The U.S. Department of Justice has published a new rule requiring public higher education institutions to make their digital content accessible by April 24, 2026. This rule will help us ensure our content is accessible and inclusive for all who interact with our websites and other digital applications. In order to meet these requirements, everyone involved with websites and digital applications at Utah State University will be accountable for learning and applying accessibility best practices.
Actions Required
What does this rule mean for you? Who can help?
- Regular website accessibility checks: Web editors and website managers are responsible to ensure that the sites they oversee are accessible. Checks should be run on page creation and during page updates, as well as at other regular intervals appropriate for your content cycle. The Digital Accessibility Services Team will also be contacting content creators to fix accessibility issues on existing content. If you are unsure how to check for errors on your site, reach out to your college/division webmaster or the Digital Accessibility Services Team.
- Remove outdated content: If you have outdated content on your site, consider removing it.
- Ensure new content meets accessibility standards: be sure you are adding alternative text to images and captioning videos, as well as running page checks, like the WebAIM WAVE browser extension, as you create new pages or update existing content.
- Use University-supported platforms:
- Websites: If your site is not on the University-supported web CMS (Modern Campus CMS) platform, consider moving to benefit from built-in accessibility features and support. Reach out to the IT Web Team to learn more.
- Course materials: For course content, consider moving to Canvas. Center for Instructional Design & Innovation (CIDI) Teams are available to assist with this transition. You can also email cidi@usu.edu for help.
Get to know what the ruling means by reviewing a summary available from Digital Accessibility Services.
Available Resources
- College/Division Webmaster: If you are not sure how to make your content accessible or how to fix errors, your college/division webmaster can help assist you.
- S.J. and Jessie E. Quinney College of Agriculture and Natural Resources - McKay Jensen
- College of Arts & Sciences - IT Web Team
- College of Veterinary Medicine - IT Web Team
- Division of Student Affairs - Brent Colledge
- Emma Eccles Jones College of Education & Human Services - Jason Barnett/Eva Nautiyal
- Engineering - Levi Sanchez
- Extension - Colton Blair
- Finance & Administrative Services - IT Web Team
- Huntsman School of Business - Morgan Kuethe
- Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land Water & Air - IT Web Team
- Library - Margaret Winward
- Office of Research - IT Web Team
- Office of the Provost & Executive Vice President - IT Web Team
- Operational Strategy - IT Web Team
- Statewide, Eastern, Blanding - Tracey Johnson
- Digital Accessibility Services: The Digital Accessibility Services Team has a number of tools that make it easy to identify and fix many issues. We encourage you to reach out to the Digital Accessibility Services Team to review your digital content and discuss where you can get started to create more accessible content.
- USU IT Web Team: The IT Web Team will address any accessibility issues for units for which they provide full web support. If you do not have a college/division webmaster and need help fixing an accessibility issue, reach out to the IT Web Team for direction.
In the coming months, we will be sharing more about accessibility best practices. We hope to focus on a specific accessibility topic for your site each month. Stay tuned for more information!