U.S. Department
of Justice
U.S. v. Regents of the University of California
On Nov. 21, 2022, the United States filed its Complaint and proposed Consent Decree to resolve allegations that the Regents of the University of California on behalf of the University of California, Berkeley (collectively, UC Berkeley) violates Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. UC Berkeley makes conferences, lectures, sporting events, and other University events available to the public on its websites and other online platforms, including its YouTube and Apple Podcasts channels. It also makes courses available on its UC BerkeleyX platform. The Complaint alleges that much of UC Berkeley's free online content is inaccessible to individuals with hearing, vision, and manual disabilities. Under the Consent Decree, UC Berkeley will make all future and the vast majority of its existing online content accessible to people with disabilities. UC Berkeley will also revise its policies, train personnel, designate a web accessibility coordinator, conduct accessibility testing of its content, and hire an independent auditor. The Consent Decree resolves the Department's findings issued in its letter on August 30, 2016. The court approved the consent decree on December 2, 2022.