Therapy Dogs on College Campuses Spark Debate

By Ashlyne Wilson and Alexis Oswald

Levels of anxiety and depression in college students have been steadily rising in college students over the years. While volunteers bring their therapy dogs to college campuses to help relieve students of some of their anxiety, more and more requests are coming in from students that would like their four-legged friends to live with them on campus.

The debate is a huge one this year among colleges and disability officials.

In September, the University of Nebraska at Kearney agreed to pay $140,000 to two students who were denied therapy animals to live on campus with them after being diagnosed with depression. Kent State recently denied a student the same thing in a similar case. Since the lawsuit, Nebraska at Kearny has decided to allow therapy dogs to live on campus, and help relieve the stress of college students.

This decision is projected to become a precedent in the for other universities in the future.

Many people have their own opinions about dogs living on campus. One person in particular is Kathy Adamle, founder of Dogs on Campus, the first pet therapy program that brings dogs on a college campus to relieve stress for students. Kathy is also a dog trainer and has done her own research on the affect that dogs have on people who are under stress.

Adamle insists that dogs should not live on a college campus because it isn’t fair to the dog or the student. “Our philosophy is you are here as your job. College is very expensive, you need to get in and get out. If you want to get a pet after you graduate that’s fine,” she said. “But it’s very much a disservice to the student and the pet to have a dog while you’re working on a degree in college. Somethings got to give and it’s usually the pet.”

Kent State fashion merchandising major Abbe Marchetta doesn’t agree with Adamle, and says that therapy dogs could be a major benefit to students on campus.

Marchetta lives on campus with her service dog, Remy. She said that although Remy is with her as service dog to because she is hard of hearing, he has been very therapeutic to her and has even helped her improve her grades.

“My stress level has gone down specifically because of him. When I first started living here alone when I didn’t have him I wasn’t sleeping well at night. I would sleep maybe two hours a night. When I got him I was sleeping sound at night,” she said. “It’s been proven animals can reduce stress and college is stressful so that can help. My grades have gotten better since I’ve had him.”

Aside from the emotional aspect of therapy dogs living on campus, there is no law stating that therapy dogs are not allowed to live on campus with their owners in reasonable circumstances.

According to the Fair Housing Act, “persons with disabilities may request a reasonable accommodation for any service animal, including an emotional support animal, under the FHAct or Section 504.” This policy applies to “housing associated with a university or another place of education” among other housing facilities.

Here’s the full Fair Housing policy on service dogs.

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Lauren Green, the enforcement director of the Akron Fair Housing Contact Service, says that if someone is in need of an animal  for a disability in their housing, it’s considered a reasonable accommodation, and that includes student housing as long as there is documentation showing that there is a serious need for a dog.

“You do need to be able to show documentation that is it necessary for a disability and you still have the responsibility to take care of the animal is proper fashion,” she said. “The animals can’t make excessive noise, they can’t disturb the enjoyment of others, and things like that in the housing situation.”

Officials of Kent State say they do not know if therapy dogs will be allowed on campus anytime soon, but with the possible policy changes around college campuses all over the country, that could change.