Story co-written/produced with Natalie Ballard
Stephanie Powell and her emotional support animal Tinkerbell staying warm in their dorm. Photo by Natalie Ballard
After a busy day of stressful classes and tests, senior Stephanie Powell returns to her dorm room visibly upset. She takes short quick breaths as she lays down on her couch. Soon she is comforted by the pressure of a small animal crawling over her stomach and laying on her chest. She strokes the animal’s fur, thankful for the comfort and support. This animal is doing its job as an emotional support animal or ESA, and such animals are becoming more common on college campuses.
According to the American Psychological Association (APA), the number of college students seeking counseling services for mental or emotional stress has increased over the past five years. The APA found that the number of students seeking counseling increased 30 percent although student enrollment increased only 5 percent, according to a survey of 139 college and university counseling centers.
Some students seek help through an emotional support animal. Colleges and universities across the nation have recognized the benefits of ESAs for students with mental health disabilities. Western Carolina University is one of those schools. However, some believe those accommodations are lacking in clarity.
According to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), an emotional support animal falls under the definition of an assistance animal.
“An assistance animal is… an animal that works, provides assistance, or performs tasks for the benefit of a person with a disability, or provides emotional support that alleviates one or more identified symptoms or effects of a person’s disability,” claims HUD.
When completing the application for the approval of her animal, Powell explained that Western was very accommodating.
“After I filled out my paperwork and sent it all in, within a week, I heard back that I was granted access to have [my animal],” explained Powell.
The paperwork Powell is referring to includes a Registration and Request for Services form as well as a request for a housing accommodation form, among others. In addition, the Office of Accessibility and Resources (OARs) requires students provide documentation of their disability by a qualified professional such as a physician or psychologist.
Though Powell claims to have had ease with getting approval of her ESA, she admits her experience with having her animal on campus has not always been easy. In her junior year, she was charged for breaking one of the rules of having an ESA on campus. In an emergency situation, her roommate had to take her animal outside, and unknowingly broke a rule stating that only the animal’s handler is allowed to have control of the animal in campus buildings. After her roommate was seen walking the animal outside and questioned by a university official, Powell was charged with a violation because someone else had walked the animal in the building in order to get outside. However, neither Western’s Office of Accessibility Resources nor Residential Living informed Powell of a written set of rules for emotional support animals on campus for reference.
Tinkerbell has been an emotional support animal for almost four years. Photo by Natalie Ballard
“I have gotten in trouble for a rule violation when I was never informed it was a rule in the first place,” claims Powell.
Powell explained the rule was told to her verbally after the fact, and when she and her roommate asked other members of administration around campus about the rules, they also were unaware of the official rules.
“We talked to the [resident assistants] and we talked to the [resident directors] and nobody knew it was a rule,” explained Powell who was trying to get a list of rules with her roommate.
After digging on the OARs webpage, there is a link to a word document entitled, Fast Facts about Animals on Campus. These fast facts pertain more to service animals and only briefly discuss the rules of emotional support animals.
The rules listed pertaining to ESAs include:
- ESAs are approved for housing only
- ESAs are not allowed in dining facilities, on the CatTRAN, or in academic buildings
- ESAs in campus buildings must be housebroken and under the control of the handler at all times
- ESAs in the classroom is an academic accommodation that must go through the same process as any other accommodation
However, other rules such as the requirement to have a dog in a cage when the owner is not in the room and only the handler can take the animal for walks outside are not listed and students with ESAs are not given a written set of rules.
According to the Americans with Disabilities Act, service animals are primarily dogs who are trained to perform tasks for people with disabilities. An emotional support animal is not considered a service animal according to the ADA.
Per the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, assistance animals, including ESAs, are allowed in residence halls of universities with supporting documentation. However, some students with ESAs have had trouble living with their animals on campus.
Senior Em Snyder recently had issues living on campus with her ESA that ultimately ended with her moving off campus. She had first requested a private room in a residence hall but was told because WCU received a growth in students, she could no longer have a private room.
“I contacted Residential Living several times and was told the same thing, there’s not a lot they can do,” explained Snyder.
During the research process for this article, Residential Living and the Office of Accessibility Resources struggled to provide an answer as to who to contact for information on this topic. Both resources tried to refer to the other to gather information, which gives the impression that there is no clear distinction of who should be contacted for questions.
When she was given a roommate, her roommate did not like sharing the room with an animal. When Snyder went to Residential Living for advice, they did not offer much help.
“I was pretty much given an ultimatum: either move to a different dorm and hope the current roommate is okay with [my animal] or move off campus,” said Snyder.
However, when Powell asked a similar question to the Office of Accessibility Resources, she was given different information.
“I was told its under your prerogative to contact the [roommate] and if you have a problem… when it comes to moving, that person has to move,” explained Powell.
When asked about the topic of emotional support animals, Residential Living declined to be interviewed.
Ultimately, Snyder decided to move off campus with her animal but paid hefty fines for doing so.
“I ended up having to pay $800 to break my contract with Residential Living to move off campus,” explained Snyder.
Though she was refunded the price of living on campus for the next semester, she still had to pay for an apartment off campus in addition to the $800.
Regarding accommodations for students, the Office of Accessibility Resources claims that each student’s accommodations are handled differently.
“Accommodations are provided when deemed necessary and reasonable for a particular student and are determined on a case-by-case basis through an interactive process between the student and OAR,” says the OARs webpage.
Under the Fair Housing Act, students cannot be denied the equal opportunity to housing due to a disability nor can housing providers deny a documented assistance animal. The proper documentation can be provided by a physician, psychiatrist, social worker or other mental health professional.
Western’s OARs office lists appropriate documentation on their webpage. However, when some students applied for ESAs, they were denied due to Western’s requirement of having to have seen a mental health professional for a number of years previously.
Powell claims this requirement made things difficult for her while applying for her ESA.
“[It’s] really difficult if you’re someone like me who moved around a lot so your doctors constantly switched,” said Powell.
Other students who have been denied their animal on campus were not told of this rule before applying, and its situations like this that make Snyder feel that the communication around this topic is lacking.
“I [felt] like the university was not on the same page with me half the time going through this process and it was frustrating,” explained Snyder.
Powell believes one of the problems is that rules and regulations are not clearly explained, nor provided in written format for students with ESAs.
Snyder claims what happened to her should not have happened and wishing the university could have been more accommodating through this process.
“I love WCU. I appreciate their caring for their students, but this particular time was disappointing to me… I, as a student who pays thousands of dollars to attend this university, should not be driven to move off campus in the beginning of the semester,” she said as she was holding her animal.
