Animals in Campus Housing – On-Demand Training

Understand ADA, FHA & HUD Guidance to Process Requests with Confidence

College and University housing offices are likely making room for not only residential students, but also a wide-variety of animals on campus due to the increase in requests for service and emotional support animals as accommodations under the ADA.

It can be easy for administrators to become confused and overwhelmed by the amount of requests for animals in campus housing. Different regulations govern the presence of service animals on campuses versus the presence of emotional support animals in our residential facilities, so you are likely seeing requests for animals that range from typical household animals to, at times, not so typical species. It’s challenging to know which requests must be approved, as well as which may be denied and a clear plan to process accommodation requests is required.  

Our expert presenter — whose expertise is in disability management and the implementation of reasonable accommodations — will help you understand more fully what is and what is not required in processing animal-related housing accommodation requests. Explore how to create a strong partnership between the student disability office and housing and residential life offices to ensure both the safety of residents and the approved animals, as well. 

Topics Covered

Gain solutions that will help you: 

• Develop a review process for animal related accommodation requests, especially as they relate to campus housing.
• Clarify the different regulations that pertain to animals on campus and in your campus based housing (ADA, FHA, HUD guidance, etc.).  
• Understand how/when you can exclude an animal from college housing so you can feel confident in your decisions.
• Understand the difference between service animals, emotional support animals, therapy animals, and personal pets and how these are related to access to campus housing.  Also, understand how to process requests for overnight visits from “service animal in training programs.”
• Strengthen key partnerships on campus to make the student and animal experience a positive one and to reduce disability related complaints.
• Develop a check-list for student intake interviews for animal-related accommodation requests.
  

Presenter

Leigh Davis Fickling is the Deputy Director of the Title IX and Clery Compliance and an Accommodations Consultant at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
Click here for full bio.