida for the State, for over 20 years and he is aware of accreditation and other issues. But any event the point is that a Degree from State Approved School such as California is legal, period, you may like this or not and will be the state of Florida to decide this not you, have some peace Gus, I sure Will, I got my answer. Lastly, this is not miss information is information, then again this is your view. Sorry, will let thise one go I have to go back to more important things such as finishing my MBA in Accounting from a Regional Accredited University, Peace!

 

Yabut when Bill Grover gets his doc from Zululand and goes to Disney World to celebrate,
will he get arrested by the Florida state police for booking a room as Dr Grover?

 

Florida's law including the wording, "(b) Provided, operated, and supported by a state government or any of its political subdivisions or by the Federal Government", is interesting and at least clear to me. State approved institutions were simply not considered by those who drafted or wrote the law.

I write educational programs in jurisprudence for health care professionals and I find this type of oversight frequently. The discrepencies become apparent when one one tries to write commentary on the statute to make it applicable to the workplace and practicing professionals. This is particularly common today as various professional groups, e.g. nurses, pharmacists, physical therapists, are expanding their scope of professional practice.

In the past most health care related statutes were conceived while recognizing a premiment position in health care for the physician. This is not at all true today and many of the old statutes are being revisited - or licensing boards are interpreting the statutes more broadly as they rewrite the rules facilitating professional activity.

The issue at hand will have to wait for interpretation, and that will likely not occur until the wording -and the likely oversight - is challenged.

 

Can we get this thread back on topic? The thread is called "Florida Statues," and I'm not seeing one bit of discussion about art, sculpting, and the like.

 

Dr. Grover?

As long as he refers to himself as Dr. Bill Grover, I’m sure he will be fine, as the law (like the ones against adultery and cohabitation) appears not to be enforced.

I would counsel him, however, against referring to himself simply as Dr. Grover in Disney World (and especially MGM Studios) as he runs the risk of being overrun by Muppets wondering whether Grover managed to earn a doctorate and join the illustrious ranks of the other Muppets with doctoral degrees such as Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Dr. Phil Van Neuter, and of course, Dr. Teeth.

 

Re: Dr. Grover? Part II

While in Orlando, I would also counsel Dr. Grover against applying for a position (academic or administrative) at the University of Central Florida. Their employment applications prominently display this ominous warning.

• 
  According to Florida law F.S. 817.567, no person in the state may claim to possess an academic degree unless specified accreditation requirements are met. Violations of this is a misdemeanor of the first degree, subject to prescribed penalties. The University of Central Florida accepts degrees only from institutions accredited by a regional or professional agency recognized by the United Sates Department of Education or the Commission on Recognition of Postsecondary Accreditation.

I would also counsel Dr. Grover not to apply for a job with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement either. The Florida Administrative Code, in Chapter 11 - DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT under section 11B-27.0011 Moral Character, states that “the perpetration by an officer of an act that would constitute any of the following misdemeanor or criminal offenses whether criminally prosecuted or not” are grounds for denying employment or implementation of penalties. (The list that follows includes 817.567, F.S..)

Furthermore, the Officer Discipline Process Manual of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement states that violation of 817.567, F.S (False Claims of Academic Degree or Title) results in a penalty ranging from probation to suspension.

So much for being legal. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement considers those who have violated 817.567, F.S ("whether criminally prosecuted or not") as having broken the law and to be of poor moral character.

My attempts at humor and the fact that it is never applied or enforced (in the courts or in the workplace) aside, the wording of 817.567, F.S., and especially the section concerning foreign degrees, is extremely troubling. And, although there have been many lay references to a Florida Supreme Court opinion on the statute, I have not been able to find it. If anyone knows the approximate date of the ruling (or if it was by a lower court instead) I would appreciate the information.