Our policy is to provide reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities in accordance with applicable law. Students with documented disabilities are encouraged to register with the Student Disability Resource Center (SDRC). 

Assistance Animals

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) defines a “service animal” as dogs or miniature horses that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. Examples of such work or tasks include guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack, or performing other duties. Service animals are working animals, not pets. The work or task a dog or mini-horse has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability. Animals whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA.

Emotional Support Animals (ESAs) are companion animals that a medical, or mental health professional has determined as needed by an individual with a physical, psychiatric, or intellectual challenge in order to alleviate one or more identified symptoms or effects of a person’s disability. Training or certification is not required.

Assistance animals – both ESAs and service animals [MD2]– must be registered with Housing & Residence Life and we encourage registration with the Student Disability Resource Center (SDRC) prior to arriving on campus. Housing & Residence Life must approve Emotional Support Animals prior to coming into the residence halls. Unapproved ESAs will be asked to leave until the approval process has been completed or face a $250 fine. Students seeking this accommodation must review and follow Housing & Residence Life guidelines. Please remember to clean up after your animal.