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Policy Number: SA.039
Effective Date: 03/11/21
Approval Date: 03/11/21
Purpose
This document describes the procedures for the use of service animals by students while on University property. Life University complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) in allowing use of service animals for students while on campus and in-residence halls.
Definitions
Service Animals are defined as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. 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, and calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack. Service animals are working animals, not pets. 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.
Policy Title
Life Service Animal In Housing Policy
Policy Statement
Life University (“Life” or “University”) recognizes the importance of “Service Animals” as defined by the ADA. Life is committed to allowing individuals with disabilities the use of a Service Animal on campus to facilitate their full-participation and equal access to the University’s programs and activities.
Procedure(s)
Service animals are welcome anywhere on campus that is open to the public but there may be individual exceptions in places where the presence of the animal may compromise a sterile environment. If you have questions about where the service animal is/is not allowed, please contact the Student Success Center.
Under the ADA, service animals must be harnessed, leashed, or tethered, unless these devices interfere with the service animal’s work or the individual’s disability prevents using these devices. In that case, the individual must maintain control of the animal through voice, signal, or other effective controls.
It may be necessary to ask that a service animal be removed from the premises if the dog is not housebroken, out of control, aggressive to others, or significantly disruptive and the individual does not take proper action to control the animal. If it is necessary to ask that the dog be removed, every effort will be made to assure that the individual still has access to the programs or services of the institution without the animal.
Institutional personnel are not required to provide care or food for the service animal.
Students with Service Animals may be asked to answer the following questions:
1) Is the animal a service animal required because of a disability?
2) What work or task has the animal been trained to perform?
Owner’s Responsibilities for Service Animals
The individual is required to clean up after and properly dispose of the animal’s waste in a safe and sanitary manner and, when provided, must use animal relief areas designated by Life.
Service Animals in Residence in University Housing
The university should be given sufficient notice of the plan to have a service animal in housing so that the university can make appropriate arrangements regarding placement, roommates, etc.
An individual with a disability may be charged for any damage caused by their Service Animal beyond reasonable wear and tear to the same extent that it charges other individuals for damages beyond reasonable wear and tear. The individual’s living accommodations may also be inspected for fleas, ticks or other pests if necessary as part of the University’s standard or routine inspections. If fleas, ticks or other pests are detected through inspection, the residence will be treated using approved fumigation methods by a University-approved pest control service. The individual will be billed for the expense of any pest treatment above and beyond standard pest management in the residence halls. The University shall have the right to bill the individual’s account for unmet obligations under this Policy.
Other Notes
Revised on 6/18/2020.
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