Sponsor: Office of the President

UC Davis Sponsor: Karen Hull, Interim Associate Vice Chancellor, Human Resources.  Peter M. Siegel, Vice Provost, Information and Educational Technology, coordinating input from UC Davis technical community.

Status: Following a period of informal review with the campus technical community (Aug.-Sept. 2007), in early November Vice Provost Pete Siegel submitted comments and suggestions about the draft UC Policy and Guidelines on Accessibility in the Electronic Environment to the Office of the President. See UC Davis comments about the Draft Web Accessibility Guidelines and the Draft Accessibility Policy.

Current Draft:

• Draft Policy (doc) and Guidelines (doc) (June 14, 2007)

UC Davis groups consulted and others to be consulted:

• Technology Infrastructure Forum
• Campus Council for Information Technology
  

Related Links:
Office of the President Electronic Accessibility at the University of California

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August 21, 2007

Colleagues:

The University of California Office of the President (UCOP) has launched an initiative on electronic accessibility, including a proposal for University-wide policy.

As more and more activities are conducted online, it is essential that the University make its electronic environment accessible to all members of our community, particularly individuals with disabilities. Technology both increases access to resources and yet, if not implemented properly, can be a cause for exclusion. The initiative therefore proposes establishment of University-wide policy to lead the development of an accessible electronic environment at the University of California.

The policy proposal is structured in two phases. At present, campus communities are asked to provide general feedback about the proposal, and preliminary policy and guidelines documents have been developed for review. Feedback will be used to revise the documents and shape development of a formal policy. In the second phase, UCOP will present the formal policy proposal to the Academic Senate and the chancellors for review.

As a member of the UC Electronic Accessibility Policy Review Group, and in partnership with Karen Hull, Interim Associate Vice Chancellor for Human Resources, I ask that you read the draft policy and guidelines documents, posted online at http://www.ucop.edu/irc/itaccessibility/welcome.html and submit your comments by Friday, September 14, 2007, to vpiet-info@ucdavis.edu. I encourage you to pay particular attention to the wording of the policy and guidelines and to share with me your comments and suggestions so I can best represent our campus technical community perspective, both with the UC-wide committee and right here on our campus.

A discussion will follow at the August 29th meeting of the TIF. Please note that a rough timeline for implementation is included in the drafts.
This timeline is intended to encourage discussion to help develop an implementation timeframe that is both pragmatic and expeditious.

Your contributions to shaping this important initiative will be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Peter M. Siegel
Vice Provost and CIO
Information and Educational Technology