Requirements & Guidelines

Service Animal Requirements and Guidelines

Students who seek to have a service animal live in a residence hall must register with Student Accessibility Services; Employees who seek to have a service animal in the workplace must register with University Human Resources.
Proper licensure and vaccination information is required per Virginia Law. See Virginia Code Title 3.2, Chapter 65, Article 5.
Student Accessibility Services will coordinate with Residence Life on appropriate housing.
University Human Resources will coordinate with an employee's supervisor regarding the service animal.
Service animals are the full responsibility of the individual with the disability. The animal must be under the individual's control at all times.
Service animals must be harnessed, leashed, or tethered, unless these devices interfere with the service animal’s work or the individual’s disability prevents using these devices. In that case, the individual must maintain control of the animal through voice, signal, or other effective controls. Exceptions may be granted in an emergency situation when the animal is in individual's private residence, when the animal needs to perform a task requiring it to travel beyond the length of the restraint, or when the owner is unable to retain an animal on a leash due to a disability.
The individual with a disability is responsible for removing, or arranging for the removal of, the animal’s waste. This will result in placing the waste in a closed container and then removing the container to an outdoor trash bin.
Individuals may need to designate someone to help with clean up.
Individuals are responsible for any damage that is caused by the service animal.
If there is reason to question whether a dog is a service animal, University personnel may ask only the following two questions:
- Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability?
- What work or task has the animal been trained to perform?
University personnel may not ask questions about the nature of the individual's disability; require proof that the animal has been certified, trained or licensed as a service animal; or require that the service animal demonstrate the task it performs.

Emotional Support Animal Requirements and Guidelines

Emotional support animals may be permitted to live in on-campus housing if approved as a reasonable accommodation. Requests for emotional support animals to live on campus as a reasonable accommodation must be made to Student Accessibility Services with at least 30 days' notice and are reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
Emotional Support Animals are permitted to reside in University housing only after an accommodation has been approved.
Student Accessibility Services will coordinate with Residence Life on appropriate housing.
Emotional support animals are not permitted in other campus buildings unless a separate accommodation request has been approved. These requests are reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
Documentation is required for emotional support animal accommodation requests and must be submitted to Student Accessibility Services. For questions relating to the type of documentation needed and to submit an accommodation request contact Student Accessibility Services.
If approved to live in the residence hall, the ESA is the full responsibility of the individual, and they must be consistently in control of the animal. If the animal is not under control or poses a risk to the health or safety of others, then the individual may be asked to remove the animal.
The individual is responsible for removing or arranging for the removal of the animal’s waste. This will result in placing the waste in a closed container and then removing the container to an outdoor trash bin.
Individuals may need to designate an individual to help with clean up.
Individuals are responsible for any damage that is caused by their animals.
According to Virginia law, any animal that has reached a proper level of maturity must be licensed and must display a license on its collar at all times, as appropriate (dogs and cats, for example).
A valid vaccination tag must be worn by the animal at all times, as appropriate to the type of animal (dogs and cats, for example). Individuals need to make sure that the animal is kept as clean as possible. Regular bathing/grooming and pest control measures also need to be performed.

Questions about service or emotional support animals on campus may be directed to [[sas]] or [[reportconcern]].