Animals, other than fish, are typically not allowed to live in housing provided by NC State, but there is an exception for service animals and emotional support animals. The animals allowed to stay on campus are not just pets, but animals that help to provide a service for their owner.
Service animals typically are defined as animals that are trained to help their owner with a disability whether it be a physical or mental impairment. Emotional support animals (ESA) provide therapeutic comfort to their owner and do not necessarily have a trained background.
In order for assistance animals to stay on campus, students must file paperwork with Disability Services and University Housing. The paperwork is necessary to make sure there is a genuine need by the student as well as making sure the animal in question can live a healthy life in the dorm or apartment the student is assigned to.
The Disability Services Office on campus works with students on a case-by-case basis to help determine the student’s needs and how an animal will be able to help them. Maggie Faulkner, the access consultant for disability services, talks about how different students have different needs on campus.
“Every student is in a different situation,” Faulkner said. “Different needs … mean different pets also. Typically, the service animals are dogs while emotional support animals tend to be more [of] a broad category. Emotional support animals need documentation [from] a professional stating how a ESA can help support them. Often times, the students in need of a service animal are already working with our office. Therefore, we are already aware of their individual needs.”
Beyond the student’s needs, the space and care requirements of the assistance animal need to be considered as well. This is where University Housing steps in the make sure there are adequate arrangements for both the student and the animal. Housing does not handle any of the medical files of the students involved. They only receive an approval or denial from the Disability Services Office to ensure that the students medical records remain confidential.
Katrina Pawvluk, associate director of housing operations, explained that students must go through the two departments to ensure that the animal is a good fit for the student and the environment.
“Once the student is approved, the student must provide documentation from a vet insuring that the animal has had all of its shots, depending on what kind of animal it is, to ensure that it is a healthy animal to bring into the residence halls,” Pawvluk said. “Certain animals may not have vaccines, but there still needs to be documentation that the animal is in good health. At this point, we have not said no to any animal so a student can request anything. It will then be determined whether a resident hall is a healthy environment for said animal.”
Whether the student is living in a residence hall, apartment, fraternity house or sorority house on campus, they will be living with other students also. The other students cannot deny their peer of having an assistance animal, but they are notified so that any concerns they may have can be talked through with housing.
“Once the student has the approvals needed, we reach out to the roommates, suitemates or apartment mates to let them know someone has been approved to have an assistance animal, and we let them know what type of animal it is,” Pawvluk said. “This gives the students an opportunity to reach out to us, they can’t say no to the animal, but this gives them an opportunity to talk to us about concerns such as allergies so we can work things out with them.”
The guidelines on the qualifications of registering an assistance animal on campus can be found through Housing. For further information, contact University Housing and/or Disability Services to discuss individual situations.
