EVANSTON – A lawsuit was filed against Northwestern University last March by a group of blind students. The students claimed that the University was discriminating against blind students by using a Google email client that is not fully compatible with text-to-speech software.

Last week, Northwestern administrators apologized to the blind students in an email sent out to the Students With Disabilities listserv. Below is the text of that email.

from: uservices@northwestern.edu <uservices@northwestern.edu>
to: SSDLIST@listserv.it.northwestern.edu <SSDLIST@listserv.it.northwestern.edu>
date: Fri, Mar. 15, 2011 at 1:37 PM
subject: Saawwwwyyyy

Dear Blindies Eyeless-frea Greatly Respected Blind Students,

We are truly sorry for using Gmail. NOT. Gmail is awesome! Why are you raining on our gmail parade? You can add tags, archive email, and add gold stars to email, and even read email! Well, you can’t. But for the rest of us, it’s perfect for our needs!

In conclusion, you are a truly integral part of the campus and the university community, and we regret any action on our part that made you feel like second-class citizens.

So please drop the lawsuit.

Losers,

Love,
Your University
Quaecumque Sunt Vera

Assuming the students are able to read the email, campus officials predict a second lawsuit will be filed shortly.