Title: Service Animals
Number: AP 3.08
Adopted: November 2016
Reviewed: July 2023
Revised: December 2023
Nicolet College recognizes and supports the assistance a trained service animal can provide an individual with a disability. Service animals are allowed within College facilities utilizing the following guideline.
Definitions
Service Animal: In accordance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), College policies allow for the use of service animals by an individual with a disability. A service animal is defined as a dog (or, in certain circumstances, a miniature horse) that has been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability.
Work or Tasks: The work or tasks performed by a service animal must be directly related to the individual’s disability. Examples of work or tasks include but are not limited to assisting individuals who are blind or have low vision with navigation or other tasks, alerting individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing to the presence of people or sounds, pulling a wheelchair, assisting an individual during a seizure, alerting individuals to the presence of allergens, retrieving items such as medicine or the telephone, providing physical support and assistance with balancing and stability to individuals with mobility disabilities, and helping persons with psychiatric and neurological disabilities by preventing or interrupting impulsive or destructive behaviors. Utilizing the animal as a crime deterrent or for emotional support, well-being, comfort, or companionship are not approved reasons and do not constitute work or tasks per this definition.
Control: A service animal must be under the control of the handler at all times. A service animal shall have a harness, leash, or other tether unless either the handler is unable because of a disability to use a harness, leash, or other tether, or the use of a harness, leash, or other tether would interfere with the service animal’s safe, effective performance of work or tasks. In either case, the service animal must be under the handler’s control (e.g., voice control, signals, or other effective means).
The College reserves the right to remove a service animal from the premises if:
- The animal is out of control, and its handler does not take effective action to control it.
- The animal poses a direct threat to the health and safety of others.
- The animal causes substantial physical damage to property.
- The animal would pose an undue financial and/or administrative burden for the College or would fundamentally alter the College’s ability to deliver services, programs, or activities
- The animal is not housebroken.
If the College properly excludes a service animal, it shall give the individual with a disability the opportunity to participate in the service, program, or activity without having the service animal on the premises. Effective alternatives will be examined with the individual to accommodate access.
The College is not responsible for the care or supervision of a service animal.
Procedure
For the use of a service animal at Nicolet College will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
Students:
Contact the Accommodations Specialist with your request.
Employees:
Contact the Human Resources Department with your request.
We encourage students with service animals to connect with Disability Support Services. An employee needs to make a request in advance of the attendance of a service animal in the work environment. Upon determination of eligibility, contact will be made with the supervisor to notify them of the appropriate accommodation.
The following questions are the only two allowed to be asked will be considered in regard to the individual’s access to programs and services.
- Is the animal required because of a disability?
- What work or task the animal has been trained to perform?
The College will not make these inquiries about a service animal when it is readily apparent that an animal is trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability (e.g., the dog is observed guiding an individual who is blind or has low vision, pulling a person’s wheelchair, or aiding with stability or balance to an individual with an observable mobility disability).
Allergies and fear of dogs are not valid reasons for denying access or refusing service to people using service animals. When a person who is allergic to dog dander and a person who uses a service animal must spend time in the same room or facility, such as in a classroom, they both should be accommodated by assigning them, if possible, to different locations within the room or different rooms in the facility.