Service & Assistance Animals

水果派AV解说recognizes the importance of service animals and emotional support animals to individuals with disabilities and has established the Animal Policy concerning the presence of such animals on campus.

Service Animals

As noted by Maryland Department of Health:

"Service animals are defined as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. 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. Service animals are working animals, not pets. The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person鈥檚 disability. Dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA."

Students seeking to bring their service animal to campus may be asked to participate in or submit the following:

  • Intake meeting with the Office of Accessibility (OAS) to determine: What work or task has the animal been trained to perform? Is the service animal required because of a disability?
  • Updated vaccination records
  • Animal registration

Emotional Support Animals (ESA)

Information for new (including transfer) students

New (including transfer) students seeking approval to bring their emotional support animal in the residence halls must participate in and submit the following:

  1. Email access@goucher.edu to request an intake meeting for disability accommodations.
  2. Participate in an in person or virtual intake meeting with a member of our team.
  3. Note: during the intake meeting, our team will request documentation from a licensed provider that indicates diagnosis and justification of need for the requested accommodation(s). Examples of documentation include: neuropsych evaluations, support letters, and/or medical documentation. It is preferred if documentation is dated within the last 4 years at the time of registration with our office.
  4. After documentation is reviewed and the intake meeting has occurred, housing accommodations will be finalized and communicated with the Office of Residential Life.
  5. Upon finalization, it is the student's responsibility to initiate a meeting with ORL (send an email to residentiallife@goucher.edu) to finalize ESA approval. This includes submission of updated vaccination records, responsibility and/or roommate agreements prior to bringing the animal on campus.
  6. Deadline: July 15 for fall enrollment and November 1 for spring enrollment. After these deadlines have passed, requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Information for returning students

If a student is already registered with OAS but seeks to explore additional accommodations due to a justified need, please email access@goucher.edu. Please note, all additional accommodations require an intake meeting and receipt of documentation.

Deadline: March 31 for fall enrollment and November 1 for spring enrollment. After these deadlines have passed, requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

ESA protocols

ESA accommodations must be renewed each year and do not automatically roll over. Students will receive corresponce from OAS (via email) indicating how and when to renew.

Additionally, students must:

  • review and follow the college's Aimal Policy.
  • follow adherence to .
  • provide proof of updated vaccinations.

The College does not discriminate in the provision of housing to students with disabilities. The College will provide comparable, convenient, and accessible housing to students with disabilities at the same cost as to others, and the College will make reasonable modifications to its housing policies, procedures, and practices when the modifications are necessary to avoid discrimination, unless the College can demonstrate that making the modifications would fundamentally alter the nature of the housing services provided by the College.