Web Accessibility Policy

Revised 9/18/2018

Policy Statement

Lake Superior State University is committed to making its electronic media accessible to the broadest possible audience, including students, prospective students, employees, guests and visitors with disabilities, particularly those with visual, hearing or manual impairments or who otherwise require the use of assistive technology to access information. The University’s Web Accessibility Coordinators support the standards of the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Version 2.0 level AA.”

This policy establishes minimum standards for the accessibility of web-based information and services considered necessary to meet the university’s goals and ensure compliance with applicable laws. LSSU has assigned web accessibility responsibilities to the Web Accessibility Coordinator, Marc Boucher.

Web pages will meet the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0 Level AA Technologies Accessibility Standards) All content will be accessible by January 21, 2020.

Each website must contain a link to report accessibility issues, or to request an accessible version, should users have trouble accessing content within the site. These reports are sent to the Web Accessibility Coordinators, who ensure follow-up.

Procedures

Annual Training

Any staff responsible for creating or distributing information with online content to students, employees, guests, and visitors with disabilities will receive annual training. Content can only be edited by authorized content creators. This is a limited and monitored group that receives annual compliance training. Annual training will be provided by individuals with sufficient knowledge, skill and experience to understand and employ the technical standards adopted by the University.

The content covered in the Accessibility Training Workshops will empower content creators to:

learn why accessibility standards are important,
understand why web content needs to be compliant, and
to adopt/acquire skills necessary to meet web accessibility standards when creating web content.

The two qualified trainers for web accessibility are:

Marc Boucher (Director of Library/Academic Services and Web Accessibility Coordinator),
Ali Van Doren (Assistant Professor/Academic Librarian).

Accessibility Audit

An annual accessibility audit (Audit) will be conducted under the direction of the Web Accessibility Coordinator(s), during which information provided by LSSU through its online content is measured against the technical standards adopted in the Web Accessibility Policy. This annual audit will consist of a sampling of university-developed URLs based on a reasonable determination of online content accessibility priorities. All problems identified through the Audit will be documented, evaluated, and remediated within 180 days.

Exceptions

Units seeking an exception to this policy must submit a written request to the Web Accessibility Coordinator(s), detailing why compliance is not feasible and how the unit will make information on its web pages available in an equally effective manner to individuals with a disability.

Enforcement

If necessary, at the discretion of the Web Accessibility Coordinator(s), some or all non-compliant portions of the web pages and resources may be taken offline or brought into compliance by designated staff or contractors. The Web Accessibility Coordinators have the authority to revise, edit or remove the content to comply with set standards.

Purchasing of Outside Content

All web-based technology, as well as software obtained from third parties that the University chooses to make available on LSSU websites, will conform to the accessibility standards set forth in this policy. To ensure web-based applications meet the University Web Accessibility requirements, the Web Accessibility Coordinators will be integrated into the purchasing process to verify compliance prior to purchase. In addition, the Purchasing Department will solicit statements from potential vendors offering web-based products as to whether their products meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Version 2.0 level AA standards.

Complaints

Complaints regarding accessibility of LSSU websites should be directed to the Web Accessibility Coordinator(s). The coordinator(s) is responsible for investigating complaints of non-compliance and for referring non-compliant websites to University Administration.

All Lake Superior State University hosted websites will include a footer that provides the following information:

Students, prospective students, employees, guests, and visitors may report violations of the technical standards used by the University by filing a formal complaint through the University’s Web Accessibility Coordinators and/or file a grievance through a section 504 ADA grievance procedure through the Accessibility Services Office.

The footer will also provide the contact information (including the following: name, office number, email, phone number and address) for the Web Accessibility Coordinators and the Accessibility Services Coordinator.

Contact

The Web Accessibility Coordinator is Marc Boucher and can be reached via email at or directly via the contact information below:

Marketing and Communications

R.W. Considine Hall Lower-Level

Director of Library/Academic Services and Web Accessibility Coordinator
Marc Boucher

906-635-2404
Library 208