Pets on Campus

No more sneaking in your cats and dogs. This semester, more college campuses are accepting pets--other than goldfish. Yes, now even the warm-blooded ones can come too.

Let's be honest: Every one of us has fallen victim to the stresses and struggles that college life presents. But imagine how tough coping would be without your closest companion by your side.

When absorbed in the pressures of demanding coursework, relationship issues, and homesickness, many students consider their pets to be a stabilizing comfort and a necessity for campus-life.

Indeed, recent studies have shown that pets provide a therapeutic comfort for many college students living away from home. Pets have not only evoked a more positive day-to-day demeanor in many students, but have improved their overall health as well. For these reasons, a number of colleges across the country have created separate living communities for pet owners. And so far, these programs have thrived. 

Kyle Gruber is one of the many success stories. A junior at Missouri State University, he lives with four roommates in his one-bedroom dorm. Tight quarters? Not really, considering that two of his roommates sleep on the floor.

"I live in one of the ‘Pet-Wings' that my school established a few years ago. I live twelve hours from home, so having my two cats with me makes it seem like I'm not so far away from my family after all."

Gruber notes that to many people's surprise, these pet wings have experienced few problems. 

"Sure, I can hear my floormate's dog barking at night sometimes. But I chose to live here, as did everyone else on the floor. It's silly to keep people from having pets if everyone in the building is in agreement with basic ground rules that keep the peace."

However, these policies are far from becoming identical nationwide. For most colleges, the current policy only allows students to keep fish as pets. Yet, even this option presents limitations: Although the type of fish you bring is optional, I doubt that a big-mouthed bass, catfish, or (for all of you serious ichthyologists out there) a shark would be too cozy due to the 25-gallon tank limit.

Seeing-eye dogs are also permitted in some residence halls and apartments, which raises much debate with pet owners wishing to room with their four-legged friends as well.

This goes to show that amidst all domestic animal restrictions, dogs continuously catch the toughest break. In particular, UCLA's extensive policy on pets includes an entirely separate section for the restriction of dogs, with 9 independent clauses outlining the restraints and requirements that students must abide by when living with their best friends. Why? Issues of sanitation, noise, and unwanted allergenic reactions are all outlined in these rules, making it increasingly difficult for pet owners to provide affective arguments that could modify or overturn them.

Separate from these concerns, the largest argument preventing colleges' transformation into pet-friendly campuses is the issue of safety. When in an unfamiliar territory, pets can become hostile or aggressive, and the potential injuries that can result from attacks are a big monetary risk for schools to consider.

These accidents, albeit extreme, are situations that college administrators must take very seriously in an attempt to protect its current students and positively market their school to potential freshmen and transfers. Several other schools across the nation have strict policies surrounding this issue, and due to the potential controversies that threaten the overturning of these traditional rules, they aren't open to much debate.

This enforcement has remained stagnant over the years, prompting many pet-enthusiasts to resort to other options. What do they do, you ask? Simple: they sneak their pals in. Although risky, the illegality of these actions seems to be irrelevant to most pet-lovers, who claim that the benefits they receive are well worth the risk.

"I snuck my hampster into my dorm my first semester on campus," said Paige Hamilton, a sophomore at Rutgers University. "My school's Residential Life staff is pretty lenient with the enforcement of rules; my pet didn't make a lot of noise and we kept our room clean, so they had no good reason to be suspicious or patrol our halls."

Nevertheless, opinions vary greatly on all campuses, making the formation and continuation of pet-regulating rules very difficult.

Ithaca College sophomore Stephanie Cicalese expressed a rather practical stance on the issue: "Do you see this dorm room? Clothes everywhere, dirty dishes here and there... I do miss my pets, but I have enough issues taking care of myself, let alone another living thing!"

Rowan University sophomore Holly Bartkevicus shared a somewhat split mentality. "I think it all depends on what kind of pet you have and how well the person takes care of it. Here where I am, the people below me live with and train seeing-eye dogs, but they're really quiet and I hardly ever hear them bark. Still, if pets were on campus, I think the college would need strict rules and regulations for it."

Her indecisive view seems to reign supreme amongst most students. Many careful considerations need to be taken into account before a school enacts an altering policy such as this one, especially the desires and concerns of the campus body as a whole. Although establishing pet-friendly sanctions in certain dormitories is a rudimentary plan on paper, the obstacles that these living areas present are reasons enough for most schools to dismiss such policies with little or no argument.

True, the debate over allowing pets in dormitories can become frustrating, riddled with differing rules and regulations that are bound to dissatisfy some students no matter what stance is taken.

However, schools that have established reasonable rules allowing pets and students to live harmoniously have flourished. And if these trends continue to rise, more howls and barks from pet-loving students may result in new policies for a number of campuses nationwide.