The National Federation of the Blind requested an investigation by the United States Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights against Penn State on Friday, citing civil rights violations against blind students and faculty.
The Office of Civil Rights is based in Philadelphia. The blind advocacy organization, based in Baltimore, is the oldest and largest group of blind people, according to its website.
The seven-page complaint contends that Penn State has "gratuitously denied its blind students and faculty equal access to information and thereby to an equal education opportunity."
Penn State spokeswoman Annemarie Mountz wrote in an e-mail that university officials will examine the NFB’s grievances.
"We are looking into the complaint. Issues of equity and accessibility are immensely important and we take them very seriously," Mountz wrote.
The document asserts Penn State’s infringement of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act which guarantees that public universities provide the blind with equal access to facilities, programs and services.
Read tomorrow's issue of The Daily Collegian for more details.
