Provost: Syracuse University to remediate ‘significant portion’ of web presence to improve accessibility
Kiran Ramsey | Senior Design Editor
Syracuse University will work to remediate its web presence in coming months, following a federal civil rights complaint that detailed how the university’s websites were not accessible to individuals with disabilities.
Michele Wheatly, SU’s vice chancellor and provost, announced in a campus-wide email Thursday that 55 university websites will be updated by early March. Website pages for every school, college and nearly every business unit at SU will be updated, Wheatly said.
Almost 900 subdomains, covering hundreds of thousands of pages of content, will also be updated in the future.
Wheatly’s announcement comes as the university works to implement its new Information and Communication Technology Accessibility policy, which went into effect on Jan. 1. The policy will ensure SU’s web and digital content is compliant with web accessibility standards that set guidelines on keyboard navigation capabilities, font sizes, color contrasts and video captions, among other things.
Some examples of web pages that will be affected by the policy change include syllabi, faculty profiles, class materials and curriculum vitae, the provost said.
A complaint filed with the United States Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights detailed how SU’s website, along with affiliated websites and pages, were inaccessible to individuals with disabilities that include visual, physical or print-related impairments.
In December 2017, the university announced a cross-campus working group to address the complaint.
Published on January 25, 2018 at 5:54 pm
Contact Jordan: jmulle01@syr.edu | @jordanmuller18