Ashland University’s housing accommodations staff recognizes that living away from home can be hard on students’ mental health. To combat this, some students request to house an emotional support animal (ESA).

AU is the home to about 20 different animals aiding students in their mental health.

Abby Righter, Director of Residence Life, stated, “College is a time of a lot of transition. For some students, having that ESA, that other being, to provide some comfort and support is really important.”

Righter mentioned that having an animal who depends on you, can help motivate students to persevere and excel in their everyday lives on campus.

A specific ESA on campus is a german shepherd, boxer mix, named Lennon, belonging to Mckenna Cline, Senator of Academic Affairs.

“I think ESA’s are important because when I come back from class or senate, I just know that he’s waiting for me. It feels like I always have a constant friend who is always happy to see me,” Cline said.

Cline also believes that Lennon has helped her learn how to take on more responsibilities and give her a soul purpose everyday.

Additionally, ESAs are not limited to selections of different types of dogs and cats.

“You can have an emotional support hamster, you can have an emotional support snake, lizard, whatever animal provides you with that calming effect because of their presence,” Director of Accommodations Silvia Henriss said.

Along with Lennon, another ESA on campus is a brown rabbit named Meatball. Meatball belongs to Grace Bapst, junior at AU.

“I got her during my spring semester of my sophomore year. I decided to get her because I started to lose motivation and she kind of gave me a purpose to get out of bed and go do things,” Bapst said. “She is that living thing that I find comfort in that will always be there.”

If a student at AU wants to own an emotional support animal, there is a detailed process they need to go through.

“I will send out the housing accommodation packet and I will also send out the emotional support animal policy and procedure. All emotional support animals on our campus must be cleared by a veterinarian and we must have them in good health,” Henriss explained.

The forms needed for owning an emotional support animal can be found at ashland.edu/student-accessibility-center. All information for learning more about ESAs at Ashland can be found on the main AU website under the accommodations section. For more information, all questions can be directed toward Silvia Henriss.