Campuses Debate Rising Demands for \u2018Comfort Animals\u2019<\/p>\n
By JAN HOFFMANOCT. 4, 2015
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\nMary McCarthy and Carl, her rabbit, with her roommate, Rachel Brill, and her dog Theo, in their campus apartment at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Carl and Theo are emotional support animals, permitted by the college to live on campus. Credit Drew Angerer for The New York Times<\/p>\n
ST. MARY\u2019S CITY, Md. \u2014 Rachel Brill and Mary McCarthy are seniors and longtime roommates at St. Mary\u2019s College of Maryland. This year, they share their four-bedroom campus apartment with two other female students. Also, Theo and Carl.<\/p>\n
Theo, easygoing and unflappable, is a tawny, 103-pound, longhaired German shepherd. Carl, an energetic charm magnet, is a jet-black, 1.5-pound Netherland Dwarf rabbit.<\/p>\n
House rules: Carl must reside in a pen under Ms. McCarthy\u2019s raised bed; Theo snoozes in a crate in Ms. Brill\u2019s bedroom. Carl cannot be let loose in the living room, where Theo likes to hang out. \u201cWe\u2019re still very careful because we don\u2019t want there to be an issue with Theo and Carl,\u201d Ms. McCarthy said. \u201cWe\u2019re both very anxious people.\u201d<\/p>\n
And that is exactly why Theo and Carl have permission to live in campus housing.<\/p>\n
Like many schools across the country, St. Mary\u2019s, a small, public liberal arts college, is figuring out how to field increasing requests for animals by students with diagnosed mental health problems. Last fall it began allowing \u201ccomfort animals\u201d for students like Ms. Brill, Theo\u2019s owner, who has anxiety and depression, and Ms. McCarthy, Carl\u2019s owner, who gets panic attacks.
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\n\u201cWhen I feel a panic attack coming on,” Ms. McCarthy said, “feeling his heartbeat helps me regulate my own.\u201d Credit Drew Angerer for The New York Times<\/p>\n
Anxiety, followed closely by depression, has become a growing diagnosis among college students in the last few years. The calming effect of some domesticated animals has become so widely accepted that many schools bring in trained therapy dogs to play with stressed students during exam periods.<\/p>\n
But as students with psychiatric diagnoses are asking to reside on campus with their own animals, schools with no-pet housing policies are scrambling to address a surfeit of new problems. How can administrators discern a troubled adolescent\u2019s legitimate request from that of a homesick student who would really, really like a kitten? If a student with a psychological disability has the right to live with an animal, how should schools protect other students whose allergies or phobias may be triggered by that animal?<\/p>\n
The topic is being hotly debated by college housing and disability officials in the wake of discrimination lawsuits filed by students who were denied so-called emotional support animals. Last month, on the eve of a trial in a case closely watched by administrators, the University of Nebraska at Kearney settled with the Justice Department, agreeing to pay $140,000 to two students who had been denied support animals, and spelling out protocols for future requests. Recently, a federal judge refused to dismiss a similar case against Kent State University.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe disabilities services people are all looking at what they need to do to make this work,\u201d said Jane Jarrow, an educational disabilities consultant who is teaching \u201cWho Let the Dogs In?\u201d \u2014 an online course about emotional support animals \u2014 for the fourth time this year. \u201cWe\u2019re way past pretending it\u2019s not going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the years before support animal lawsuits, universities found it relatively easy to say no to requests for animals. But now, said Michael R. Masinter, an expert on disability law at Nova Southeastern University in Florida, \u201cschools think it\u2019s easier to say yes than no because property damage is cheaper than litigation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perhaps that explains the 95-pound pig that a freshman was allowed to bring to her second-floor room at Washington State University. Unfortunately, when led to the stairs, the pig balked. The freight elevator made him anxious, too. So he stayed in the dorm room and used a litter box.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe other students thought the pig was kind of cool, but less cool when it began to smell,\u201d recalled Hannah Mitchell, the dorm\u2019s residential director at the time. \u201cWe talked about bathing it. But dorm bathrooms aren\u2019t built for washing animals.\u201d
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\nA washing machine designated for students with animals protects students with animal allergies. Credit Drew Angerer for The New York Times<\/p>\n
Pig and student transferred to a dorm with ramps. Eventually, both moved off campus. Custodians said the dorm room\u2019s carpeting had been chewed-up, the furniture gnawed and closet doors knocked off.<\/p>\n
The overwhelming majority of support animal requests are for dogs and cats. But schools have had requests for lizards, tarantulas, potbellied pigs, ferrets, rats, guinea pigs and sugar gliders \u2014 nocturnal, flying, six-ounce Australian marsupials.<\/p>\n
Clearly, many requested animals are students\u2019 pets. But what is the difference between an emotional support animal and a pet that also provides support?<\/p>\n
The distinction depends less on the animal and more on the student: whether the student has a diagnosed psychiatric disorder, and can document that the animal is therapeutically necessary.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo we have people trying to get their pet across as an assistance animal? Sure,\u201d said Jamie Axelrod, director of disability resources at Northern Arizona University, where requests for support animals rose to about 75 last year from a handful a few years ago. \u201cDo we have people who legitimately require one? We do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to rely on a treatment provider\u2019s ethical sense that they\u2019re doing what\u2019s right for their patient,\u201d Mr. Axelrod added. \u201cBut it\u2019s a new gray area.\u201d<\/p>\n
Research on the therapeutic value of animals is limited. Some studies have shown that they can provide a short-term benefit, particularly in reducing anxiety and depression. A long-term therapeutic benefit, however, has not been definitively established by randomized control trials.<\/p>\n
Joanne Goldwater, associate dean of students and director of residence life at St. Mary\u2019s College of Maryland, is not concerned about objective evidence. \u201cHaving that animal has clearly helped to reduce stress and anxiety for some students,\u201d she said, \u201cwhich helps them progress towards their degree.\u201d<\/p>\n
Students concur. Ms. Brill, a film major, wrapped her arms around Theo\u2019s neck. \u201cTheo helps me when I\u2019m feeling isolated and depressed,\u201d she said. On wobbly days, he gives her structure, she added, because she must get out of bed to feed, brush and walk him. \u201cAll I have to do is look at Theo, squish his face a lot in the evenings, and he\u2019s like, \u2018Hey, I love you!\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Her roommate Ms. McCarthy, a psychology major, tucked Carl into her neck, stroking his silky fur as he eagerly nuzzled her ear. \u201cWhen I feel a panic attack coming on, feeling his heartbeat helps me regulate my own,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
And animals have inspired creative compromises. At St. Mary\u2019s, animal owners must do their laundry in designated washing machines and dryers to avoid cross-contamination with the clothing of students with animal allergies.<\/p>\n
At Western Washington University, a student asked to keep her six-foot snake. But the school prohibits \u201clive feeds,\u201d said Karen M. Walker, the associate housing director. The solution? Frozen mice, served thawed \u2014 a solution amenable, so far, to the school, student, suite mates and snake.<\/p>\n
Whether schools must permit support animals depends, generally, on federal housing law. The Nebraska suit was filed by the Justice Department in 2011 on behalf of Brittany Hamilton, whose four-pound miniature pinscher, Butch, would put his paws on her shoulders to quell her anxiety attacks. She wanted Butch to live in her university apartment. The university said no.<\/p>\n
But in 2013, a federal judge ruled that the university\u2019s residences were bound by the Fair Housing Act, which protects individuals with disabilities from discrimination. Among the act\u2019s \u201creasonable accommodations\u201d for residents with psychological disabilities are animals that provide emotional support.<\/p>\n
While the consent order in the Nebraska case last month is not binding on other colleges, it lays out some guidelines. The university can deny a request if the animal is too big for the quarters or aggressive, or damages property.<\/p>\n
And if a student\u2019s documentation looks insufficient, a school can contact the student\u2019s medical provider \u2014 a pushback against emotional support animal letters downloaded on the Internet or churned out by cybertherapists who, for fees of up to $150, will Skype with the student and then issue the document. Universities have been circulating a watch list of such practitioners.<\/p>\n
Some institutions are managing the issue with a matter-of-fact attitude. \u201cWe use our code of conduct for animals as well as people,\u201d said L. Scott Lissner, the Americans With Disabilities Act coordinator at Ohio State University. \u201cWe don\u2019t let our students walk across campus and lick people unless it\u2019s welcome, so we don\u2019t let the dogs do it. We don\u2019t let students howl all night.\u201d And, he added, \u201cthey can\u2019t go to the bathroom wherever they want.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Campuses Debate Rising Demands for \u2018Comfort Animals\u2019 By JAN HOFFMANOCT. 4, 2015 Photo Mary McCarthy and Carl, her rabbit, with her roommate, Rachel Brill, and her dog Theo, in their campus apartment at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Carl and … Continue reading