Free online course content from major universities confers a substantial benefit on the public by making educational material accessible to anyone with Internet access. Recently, the Department of Justice found that the University of California, Berkeley, is in violation of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act because its free online course content is not ADA-compliant.
The university has issued a press release indicating that full compliance may not be possible due to budgetary constraints. Thus, the university may be forced to remove course content from public access. Such an outcome would be clearly detrimental to the public interest. Thus, we ask that the DoJ cease enforcement of the ADA against U.C. Berkeley and other public universities offering free content.