Should Emotional Support Animals be Allowed on Campus?

I think emotional support animals should be allowed on campus. Emotional support animals are just as important as service animals. So, is there a reason why one should be allowed and the other isn’t?

Most people wouldn’t argue if someone brought a seeing eye dog to their dorm room. We understand the importance of this type of service animal. There are other types of service animals that help people with physical problems like dogs who can detect when seizures are about to happen or hypoglycemia in a diabetic. Aren’t emotional support animals service animals too?

Students with mental health issues like anxiety, stress and depression require support and services just as much as a student with a more tangible disability. Mental health is as important as physical health. According to the World Health Organization, in 2019, the fourth highest cause of death for people between 15-29 years old was suicide.

Traditionally college campuses have had a no pet policy for the dorms. The use of emotional support animals has increased which has led to an increase in the number of students requesting an exemption from this rule. According to Von Bergen (2015) colleges might be worried that if they say “Yes” to emotional support animals they will have to say “Yes” to pets as well and everyone will want to bring their pets to live with them in the dorms. It is true that emotional support animals do not have the strict training that a service animal has (unless it is a psychiatric service animal), but they do provide an important service to the students who need it.

Emotional support animals help relieve depression, anxiety, loneliness, and stress related emotional pain/discomfort. These animals are not just pets. They help students who have a mental health diagnosis have a better quality of life. As an added bonus, they may enrich the lives of the people living nearby in other dorm rooms too. Look at an image of a dog. Wouldn’t living near it make you happier to?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Wells, Deborah L. “The Effects of Animals on Human Health and Well-Being.” Journal of Social Issues, vol. 65, no. 3, Sept. 2009, pp. 523–43. EBSCOhost, https://doi-org.proxy2.library.illinois.edu/10.1111/j.1540-4560.2009.01612.x.

Von Bergen, C. W. “Emotional Support Animals, Service Animals, and Pets on Campus.” Administrative Issues Journal: Education, Practice & Research, vol. 5, no. 1, Jan. 2015, pp. 15–34. EBSCOhost, https://doi-org.proxy2.library.illinois.edu/10.5929/2015.5.1.3

World Health Organization. "Suicide." World Health Organization, edited by World
     Heath Organization, 17 June 2021, www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/
     suicide. Accessed 29 Sept. 2022.