Bert Ballard, a former Pepperdine communication professor and owner of Elite Dog Training, poses with Binh An, his Bernadoodle service dog.Ballard said there is a social barrier for owners of service animals as a result of because of being unable to leave for extended periods of time. Photo courtesy of Dog Training Elite
For senior Isabella Figueres, cuddling with her dog Matcha can make a hard day better.
Matcha is a 4-month-old teacup Yorkie and Figueres’ emotional support dog.
“We take naps together almost every day, and it’s genuinely one of my favorite parts of my day,” Figueres said. “I think just feeling her there with me brings me a huge amount of comfort that I wasn’t able to get before, and it makes all the difference in the world.”
In 2019, there were over 200,000 emotional support animals registered in the U.S., and since then, the numbers have been rising, according to the New York Times. Figueres is one of the many college students who find aid in an emotional support animal.
Although Pepperdine’s Office of Student Accessibility did not give the exact number of emotional support animals on campus, there has been a large increase in requests, said Jennifer Baker, associate director of accommodation processes at the OSA.
The University must accommodate these requests under the Fair Housing Act, which states it is illegal for a housing provider to refuse to provide accommodations for service or emotional support animals for those experiencing a disability.
Many people struggle to differentiate the rules for emotional support animals, service animals and therapy animals, according to the National Network. Students said having an emotional support animal while living on campus comes with advantages and disadvantages.
Service, Emotional and Therapy Animals Perform Different Tasks
The differences between service animals, emotional support animals and therapy animals are distinct.
A service animal is “any dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability,” wrote C.W. Von Bergen, management professor at Southeastern Oklahoma State University, in a 2016 Administrative Issues Journal article. Typical tasks for these animals include detecting seizures, recognizing blood sugar levels for diabetes patients and aiding in PTSD-induced anxiety attacks.
Bert Ballard, owner of Dog Training Elite and a former Pepperdine Communications professor, became a dog trainer after his daughter got a service dog for her seizures.
“My daughter wouldn’t be able to function without her animal there,” Ballard said.
The Americans with Disabilities Act grants public access to service animals, meaning they can enter all areas where customers would normally go. This includes classrooms and restaurants on Pepperdine’s campus.
An emotional support animal provides comfort or support for a person with a disability, but lacks training for individualized work, Bergen wrote.
An emotional support animal requires a medical prescription, but the animal has no training requirements and no public access rights except in housing, Ballard said.
“Therapy animals are when you want to volunteer in the community with no public access rights,” Ballard said.
These animals are commonly seen in hospitals, retirement homes and schools. Pepperdine often brings therapy dogs during finals week to relieve stress from students.
Mental Health Stigma
People often misunderstand emotional support animals, as many people view them as glorified pets who are granted access to housing at universities, according to Psychology Today.
“People who cause the stigmas are people who don’t need emotional support animals and just want to be able to have their pets,” Ballard said. “They pass them off as something that they’re not.”
Emotional support animals are professionally prescribed treatments, Ballard said.
“There is a massive misconception that people want ESAs because they want to bring their animal,” junior Carly Condon said. “That goes along with the mental health stigma.”
People with mental illnesses may feel shamed or fear being judged or misunderstood, because mental illnesses cannot physically be seen, according to McLean Hospital.
“When it comes to someone with anxiety or depression, you can’t see that, and a lot of the time it doesn’t present itself to other people,” Condon said. “So, it can be easily invalidated.”
Pros and Cons of Having an Emotional Support Animal at College
Having an emotional support animal holds psychological, physiological and social benefits in alleviating symptoms of an individual’s disability, according to a National Library of Medicine article.
Petting a dog lowers cortisol, a stress hormone, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. The interaction between a person and their dog increases levels of the “feel-good” hormone, oxytocin.
A student with depression could benefit from an emotional support animal, according to Counseling Today.
“This is in part because emotional support animals offer love and acceptance,” Jake Butwin, associate in litigations at Proskauer, wrote in a 2019 Fordham Urban Law Journal article. “But it is also because they alter behavior, offer distraction and promote a sense of responsibility.”
Condon said her emotional support cat Binx gives her daily purpose and builds her self-efficacy, alleviating her symptoms of depression.
“Having something to care for is really rewarding, and sometimes it is the sole purpose to get up,” Condon said.
A student with anxiety may benefit from emotional support animals, as they offer a sense of stability and reassurance, according to Counseling Today.
“I struggle with a lot of anxiety and other symptoms related to my PTSD diagnosis and the biggest thing that Matcha does that helps me is come cuddle up to me,” Figueres said.
Although the benefits are clear, there are some challenges college students face in regard to the responsibilities of caring for an animal.
“Being able to care for another being is sometimes a really wonderful and useful and helpful piece of healing and access, and then sometimes it can become difficult in that it is another being,” Baker said.
Additionally, there is a social barrier that comes with the responsibilities of caring for another being. Ballard said this includes being unable to leave for a long period of time or attend the same events as others as a result of taking care of an animal.
Pepperdine Approval Process
Baker said Pepperdine has a well-established system regarding emotional support animal accommodations; however, the process is lengthy in order to address the validity and specific needs for a student’s accommodations.
Animals brought on campus mostly include dogs and cats, with occasional guinea pigs and rabbits, Baker said. Mostly students bring animals that can be picked up and cuddled.
“Animals on campus must be able to be in community,” Baker said.
The first emotional support animal on Pepperdine’s campus came eight years ago, Baker said. The office has never dealt with any false cases of students requesting an emotional support animal, Baker said, due to the documentation required to bring one onto campus.
There is an equity issue, Baker said, revolving around students’ access to psychological professionals who are able to write the documentation needed for an emotional support animal.
“Many students who may need this [emotional support animal] are unable to go to a provider who would be able to write that documentation,” Baker said.
The OSA will work with students who have a phobia or allergy to a peer’s emotional support animals, Baker said.
“It was really important to me to make sure that they [roommates] were not allergic and just overall comfortable,” Condon said.
Housing and Residence Life will contact each individual in the assigned building to obtain an agreement to live with the animal, said Luke Bost, associate director for facilities and accommodations at Pepperdine.
“Resident directors and resident advisers are working together to work with the apartment in order to have a conversation about how this is going to work out in the residence hall,” Bost said. “This can include talking through any of the scenarios that may come up.”
Pepperdine allows emotional support animals in all residence halls on campus, Bost said, regardless if they are first-year students or graduate students.
“Through housing, they let everyone in the building know that there’s an ESA, but they don’t know who owns the ESA,” Figueres said.
In the fall 2022 semester, Figueres said, Matcha had a noise complaint to HRL and the Department of Public Safety had to get involved. Figueres said DPS politely checked in on the situation.
Figueres said her two suitemates have adored Matcha since she moved in.
“She supports us all,” Figueres said. “We all play with her and cuddle her — it really works out great.”
___________________
Follow the Graphic on Twitter: @PeppGraphic
Contact Kiera Hennigan via email: kiera.hennigan@pepperdine.edu
