Animals on Campus

A service animal is defined as a dog that is individually trained to do work or perform specific tasks for people with disabilities. These tasks can include things like pulling a wheelchair, guiding a person who is visually impaired, alerting a person who is having a seizure, or even calming a person who suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The tasks a service dog can perform are not limited to those on this list; however, the work or task a service dog does must be directly related to the person’s disability.  Service dogs may accompany persons with disabilities into any places that the public normally goes. This includes state and local government buildings, businesses open to the public, public transportation, food service facilities, and non-profit organizations open to the public. The law that allows a trained service dog to accompany a person with a disability is the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA). 

In accordance with the ADAAA and the Fair Housing Act (FHA), individuals with disabilities may be permitted to have their assistance animal in the residence halls of Albright College. Please contact the Director of SAA about your service animal as soon as possible to ensure timely accommodations and appropriate access to the campus. A service animal is not a pet.  

Please note that service animals are different from therapeutic emotional support animals and are treated differently under various laws. If you have questions about a service animal, please contact SAA@albright.edu.  Students are encouraged to register their service dog with the SAA office.  This allows the SAA office to notify those who may encounter the dog that it is a confirmed service dog and to prepare those who may have the dog in their class or residence to prepare for its presence.    

Albright College Policy and Expectations for Service Dogs on Campus (PDF)

 

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Service Dog Fraud   

People trying to convert their pet into a service animal to gain public access to no-pet areas or reasonable accommodations for their pet in workplace or residence settings are committing disability fraud. Ignorance of the law has never been recognized as an acceptable defense in the United States.

Purchasing online documentation, paperwork, registrations, certifications or vest/equipment to imply that a pet is a service animal is disability fraud by deception.

Disability fraud carries civil liabilities for your actions and your pet’s actions. Many states are adopting additional criminal penalties for misrepresenting a pet as a service animal including fines, community service, time in jail, and a permanent criminal record.

A person commits the offense of misrepresentation of entitlement to an assistance animal or service animal if the person intentionally:  

• misrepresents to another that the person has a disability or a disability-related need for the use of an assistance animal or service animal in housing; or  

• makes materially false statements for the purpose of obtaining documentation for the use of an assistance animal or service animal in housing.  

A person who violates the provisions commits a misdemeanor in the third degree. 68 P.S. § 405.5  

PLEASE NOTE: An ESA is a housing accommodation and is subject to housing accommodation deadlines. 

Students with disabilities who seek to bring an emotional support animal (ESA) to campus must adhere to the guidelines described in the following documents: 

Albright College Policy and Expectations for ESAs on Campus

Understanding the Process for Requesting Reasonable Housing Accommodations 

An animal may not be on campus during the request process. Any animal on campus without prior approval from the SAA office is considered a pet and will be subject to code of conduct rules and fines.   

An emotional support animal (ESA) is a single animal that provides therapeutic emotional support for an individual with a diagnosed mental health disability. Unlike service animals that are trained to perform specific tasks that are important to the independence or safety of their disabled handler, ESAs are generally not trained to perform disability-specific tasks. Their therapeutic support is a function of their presence and interaction with the person with a mental health disability. ESAs are not pets, but they typically are animals commonly kept in households as pets. An ESA may be a small bird, cat, dog, rabbit, hamster, gerbil, fish, turtle, or other small, domesticated animal that is traditionally kept in the home for pleasure. Under recent guidance from the United States Department of Urban Development (HUD), reptiles (other than turtles), barnyard animals, monkeys, and other non-domesticated animals are not considered common household animals. Exceptions to these guidelines regarding animals serving as ESAs will be considered on a case-by-case basis. 

The primary consideration in determining if an ESA will be allowed in college housing is whether the ESA is necessary, because of the individual’s disability, to afford the individual an equal opportunity to use and enjoy college housing, and its presence in college housing is reasonable.  

An ESA is not specifically trained to perform tasks for a person who has emotional disabilities. Unlike a service animal, an ESA is not automatically granted access to places of public accommodation. ESAs are not permitted in other areas of the college (e.g. dining facilities, libraries, academic buildings, athletic buildings and facilities, classrooms, labs, individual centers, etc.).

Documentation from a qualified professional is necessary in determining the need for an ESA as part of the reasonable accommodation process conducted by the Student Accessibility and Advocacy office.  

Documentation needs to demonstrate that the student is under the care of the mental health professional and that they have a therapeutic relationship. To assess the appropriateness for prescribing an ESA, it is generally recommended that the prescribing mental health care provider has been consistently treating the student for a minimum of one year for the identified disability.