Emotional Support Animal Accommodations

To request an Emotional Support Animal (ESA) as a housing accommodation, please carefully review the information on this page. Upon completion of the DAI eligibility process and ESA application, your case will be decided by the ESA committee. Emotional Support Animal Application

URI Policy for Emotional Support Animals

It is the general policy of the University of Rhode Island (URI) that pets ARE NOT permitted in campus buildings or in URI housing facilities. This is known simply as the “no pets rule.”

In appropriate cases, URI will make a partial exception for a student with a disability to have an approved ESA as a reasonable accommodation for equal access. Such an accommodation would allow the student to keep an ESA with them in URI housing.

“Excluded Animals,” are not permitted as an ESA accommodation by policy. Excluded Animals are considered inherently dangerous or predatory, and include, but are not limited to certain snakes, dog breeds, birds, ferrets, insects, wildlife (including domesticated), large animals (over 30 pounds), and endangered species. URI and DAI reserve the right to make exclusionary determinations on a case-by-case basis.

When such an exception (reasonable accommodation) is granted, the student will be required to strictly follow the rules pertaining to animal control and student responsibility set forth in the URI Policy Entitled “Responsibility for Emotional Support Animals on Campus” (scroll to end of this page).

The ESA Application Process

To request an ESA housing accommodation, please contact DAI as early as possible, and BEFORE residence assignments are made. Please note that process participation, case review and committee decision may take a few week to complete, from start to finish.

Visit the New to DAI page, and follow the three eligibility steps, noting that:

All ESA documentation must come from an external, licensed provider who oversees the treatment of your diagnosed disability, and has an established relationship with you. The submitted documentation must contain detailed information on each of the eligibility criteria listed above. Most crucially, it must describe in detail, how one or more of life’s major functions are significantly, amply or substantially limited in the residential environment, and how no other means of intervention are available, necessitating the ESA as essential to your ability to have equal access to your housing environment. The ESA must be referred to by name and type in your documentation. Noting an impending, or approval-dependent purchase of an animal will result in immediate denial of the ESA application.

All ESA requests must include a completed and signed ESA application.

Please provide a photo and the current medical records of your ESA (applications without medical documentation will not be approved).

Once your request is complete:

The ESA committee will review your Intake Form, documentation, application, notes from your meeting with a DAI case manager, and optional student statement to determine if the ESA request meets eligibility criteria for a medically necessary, reasonable housing accommodation for the purpose of equal access.

You will be informed of the committee’s decision by the Director of DAI. The animal is NOT permitted to reside in campus housing until until HRL communicates final approval. Please note that DAI cannot influence the location of your housing assignment.

The student must comply with all HRL requirements, deposit/application procedures and deadlines, and behavior code policies regarding noise, cleanliness and conduct. Students are responsible for their animal’s care and behavior at all times, and under all circumstances, per the ESA Housing Agreement.

ESA Committee Process

The ESA committee’s determination is guided by compliance with the requirements above, as well as the following criteria:

• The student must demonstrate, through documentation, testimony and other evidence, that they cannot access their living and learning environments but for the requested exception of having the ESA reside with them.
• The student must demonstrate through their documentation that NO other means or methods, such as medication, counseling, other housing accommodations, interventions, crisis response mechanisms or treatments, or any combinations of the aforementioned adequately manage or ameliorate the symptoms of their disability in the context of housing. If such other means and methods, or combination of means and methods, ARE available and effective, then no exception will be granted.
• The medical or psychological documentation presented must be from a licensed provider who is specifically overseeing the treatment of the diagnosed disability, and are NOT employed by the University of Rhode Island. The provider must be actively overseeing the ESA as a prescribed treatment method, and evidence of this must be present in the documentation they provide. Primary care physicians, online ESA support services (regardless of credentials) or medication prescribers are inadmissible providers.

Student Responsibility for Emotional Support Animals in Residence Halls at URI:

The following policies are pertinent to approved ESAs at URI.

• The approved ESA is allowed to reside with the student in their residence hall and is allowed to be taken outdoors anywhere on campus grounds where students are allowed to go.
• The ESA is NOT permitted in any academic or administrative buildings, athletic facilities, or laboratory settings (including URI farms, chemistry labs, etc).
• URI is not responsible for the care or supervision of the ESA.

The following policies will be strictly enforced, and violations are subject to the URI Student Conduct process. The ESAs owner is responsible for the cost, care, and supervision of ESAs, including:

• Compliance with any laws pertaining to animal licensing, vaccination, and owner identification;
• Keeping the animal under control and taking effective action when it is out of control; feeding, walking, and disposing of waste; waste disposal via university plumbing or indoor trash containers is prohibited. Waste must be recovered, bagged, and placed in an outside trash container.
• URI will not require any surcharges or fees for an ESA in the residence halls, because it is a disability-related accommodation. However, the animal’s owner will be charged for damage caused by an ESA to the same extent that URI would normally charge any person for the damage they cause to university property.
• People with disabilities who live with ESAs must comply with all university rules regarding noise, safety, disruption, and cleanliness.
• In all cases, the owner of the animal will agree to hold harmless the University of Rhode Island for any damage or any injury to others caused by their ESA.
• If necessary, the removal of an ESA, with all necessary cleaning, repairs and/or pest control will be done at the expense of the responsible resident.
• At least annually, or upon request, the student must register the animal with DAI and HRL representatives, and must provide veterinary evidence of health, and vaccination status according to Rhode Island statute.
• The student resident will be permitted to have no more than one ESA.
• An ESA must be housebroken (i.e., trained so that it controls its waste elimination, absent illness or accident)
• The emotional support animal must be kept under control by a harness, leash, or other tether at all times.