Â鶹ӰԺ

ACCESSIBILITY IN THE NEWS: "SCARY-LOOKING" VILLAINS

Connecting a villain’s evilness to a physical disability has a long history in the movie industry. This trope has reinforced misinformation about people with disabilities. 

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: Ethan Smith

Learn about Ethan's journey as a student majoring in Communication Studies, and Emerging Media and Technology.

EDITORIAL: ABLEIST LANGUAGE

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EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT: Virginia Dressler

Digital Projects Librarian

Pre-Purchase Product Review

"Defining Technology" FlowchartProcurement Glossary 

Please use the process below to determine whether your product should be reviewed by the security and digital accessibility team. 

We are here to help you, the business unit or purchaser, understand what risks a digital solution poses to the university and what is necessary to ensure compliance with our policy. In order to reduce frustration, we hope that you will loop us in EARLY in your purchasing process so that our review does not inconvenience the product implementation timeline. Please use the steps below to ensure a great purchasing partnership. 

Few people realize that an Amazon locker system or a campus bike-sharing service has digital elements. But every mailroom worker uses a computer program to monitor package locations. Everyone riding a campus bike reserves and drops it off using a mobile application. Therefore, those products have elements that qualify as Â鶹ӰԺ State Technology. We're here to help you make sure these products are EQUALLY ACCESSIBLE by and SECURE for all users.

In order to protect Â鶹ӰԺ and its systems, vendors whose products/services will access/host university data must complete the Higher Education Cloud Vendor Assessment Tool (HECVAT). This process assists the university in preventing breaches of protected information and comply with university policy, state, and federal law. This is intended for use by vendors participating in the request for proposal (RFP) process with Â鶹ӰԺ and it should be completed by the vendor. There is a light and full version of the assessment tool. The vendor will need to fill out the version that corresponds with what type of university data they will access/host.

In order to be reviewed by the digital accessibility team, a current VPAT must be attached to the ticket. More information is below. 

STEPS IN REVIEW PROCESS

Step 1: List the requirements for this digital solution and use the resulting information to inform your purchasing process.

Step 2: Ask the Information Technology employee in your area whether any digital solutions Â鶹ӰԺ State already owns would meet your requirements.

       
If a current enterprise product will not meet your needs, move on to step 3.

Step 3: Answer the questions below with a "Yes" or "No".

• Will current Â鶹ӰԺ State Students or staff be REQUIRED to use this product? (i.e. software or application necessary to complete course assignments, system employees use to document their sick days)
• Will more than 100 people be using this product (both administrators and end users)?
• Does the product cost more than $2500 per contract year?
• Will it interact with any Â鶹ӰԺ State protected data? (i.e. Does it need to integrate with Canvas or Blackboard, reference student ID#, etc.?)

If the answer to ANY of the above questions is "Yes", continue to step 4. If not, your digital product does not need to be reviewed at this time by the Digital Accessibility Team, but inform your of your purchase plans. (**Note that you should reference these questions again at contract renewal, as this method of determining which products to review is under revision by DoIT leadership and is subject to change.)

Step 4: If you answered "Yes" to any of the above questions and are pursuing a product outside of current enterprise licenses (even FREE digital solutions), gather the documents listed below and submit your product for review by the Information Security and Digital Accessibility team. 

• Talk to a sales representative for the product to request a recent VPAT and HECVAT. Not all companies have completed forms, but work to underscore the importance of these documents. Your sales representative may not know what these documents are, so suggest they speak with a technology/development team member. Share these websites with the sales rep and ask them to pass them on to the development team: ABOUT THE VPAT, ABOUT THE HECVAT 
   
• Complete the Product Assessment Form, which helps the Information Security and Digital Accessibility teams understand basic information about the product in order to begin the review process. Each product requires a review by each of these two independent teams before contract and/or use. Please complete the above steps to be fully informed about the product and how your department plans to implement it BEFORE beginning the form.  

Step 5: Please allow 10 business days for our teams to process both reviews upon receipt of the HECVAT and VPAT. 
*Email equalaccess@kent.edu if this timeline or acquiring the HECVAT or VPAT is problematic.

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The Equal Access Academy

Preview and Sign Up for Equal Access Academy Trainings

Equal Access Committee

In 2023, the Equal Access Committee, formerly the Accessibility Committee, celebrates its 12^th year of advocating for accessibility and inclusion for all students and staff.