Animals on Campus – Office of Accessibility

The pages below describe the procedures for the use of service animals by students and employees and emotional support animals by students on the Siena Heights University (SHU) campus. Siena Heights University complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in allowing use of service animals for students, staff and visitors. SHU complies with the Fair Housing Act in allowing students the use of emotional support animals that are approved as an accommodation. Employees may not bring emotional support animals to work.

The University will make an individualized assessment of each proposed Emotional Support Animal (ESA).

Dogs must be completely trained and housebroken.  The use of “puppy pads” will not be permitted.  For dogs under 12 months old that are not already living with the student at the time the ESA is requested, Office of Accessibility will ask for a statement that the puppy is housebroken from the breeder, adoption agency, or person providing the animal to the student. For animals already known to the student, the student can self-attest to the housebroken status of the animal.

Qualifying to Have a Service or Emotional Support Animal on Campus
For an individual to qualify for having a Service Animal on campus:

• The student must have a disability as defined by the ADA;
• The accompanying animal must be trained to do specific tasks for the qualified individual
• We ask that as a courtesy all service animals register, at least with housing, for safety and rescue plan abilities.  Otherwise, no registration is necessary.

If the definition of a service animal is not met, then the use of the animal as Emotional Support Animal may be allowed as a reasonable accommodation, but is determined on a case-by-case status.

For a student to qualify to have an emotional support animal in the residence hall:

• The student must have a disability as defined by the ADA;
• The student must be registered with the Office of Accessibility office;
• The student must have an already established relationship with the animal, or show that a new relationship will not be harmful to student or animal.
• The emotional support animal must be approved through the Office of Accessibility as an official accommodation.
• The owner must notify Office of Accessibility if the animal is no longer needed or is no longer residing on University property.  If the animal will be replaced, the owner must submit a new request, separate from the original request.

For more information on these animals, see this article https://apple.news/ARMoBdPKLT6OgSgMCNy3JOw or studybreaks.com/college/esa-animals/

For more specific application processes, rights and responsibilities, and other information for Service and ESAs on campus at Siena Heights University, please click a logo below.