Service or Emotional Support Animals

Carolina University is committed to providing an accessible, inclusive, and welcoming learning environment for individuals with disabilities while complying with federal and state regulations. CU students who seek reasonable accommodations for disabilities should contact the Office of Accessibility and Student Inclusion Services. 

• A Service Animal is defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as a dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for a person with a disability. 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, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack or performing other duties.

Animals whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA.

• Assistance animals (emotional support animals) are defined by the Fair Housing Act as an animal that provides emotional support or comfort that alleviates one or more symptoms of a person’s disability and is necessary for an individual’s equal opportunity to use and enjoy housing.

Under the Fair Housing Act, an assistance animal does not need to qualify as a Service Animal and may be an animal other than a dog. An assistance animal is not a pet but is required for a disability, and the animal is not required to be individually trained or certified.

Residents wishing to request an assistance animal as a reasonable accommodation should contact Office of Accessibility and Student Inclusion Services to make their request. CU will determine, on a case by case basis, and in accordance with applicable laws and regulations, whether such an animal is a reasonable accommodation on campus.