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Animal Assistance

Animals On Campus

The 51Ƶ recognizes the importance of service animals, as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments (ADAAA) and the broader category of  emotional support animals. Under the Fair Housing Act, emotional support animals, provide emotional support to individuals with disabilities.

Service Animals

"Service Animals” are defined as a dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with a disability. 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. The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability. Dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA.

Some State and local laws also define Service Animal more broadly than the ADA. Information about such laws can be obtained from the State attorney general’s office.  

Source: U.S. Depart. of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Disability Rights Section at

Students who utilize Service Animals do not need to provide disability related documentation or request permission for the animal on campus, as they have the right to bring Service Animals into any public establishment. However, students who require the presence of a service animal at the 51Ƶ should inform the Office of Residence Life. This will assist Residence Life in assuring that the service animal is appropriately accommodated at the University.

Emotional Support Animals

Emotional Support Animal is an animal other than a service animal, that qualifies as a reasonable accommodation under the Fair Housing Act, the ADA, or state or  local law, that assists an individual with a disability or provides necessary emotional support to an individual with an mental or psychiatric disability that alleviates one or more identified symptoms or effects of the person’s disability, but does not meet the definition of a service animal. These animals are prescribed by a licensed healthcare professional.

Emotional Support animals may be allowed in University housing with approval, but are not permitted in other campus facilities, buildings or vehicles.

How to Request Accommodations for an Emotional Support Animal

  1. To initiate a request for an accommodation, a student must create a request through the Accommodate system and submit the appropriate medical documentation.  If this is the first time using Accommodate, please follow the process outlined in the guide to complete the intake form. For returning users, follow the steps outlined in this guide to submit updated documentation.
  2. Submit medical documentation. Download the Request for Emotional Support Animal Accommodation form, complete the student section only, and forward the form to your healthcare professional to be completed.
  3. The information submitted by your Healthcare Professional must:
    1. Establish that the student has a disability, and how the student is limited by the disability,
    2. Specify the last time the student was seen by the medical provider,
    3. Describe the current functional impact of the disability as it is related to the request,
    4. Describe an identifiable nexus between the applicant’s disability and the services the animal provides, (i.e. explain how the animal helps alleviate the impact of the disability symptoms; how the animal has historically been necessary to manage the student’s symptoms; is it the long relationships that has proven to have a positive impact that reduces the overall level of symptoms).
    5. Provide a date at which the effectiveness or ongoing need will be evaluated and/or confirmed if the use of an emotional support animal is a new approach to treatment.
    6. Describe what negative effects, if any, that the student may experience if they do not have the animal on campus.
    7. Describe how this animal allows the student to fully participate in University services, programs and activities in housing.
    8. Describe how important is it for the student’s well-being that the animal reside in the student’s residence on campus.
    9. Describe what symptoms will be reduced by having the animal in housing.
    10. Explain whether, if an emotional support animal is approved, the care responsibilities (i.e., feeding, bathing, waste management etc.) of the animal represent challenges for the student that need to be considered or addressed in a particular way. If so, please indicate how these will be addressed.

The licensed healthcare professional completing the form cannot be a family member and must have seen the student within the last 12 months.

The licensed healthcare professional can fax the completed form to 570-941-6304 or email it to non-academic-accom@scranton.edu, or return the form to the student to upload it to the  Accommodate system. 

If the licensed healthcare professional submits the form via email, the form will be uploaded to Accommodate by an Office of Equity and Diversity staff member.  If the student receives the form from the licensed healthcare professional, they must access Accommodate and upload the form themselves.

Guide to Upload Files and Forms to Accommodate

The 51Ƶ reserves the right to request additional documentation if the information does not address the student’s current level of functioning, or substantiate the need for modifications or accommodations under applicable law and regulations.

4. Student must provide proof of vaccination for the animal for the application to be considered complete. The proof of vaccination must be uploaded to Accommodate.

Deadlines

All paperwork should be submitted through Accommodate as follows:

  • First-year students, no later than July 1st.
  • Transfer students, no later than December 31st
  • Upper-class students, no later than March 1st.

If a need arises for an emotional support animal outside the above timelines, student should follow the same request process. 

Once all documentation is submitted, OED will review the application, generally within 10 business days.  During high volume periods, OED may need up to 30 business days to complete the review.  Documentation that is incomplete or outdated may further delay a review of the application.

Review and Determination

OED will review the request for accommodation and information received and decide to grant or deny the accommodation. The University will determine if the emotional support animal is necessary to afford the student an equal opportunity to use and enjoy University housing and if the animal’s presence in University housing is a reasonable accommodation.

No Emotional Support Animal may be kept in University housing at any time prior to the individual receiving approval from OED. Keeping an unapproved animal on campus is a violation of the University Student Code of Conduct and may result in disciplinary action.

If an Emotional Support Animal accommodation request is approved, the student will be notified by email of the decision. If an approval is granted, the student is required to meet with the Office of Residence Life prior to bringing the animal on campus.

Emotional Support Animal requests must be renewed every academic year. If an Emotional Support Animal is returned to campus without proper renewal request and approval, the animal may be removed from campus until the approval process is complete.

Considerations

A request for an emotional support animal may be denied as unreasonable if the presence of the animal:

(i) imposes an undue burden;
(ii) fundamentally alters University housing policies;
(iii) poses a direct threat to the health and safety of others[1], or
(iv) would cause or has caused substantial property damage.

OED may also consider the following factors, among others, in determining whether the presence of the emotional support animal is reasonable:

  1. If the size of the animal is too large for available assigned housing space;
  2. If the animal’s presence would force another individual from housing (e.g. serious allergies);
  3. If the animal’s presence otherwise violates individuals’ rights to safe, peace and quiet enjoyment;
  4. If the animal is not housebroken or is unable to live with others in a reasonable manner;
  5. If the animal's vaccinations are not up-to-date;
  6. The animal poses or has posed in the past a threat to the individual or others such as aggressive behavior towards or injuring the individual or others; or
  7. If the animal causes or has caused excessive damage to housing beyond reasonable wear and tear.

[1] University housing is unique in several aspects including the assignment of roommates. To ensure that the presence of assistance animals is not an undue administrative burden or fundamental alteration of college housing or infringes on the rights of roommates, As a result, The University of51Ƶ reserves the right to assign or reassign an individual with an assistance animal.

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