On Hollins University’s campus, there are more service animals and emotional support animals to count. However, the accessibility services on campus has fallen short with providing resources for students with furry friends.

The dogs aren’t allowed in the tennis court, but there isn’t a gated play area for them to safely exercise.

The animals aren’t allowed to be bathed in the communal bathroom tub, and yet there are no designated in-door bathing areas.

The ESA’s aren’t allowed in communal spaces, but there are no accommodations for students to upgrade to a bigger room for free to comfortably fit a larger animal.

The ESA’s aren’t allowed in academic buildings, but there are no accommodations for students who have a packed school or work schedule and can’t leave their animals in the room for too long. And a lot of the housing on campus doesn’t provide air conditioning or heat in the individual rooms, which has caused ESA’s to get sick in the past, and the owner was forced to send them home.

We are expected to keep our service animals under control while balancing plates and cups in Moody, but aren’t allowed to leave them with a friend while we grab food.

We are expected to always clean up after our animals, but there aren’t enough trash cans on campus to dispose of the waste. And there is nothing more inaccessible than making people hike across campus to throw away a poop bag. I personally have been late to class because of this.

The accessibility services say they want us and our animals to feel safe, but then they allow random people with their reactive and aggressive dogs come on campus without supervision. Personally, my service dog has been barked at aggressively several times by the dogs of people who don’t attend Hollins.

The accessibility office claims that the dorms are dog friendly, but there isn’t one accessible stall in any of the bathrooms in Tinker Hall. I have to either leave my service animal in my room, or force her to stand outside the stall with the risk of her messing with people while I’m using the bathroom. 

How are these life saving animals supposed to do their job when they aren’t fully accepted on Hollins campus? 

When you sign this petition, you will be helping support our demands for a gated play area for dogs to exercise and socialize, a designated in-door bathing area for owners to clean their animals, at least one accessible stall in each bathroom in Tinker Hall, individual air conditioning units in all the rooms in the dormitories, more strict rules for visitors with reactive dogs, a daycare or designated area in the academic buildings for animals to stay while their owners are in class or at work, and an updated service dog policy that allows friends and/or staff members to help service dog handlers by holding a leash or supervising them for a few minutes if necessary, especially in Moody.

Besides this, we also want a student with disabilities to be the representative for the student body in the disabilities office. We need someone who understands our needs, and can be a spokesperson for us. 

Please help make our campus a more safe and accessible environment for all so people with disabilities can continue to thrive at Hollins for generations to come.