Policy Summary

What the Digital Accessibility Policy Asks of You

Approved by the President’s Executive Council, March 23, 2026

The authoritative policy lives in the CMC Policy Library

This page is a plain-language summary written for content creators. The governing document is the Digital Accessibility Policy in the CMC Policy Library. If this summary and the policy ever differ, the Policy Library governs.

Read the full Digital Accessibility Policy →

Key Takeaways

  • CMC’s standard for new digital content is WCAG 2.1 Level AA — and the College will also remediate inaccessible historical content used to deliver its programs, services, and activities.
  • Content creators have primary responsibility for the accessibility of what they publish. ITS provides training and support to help.
  • Content creators include students and student groups, as well as staff, faculty, and third parties working on CMC’s behalf.

1. The Commitment

Claremont McKenna College is committed to creating and sustaining a digital environment where people of all abilities can learn, work, and thrive. So that its programs, services, and activities are accessible to its community, the College strives to make all new digital content conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA.

The College will also remediate inaccessible historical digital content that is used to deliver its programs, services, and activities.

2. Who and What Is Covered

The policy applies to all units of the College, as well as third parties who create digital content for the College as part of its programs, activities, or services.

Digital content means any digital information provided by anyone on the College’s behalf to deliver its programs, services, and activities — whether hosted on or delivered through websites, domains, portals, learning management systems, software, platforms, classroom technologies, or any other application.

Content creators means any individual or company that provides digital content to CMC students, faculty, or staff as a method of delivering CMC programs, services, or activities. This includes, but is not limited to, CMC students, student groups, staff, faculty, and third parties.

3. Roles & Responsibilities

Making digital content accessible is a shared campus responsibility. Content creators have primary responsibility for making their content conform to WCAG 2.1 Level AA. The College offers a program of training and support to help — and if inaccessible content is reported, CMC works collaboratively with content creators to bring it up to standard.

Several key offices support this work:

  • Student accommodations — Accessibility Services, within CMC’s Office of Civil Rights, is the primary point of contact for determining reasonable and appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities.
  • Employee accommodations — the Office of Human Resources works with faculty and staff with disabilities to determine reasonable and appropriate accommodations.
  • Website accessibility — the Office of Strategic Communications and Marketing manages the accessibility of the College’s primary websites (cmc.edu).
  • Campus-wide coordination — overall coordination for digital content accessibility is handled by the Director of Administration and Finance for IT Services.

4. Training & Support

The College provides resources to help content creators meet the WCAG 2.1 Level AA standard, including in-person training through academic year 2026–27 and on an as-needed basis thereafter.

  • Resource Library — step-by-step guides for PDFs, Word, PowerPoint, Canvas, video, email, and more
  • Training — live sessions and self-paced learning
  • Accessibility Tools — checkers built into the software you already use
  • One-on-one help — email help@cmc.edu or call (909) 607-0911

Ideas for additional or different training are always welcome and can be directed to the Associate Vice President / Chief Information Officer.

5. Procurement

The College is responsible for confirming that vendors, where appropriate, conform to the WCAG 2.1 Level AA standard. No contract for third-party services can be signed until it has been reviewed and approved by the Director of Administration and Finance for IT Services.

You do not need to evaluate a vendor’s accessibility yourself — tell ITS what you want to buy before you sign anything, and the Solutions team handles the review.

How accessible procurement works at CMC →

6. Reporting a Barrier

If you encounter digital content you cannot access, you have several options: