1. POLICY STATEMENT
Ithaca College has adopted the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level AA as its standard for digital accessibility, hereinafter referred to as the “WCAG Standards”. All content and aspects of Ithaca College’s Websites that are created, published, or substantially added after July 1, 2020, shall conform to the WCAG Standards, except where the Web Strategy Group (WSG), in consultation with the Office of the General Counsel, determines that doing so would represent an Undue Burden or Fundamental Alteration. In such cases, the College will make reasonable efforts to provide Equally Effective Alternative Access.
2. DEFINITIONS
Content: Content should be construed broadly to include anything on the Ithaca College Websites including, but not limited to, audio, video, images, tables, forms, documents (in any format, including .docx and .pdf), and html.
WCAG Standards: Ithaca College has adopted the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level AA as its standard for digital accessibility.
Equally Effective Alternative Access: As used in this Policy, Equally Effective Alternative Access means an alternative format, medium, or other aid that timely and accurately communicates and/or provides access to the same content as does the original format or medium, and which is appropriate to an individual's disability.
Fundamental Alteration: A change to the College's services, programs, or activities that fundamentally alters the nature of the services, programs, or activities, including academic courses and technology. A determination of what constitutes a Fundamental Alteration may be made only by an individual or committee designated by the College President.
Ithaca College Websites: Any website providing content and functionality for the College's programs, services or activities, including all subordinate pages and intranet pages and sites and web-based interfaces to applications, including content and functionality developed by, maintained by, or offered through a third party vendor or open source through which the College (or one of its schools, global sites, portal campuses, or library) provides its programs, services or activities.
The Ithaca College Websites do not include sites that are independent of the College (including sites that are linked to from the Ithaca College Websites) and do not provide College programs, services or activities.
Undue Burden: A proposed course of action that would result in a significant financial and administrative burden. A determination of what constitutes an Undue Burden may only be made by the Web Strategy Group, in consultation with the Office of the General Counsel.
3. GUIDELINES
- Site Management. Each Primary Content Manager is responsible for ensuring that information added to the Content under their management complies with this Digital Accessibility Policy. As a proactive measure, Ithaca College periodically conducts accessibility audits using industry standard testing tools, such as Monsido/SiteImprove, Wave, or Lighthouse.
- Site Development. All Primary Content Managers and other personnel who are involved in the procurement, preparation and maintenance of the Ithaca College Websites are expected to implement measures to advance this policy, including by incorporating accessibility into development roadmaps, planning for compliance in the project planning, design, and RFP stages, requiring that vendors’ services comply with this Digital Accessibility Policy, and testing for compliance before publication or launch. The accessibility audit results are reviewed by the Web Strategy Group and issues are corrected based on recommended best practices.
- Reporting Barriers to Access. Content created or published prior to July 1, 2020, shall be made accessible in accordance with this Policy upon request. College Community members who encounter barriers to accessibility in Ithaca College Websites, whenever the Content was created or published, are encouraged to notify the site’s Primary Content Manager or the Web Strategy Group. In addition, employees, students, and visitors to Ithaca College may bring any concerns regarding known or suspected instances of disability-based discrimination to the attention of the Office of Human Resources in accordance with the Institutional Policy on Disability.
- Third-Party Service Providers. Third-parties (non-College entities) developing or providing Content, including web pages, web functionality, websites and web applications, for Ithaca College are expected to provide Content that is in compliance with this policy and with the WCAG Standards, where appropriate. For any area of non-compliance, External Entities are expected to identify those areas for the College and describe any planned remediation. College personnel shall make reasonable efforts to incorporate these requirements when negotiating agreements with third-parties, subject to and in accordance with the Section 2.41 Contract Review and Approval Policy.
Last Updated: July 31, 2023