ZOE HINES, Staff Writer— When I was given approval to bring my dog, Bentley, to campus, I imagined walking him all throughout campus and playing with him on the IM fields. I was not expecting to be told that he could only go around the teardrop of Denison’s north loop, where I currently live. Denison’s current policy regarding greenspace restrictions for emotional support animals (ESA’s) are limiting and lacks the flexibility necessary to examine the potential benefits of more animals walking around campus.
Denison’s ESA agreement states that animals that are taken out of the dorms must be, “leashed at all times and limited to the designated space for exercise and elimination of waste as defined during meetings with Residential Communities & Housing staff.” The space that we are designated to walk is limited to the north quad loop, which is a five minute walk total and roughly a quarter mile block. We are not allowed to walk through campus in any way and cannot go onto the IM fields. The rule is not only damaging to Bentley, who barely gets access to grass, but to other students as well because they miss out on the opportunity to interact with him.
In the four short weeks Bentley and I have been on campus together there have only been a handful of times that we leave the house and are not approached by another student that wants to say hi and pet Bentley. Researchers at Troy University emphasize how helpful animals can be in stressful environments, like college, claiming that they play an important role in treating and relieving mental health problems. I believe that there are many students on campus that could also benefit from emotional support animals that do not technically meet Denison’s criteria.
It is normal for college campuses to allow therapy animals on campus. Denison provides many university sponsored therapy dog events, so there is no denying that animals do help students with mental health. When service animals are not allowed on the majority of campus, I believe that we are missing an opportunity to support our students through animals that are already part of the Denison community.
Given that ESA’s are properly trained and their owners are responsible, Denison should have no problem allowing them on all parts of campus. I believe that by allowing Bentley, as well as other emotional support animals, on more parts of campus, we can help improve the well-being of students on campus.