Animals on Campus

For safety questions, contact the campus disability services office to explore what is reasonable. Potential safety considerations could include the following:

• Research and Teaching Laboratories. Chemicals found in many labs could be harmful to animals. Organisms naturally found on most dogs or other animals could negatively impact the outcome of certain research.
• Mechanical Rooms/Custodial Closets. Such locations can have chemicals or machinery that could potentially harm animals.
• Surgical and Clinical Suites. These spaces may have heightened requirements for patient safety concerns and infection control standards.
• Other Potentially Dangerous Areas. Any room, studio, or classroom with sharp metal cuttings or glass shards on the floor; hot material such as molten metal; excessive dust; or moving machinery may pose a danger to animals.

Your campus disability resources office should be your first point of contact for any questions related to service or support animals. Each campus has a primary contact listed in the contact section of this policy.

Service animals (including service animals in training) are not required to have proof that the animal has been certified, trained, or licensed as a service animal. A person with an approved support animal accommodation is not required to carry documentation, but the supervisor (if the handler is an employee) or the Disability Resources Office (if the handler is a student) may be consulted.

Report violations of rules, regulations, and policies by phone at 866-294-8680 or online through UReport.

Report a safety concern to HSRM. Reports can be made anonymously.

The Minnesota Council on Disability (MCD) guidance, consistent with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), defines an animal as "in control" when the handler maintains control through effective means, and "out of control" when it is disruptive, poses a threat, or is not housebroken.