Service Animals

In accordance with the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, Disability Support Services at Midwestern State University engages in an interactive and collaborative process with students in order to determine eligibility for requests for reasonable accommodations to its housing policy to allow students experiencing significant mental health issues to keep an Emotional Support Animal (ESA) in-residence.

MSU Texas offers this preliminary guidance for those who are considering making a request for an ESA:

• Documentation of a significant mental health challenge and the associated need for an ESA must come from a mental health provider who knows you and understands your difficulties. Some websites sell certificates, registrations, and licensing documents for assistance animals to anyone who answers certain questions or participates in a short interview and pays a fee. Under the Fair Housing Act, a housing provider may request reliable documentation when an individual requesting a reasonable accommodation has a disability and disability-related need for an accommodation that are not obvious or otherwise known. In HUD's experience such documentation from the internet is not, by itself, sufficient to reliably establish that an individual has a non-observable disability or disability-related need for an assistance animal.
• The nature of communal living requires that MSU consider the needs of all students in residence. Therefore, even if the request to have an ESA is approved, it will not necessarily approve the specific animal requested. For example, some reptiles and rodents must be rejected because of safety and health concerns, as they may carry diseases which pose a threat to the general welfare of residents in a communal living environment.
• Our residence halls are generally not an animal-friendly environment. Approved ESAs will be restricted to your dorm room. They are not allowed in common areas in the residence hall, and must be crated when the owner is not in the room.
• Approved ESAs must not be left in the care of other residents, even for one night.
• Students bringing approved ESAs to campus are fully responsible for the ESA’s behavior and for any damage caused by the ESA. If the ESA is disruptive in any manner, it must be removed within 24 hours of notice to the student.

Individuals with disabilities may be accompanied by their service animals in all MSU Texas University buildings where members of the public or participants in services, programs or activities are allowed to go. By law, a service animal means any dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability. Other species of animals, whether wild or domestic, trained or untrained, are not service animals. In some cases, the University may permit miniature horses on campus on a case-by-case basis, consistent with applicable law.

The work or tasks performed by a service animal must be directly related to the individual's disability. Examples of such tasks include, but are not limited to:

• assisting an individual with low vision with navigation;
• alerting individuals who are hard-of-hearing to the presence of people or objects;
• pulling a person's wheelchair;
• or providing assistance with stability or balance to an individual with a mobility disability

Federal law does not require the individual to provide documentation that an animal has been trained as a service animal. The University may, however, ask if the animal is required because of a disability, as well as what work or task the animal has been trained to perform.

Exceptions

The University may exclude a service animal from campus if its behavior poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others or when its presence fundamentally alters the nature of a program or activity. Furthermore, the University may ask an individual with a disability to remove a service animal from campus is the animal is out of control and the individual does not take effective action to control it; or if the animal is not housebroken. The service animal is considered an extension of teh student and thus, is subject to the same code of conduct as a student would follow. Disruptive behavior by a service animal will be grounds for removal from an academic setting in the same manner that a disruptive student will be removed from the same environment.

Responsibilities of individuals with Service Animals

The University is not responsible for the care or supervision of a service animal. Individuals with disabilities are responsible for the control of their service animals at all times and must comply with all applicable laws and regulations, including vaccination, licensure, animal health and leash laws. A service animal shall be restrained with a harness, leash, or other tether, unless an individual's disability precludes the use of a restraint or if the restraint would interfere with the service animal's safe, effective performance of work or tasks. If a service animal is not tethered, it must be otherwise under the individual's control, whether by voice control, signals, or other effective means.

Individuals are responsible for ensuring the immediate clean-up and proper disposal of all animal waste. Although the University may not charge an individual with a disability a service animal surcharge, it may impose charges for damages caused by students.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Service Animal Terms

1. The ADA does not require service animals to be professionally trained.
   People with disabilities have the right to train the dog themselves and are not required to use a professional services dog training program.
2. However, service-animals-in-training are not considered service animals.
   Under the ADA, the dog must already be trained before it can be taken into public places. Thus, until the training is complete, the service animal in training does not have the same protection and privileges as a fully trained service animal. Some *State or local laws cover animals that are still in training.
   
   *The State of Texas does not recognize Service Animals in Training to have access to the same areas as trained service animals as long as they are accompanied by an approved trainer. MSU Texas requires the student to provide documentation of their certification as the trainer from an approved organization.
   *State of Texas Code Sec.121.003 — A service animal in training shall not be denied admittance to any public facility when accompanied by an approved trainer.

Requirements for Students

1. Complete the Student Disability Services (SDS) Verification Form for Service Animals in Training. This form does not register the student with Disability Support Services for classroom accommodations, but if the student wants to apply for services, he/she can do so. This SDS Verification Form, along with documentation certifying the student as an approved trainer (#2), will be kept on file in the Disability Support Services office.
2. Provide Disability Support Services (DSS) with a Certification of Training document. An approved trainer recognized by MSU Texas is an individual who has been certified by an organization whose primary mission is to train service animals for people with disabilities. If the student is not an approved trainer, the student must provide proof an approved trainer will be with the student and the dog while in campus buildings.
3. Meet with Disability Support Services staff to obtain approval for bringing a Service Animal in Training into campus buildings. A campus building is any building on campus, including housing facilities. During this meeting, DSS staff and student will:
   • Review published ADA language that allows for the person to train the dog themselves, but does not recognize Service Animals in Training as a protected accommodation.
   • Review State of Texas statute that does allow Service Animals in Training to access the same areas as Service Animals as long as they are accompanied by an approved trainer.
   • Review that Service Animals in Training must be identified by a vest or tag indicating they are in training, and must comply with and abide by the same University policies and procedures that any Service Animal follows.
4. Housing Requirements—If the student resides in MSU Texas Housing, then the Verification Form will be sent to Housing as well.

Requirements for Service Animal (dog) in Training

1. The animal must be at least one year of age.
2. The animal must meet all standards of behavior that mirrors a trained service animal. These standards include that the animal is under the owner's control at all times, and that the animal is leashed at all times.
   The ADA requires service animals to be under the control of the handler at all times. The service animal must be harnessed, leashed, or tethered while in public places unless this interferes with the service animal's work or task. In that case, the person must use voice, signal, or other effective means to maintain control of the animal. Under control also means a service animal should not be allowed to bark repeatedly in an otherwise quiet place.
3. Additional service animal guidelines include:
   • Animal must be housebroken,
   • Current required vaccinations, and
   • Wearing collars and tags at all times.