Service Animals are permitted to accompany their handlers anywhere their handlers are permitted on campus, including academic classrooms, laboratories, studios, and residence halls both as a resident and visitor. Handlers accompanied by service animals must be granted equal access to campus functions commiserate with the access provided to those without a service animal.
Students utilizing service animals are encouraged to work with the Office of Disability Services before beginning a class to ensure that appropriate accommodation can be provided.
Students planning to utilize a Service Animal are not required to seek approval. It is strongly suggested but not required to make ODS aware of your animal.
If a Service animal’s role is not apparent by observation, it is permissible to ask the handler: “Is the animal required because of a disability?” and “What work or task is the animal trained to perform?” One may NEVER ask for documentation of a service animal or ask them to wear identification.
Please, also note the information below must be true for service animals in public settings:
- The person being accompanied by the animal has a disability for which the animal has been specifically trained to mitigate symptoms. Animals are not required to wear a service animal vest, but this is helpful in public settings, so people are not soliciting attention from the animal
- Under the ADA, service animals must be harnessed, leashed, or tethered unless the devices interfere with the animal's work. In this case the handler must maintain control of the animal through voice, signal or effective controls.
- The handler is financially responsible for the actions of the service animal. These actions include bodily injury and property damage.
- At all times, the cost and care maintenance and health and well-being are the responsibility of the handler. Service animals must meet all local ordinances regarding vaccinations and proper licensure.
- The animal must be unobtrusive.
- Waste cleanup is the responsibility of the handler. If the handler is not able to physically pick up the animal waste, they must hire or establish someone who can complete the task. The waste must be properly disposed of in a trash receptacle.
- Service animals may travel freely inside and outside of a residence hall and university-owned property.
- The animal can be asked to leave campus if the animal is out of control, a threat to others, not housebroken, or the animal is ill.
- The Department of Justice is clear that the following animals are not considered service animals under the ADA and ADAAA:
- Any animal besides a dog (though in some special cases, a miniature horse may be used).
- Animals that serve to perform crime-preventive tasks.
- Emotional support, comfort, or companionship from animals.
Some facilities may be off-limits for service animals, including:
- Classroom and research laboratories: The natural organisms carried by service animals may negatively affect the outcome of research or classroom activities or if the chemicals and/or organisms used in the research may be harmful to service animals.
- Areas where protective clothing is necessary: Any room where protective clothing is required is off-limits to service animals. Examples impacting students include the kiln, chemistry laboratories, and metal/machine shops.
- Areas where there is a danger to the service animal: Any room, including a classroom, where there are sharp metal cuttings or other sharp objects on the floor or protruding from a surface; where there is hot material on the floor (e.g., molten metal or glass); where there is an elevated level of dust; or where there is moving machinery is off-limits to service animals.
If the animal is not allowed into an area that is deemed dangerous, the student may bring a crate to keep the animal until class is over, outside of the classroom area. If the crate is not possible, please chat with your faculty or the Office of Disability services for other suggestions.
Each location’s safety will be evaluated by a group of individuals including: The Office of Disability Services, the laboratory director or professor, and other staff who can assess and manage risks on campus. When an area is determined to be unsafe for the service animal, reasonable accommodation will be provided to ensure the student equal access to the activity.