[CATO] [EXTERNAL] - ITACCESS : Article: Is the DOJ Web Accessibility Rule in Danger?

Mon Jun 2 16:17:06 PDT 2025

FYI - This is the response someone from Educause gave when asked why they signed the letter:

Hi, Julie - Yes, I would be happy to, and I will start by saying that I take great issue with how the Converge blog post frames the section of the ACE letter that we and a number of other associations joined. Given the difficulty that the higher education community has experienced in communicating with the administration, the letter, which is ostensibly addressing the Office of Management and Budget's request for information on deregulatory issues, is trying to cover bases beyond that main issue in the hope that colleges and universities can get some useful information from the Department of Justice within a meaningful timeframe. As the blog post notes, the Civil Rights Division at the DOJ has experienced major staffing cuts, which would greatly complicate effective engagement with the division in the best of times, and I think it is safe to say that the current environment cannot be characterized that way. Combine that with the fact that much of the administration's activity is being directed by OMB rather than the agencies themselves and it becomes clearer why the association community would try to use a channel that OMB provided to press for information on broader issues.

In an attempt to be concise, the section of the letter in question addresses both the pending Financial Value Transparency regulation out the Department of Education as well as the DOJ web/mobile app accessibility regulation. Prior comments from the higher education association community on the FVT regulation repeatedly requested that implementation of that regulation be delayed significantly given the reporting difficulties and lack of clarity about how to comply with core parts of the required reporting. In the context of the ADA Title II regulation, the relatively strict compliance requirement in the final rule has not been supplemented by the DOJ with guidance on how it plans to work with state and local government entities, including public colleges and universities, to achieve a balanced resolution of potential problems in a context where even the explanation of the final rule notes that the pace of change in technology and content makes strict compliance at all times potentially unachievable. This issue is further complicated by the fact that the possible lack of DOJ enforcement that the author of the Converge post raises concerns about does not lessen the potential for significant private litigation to emerge shortly after the April 26, 2026, compliance deadline that most institutions must meet. So, as with FVT, a delay in the ADA Title II deadline pending greater clarity from DOJ on its likely interpretation and application of the regulation struck us and a number of other associations as a reasonable request.

In our review of the final rule as compared with the proposed rule and our comments on it (er.educause.edu/articles/2024/6/...<https://er.educause.edu/articles/2024/6/web-and-mobile-app-accessibility-regulations>), we noted that the final rule excluded the provisions that made the proposed ADA Title II regulation appear reasonably balanced from a compliance perspective. We also noted that our comments on the proposed rule argued for a much longer compliance deadline than the proposed rule presented and the final rule adopted. The lack of follow-up by the DOJ since then, even accounting for the change in administration and the first Trump administration's checkered history with accessibility issues, has many public institutions concerned about whether their legitimate, good-faith efforts to achieve compliance are going to be given fair weight if and when April 27, 2026, arrives in less than a year. Trying to get a response from the administration that might help public colleges and universities understand the enforcement environment that they are likely to face, and what it may mean for the litigation environment that they are likely to face, so they can adapt accordingly should seem reasonable to even the most skeptical of observers.

It may be a fair criticism to say that the letter could have done a better job of distinguishing between the direct response to OMB's questions and the other issues that we hope OMB might push the respective agencies to address. Given the tenor of this administration, however, I don't know that there are any risk-free ways of engaging with it on regulatory matters, and yet, we have to try to get answers for institutions when and where we can. The ADA Title II rule is one of those areas where associations across the board, not just EDUCAUSE, are hearing from institutions that they need more information from the administration and most likely a longer runway to achieve compliance. Contrary to the Converge blog post's assertion of bad faith on the part of the associations that joined the letter, meeting the express needs of our institutions for actionable guidance on a regulation of significant scope and importance, and nothing else, is what led EDUCAUSE, the American Council on Education, and many other major associations to raise the ADA Title II rule with OMB. - Jarret

------------------------------
Jarret Cummings
Senior Advisor for Policy and Government Relations
EDUCAUSE
jcummings at educause.edu
educause.edu

Amy Rovner, MPH RD
Director eLearning Services
Accessible IT Coordinator

Shoreline Community College

www.shoreline.edu<http://www.shoreline.edu/>  |  206.546.6937

eLearning Office: 206.546.6966

eLearning Email: elearning at shoreline.edu<mailto:elearning at shoreline.edu>

Shoreline Support Center<https://support.shoreline.edu/>

[Shoreline logo with tagline, Engage. Achieve.]
________________________________
From: CATO <cato-bounces at lists.ctc.edu> on behalf of Lattin, Zachary via CATO <cato at lists.ctc.edu>
Sent: Monday, June 2, 2025 3:42 PM
To: Distribution List for the Committee for Accessible Technology Oversight <cato at lists.ctc.edu>
Cc: Lattin, Zachary <ZLattin at clark.edu>
Subject: Re: [CATO] [EXTERNAL] - ITACCESS : Article: Is the DOJ Web Accessibility Rule in Danger?

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Hi CATO,

With all respect, I think we should take the fact that The American Association of Community Colleges signed the letter as them supporting it.  It’s unclear to me whether our state colleges belong to that group as ironically their search isn’t too accessible.  If Monica meets with SBCTC’s leadership on this, I think questions should be more along the lines of “What is SBCTC’s / our system’s stance on Title II / this letter?”  and “Are you aware that American Association of Community Colleges, Educause and other groups  supports pausing implementation of Title II of ADA?  Realistically here are some of the implications of that happening.”  Maybe CATO can re-share our CATO letter of support for Title II with SBCTC leadership, which is becoming more important by the day.  ??

Also, if you have the energy or know a contact from any of the fifteen signing organizations, perhaps email them and explain the situation and ask them to rescind the letter.

Rob Carr said something in last week’s training that really stuck with me: “The headwinds are so strong against access work right now.”  I’m thankful to have you all weathering these winds with me.  ??

--Zach

From: CATO <cato-bounces at lists.ctc.edu> On Behalf Of Monica Olsson via CATO
Sent: Monday, June 2, 2025 1:59 PM
To: Committee for Accessible Technology Oversight [CATO <cato at lists.ctc.edu>
Cc: Monica Olsson <molsson at sbctc.edu>
Subject: Re: [CATO] [EXTERNAL] - ITACCESS : Article: Is the DOJ Web Accessibility Rule in Danger?

Grrrrr.

I knew it was a matter of time before we saw something more concrete attacking the web accessibility ruling from this administration.

I have requested a meeting with our interim executive director at SBCTC to help me clarify the if the American Associate of Community Colleges is supporting this memo or not.

Monica M. Olsson (she/her/hers)

Policy Associate – Accessible IT Coordinator

Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges

•Email: molsson at sbctc.edu<mailto:molsson at sbctc.edu> • Phone: 360-704-3922

The power of the Web is in its universality.

Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.

Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the World Wide Web

________________________________

From: CATO <cato-bounces at lists.ctc.edu<mailto:cato-bounces at lists.ctc.edu>> on behalf of Amy Rovner via CATO <cato at lists.ctc.edu<mailto:cato at lists.ctc.edu>>
Sent: Monday, June 2, 2025 11:25 AM
To: Committee for Accessible Technology Oversight [CATO <cato at lists.ctc.edu<mailto:cato at lists.ctc.edu>>
Cc: Amy Rovner <arovner at shoreline.edu<mailto:arovner at shoreline.edu>>
Subject: Re: [CATO] [EXTERNAL] - ITACCESS : Article: Is the DOJ Web Accessibility Rule in Danger?

[Sent from outside SBCTC]

Thank you Doug!! Yes a HUGE stab in the back. So much for advocating for students and employees.

Disappointed,

Amy

Amy Rovner, MPH RD
Director eLearning Services
Accessible IT Coordinator

Shoreline Community College

www.shoreline.edu<http://www.shoreline.edu/>  |  206.546.6937

eLearning Office: 206.546.6966

eLearning Email: elearning at shoreline.edu<mailto:elearning at shoreline.edu>

Shoreline Support Center<https://support.shoreline.edu/>

[Shoreline logo with tagline, Engage. Achieve.]

________________________________

From: CATO <cato-bounces at lists.ctc.edu<mailto:cato-bounces at lists.ctc.edu>> on behalf of Hayman, Douglass via CATO <cato at lists.ctc.edu<mailto:cato at lists.ctc.edu>>
Sent: Monday, June 2, 2025 11:01 AM
To: Committee for Accessible Technology Oversight [CATO <cato at lists.ctc.edu<mailto:cato at lists.ctc.edu>>
Cc: Hayman, Douglass <dhayman at olympic.edu<mailto:dhayman at olympic.edu>>
Subject: [CATO] FW: [EXTERNAL] - ITACCESS : Article: Is the DOJ Web Accessibility Rule in Danger?

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All,

Did you see this post on educause this morning?

I followed the link and read the blog post by Ken Nakata from Converge Accessibility.

Attached is my quick remediation of the letter sent by a number of organizations mentioned in the post as the original I found was untagged. Note that some of the reference tags were problematic so refer to the hyperlinks to those within the document.

This letter, if legit, feels like a real stab in the back from the co-signing organizations.

Doug Hayman

IT Accessibility Coordinator

Information Technology

Olympic College

dhayman at olympic.edu<mailto:dhayman at olympic.edu>

(360) 475-7632

From: Laura Carlson via EDUCAUSE Connect <Mail at ConnectedCommunity.org<mailto:Mail at ConnectedCommunity.org>>
Sent: Monday, June 2, 2025 10:27 AM
To: Hayman, Douglass <dhayman at olympic.edu<mailto:dhayman at olympic.edu>>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] - ITACCESS : Article: Is the DOJ Web Accessibility Rule in Danger?

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In case you haven't read this article: Is the DOJ Web Accessibility Rule in Danger? By Ken Nakata. "…On May 12, 2025, the American Council on...

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Jun 2, 2025 11:27 AM

Laura Carlson<https://connect.educause.edu/allcommunities/network/connect-directory/profile?UserKey=2c925aef-2a93-471b-ae64-9560a67fa350>

In case you haven't read this article:

Is the DOJ Web Accessibility Rule in Danger?
By Ken Nakata.
"…On May 12, 2025, the American Council on Education (on behalf of a
ton of other educational associations, including EDUCAUSE) asked the
Trump Administration to pause implementation of the Department of
Justice’s ADA Title II Web Accessibility regulation…"
convergeaccessibility.com/2025/06/02/...<https://convergeaccessibility.com/2025/06/02/doj-web-accessibility-rule-in-danger/>

Kind Regards,
Laura
--
Laura L. Carlson
Information Technology Systems and Services
University of Minnesota Duluth
Duluth, MN U.S.A. 55812-3009
www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign<http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/>

W3C Invited Expert
Accessibility Guidelines Working Group
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Pronouns: she/her/hers

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