Higher Education Going To The Dogs: University To Cough Up $145K To Settle Fair Housing Suit Alleging Student w/ Psychological Disabilities Was Denied Request For Emotional Support Pooch In Institution-Owned, Student-Occupied Apartment Complex

In Kent, Ohio, The Washington Post reports:

• “Emotional support dogs” will now be allowed in student housing at Kent State University, which has settled a civil rights lawsuit brought by the U.S. Justice Department claiming the school discriminated against students with psychological disabilities.
  
  Banning pets for all students, the 2014 lawsuit alleged, could violate federal law prohibiting discrimination in housing.
  
  Colleges across the country are grappling with this issue, as more students with mental illnesses are able to attend university, and as families are increasingly likely to ask for accommodations. But it’s complicated for school officials as they seek to help students with documented real need without making others uncomfortable.
  
  “It’s a real balancing act,” said Allan Blattner, who hears a lot about this issue in his role as president of the executive board of the Association of College & University Housing Officers – International, and deals with it himself as director of housing and residential education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
  
  “What if there’s a roommate who has an allergy,” to the pet, he asked, “Who moves? If there’s damage from the animal —
  
  “If it’s a cat, it’s one thing, but all kinds of different animals have been approved. Ferrets, miniature ponies — all kinds of things.”
  
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  The university would pay $100,000 to two former students who were not allowed to keep a dog in their university-owned apartment, $30,000 to a fair-housing organization that advocated for the students, and $15,000 to the U.S., if the settlement is approved in district court.

For more, see There is a dog in this fight: College to allow emotional support animals after Justice Department alleges discrimination.

See also, Kent State University agrees to $145,000 settlement of federal lawsuit over assistance animals:

• The federal lawsuit arose following a complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development by Jacqueline Luke, who had sought to live with a dog following a university psychologist's recommendation that the animal would help alleviate her anxiety.
  
  Luke, who has been diagnosed with anxiety and panic disorder, moved into a two-bedroom apartment in the university-owned Allerton Apartments in fall 2008 with her husband, Brandon. She began having panic attacks in 2009 and was treated in the university's health services office.
  
  She requested a housing accommodation for an "emotional service animal" in December 2009. The couple learned two months later, after acquiring a dog, that the request was denied. They moved.
  
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  The $100,000 would be paid to Luke and her husband.