NO PETS ALLOWED

Despite the benefits of pet ownership, College policy expressly forbids pets in dorms.

The issue is addressed in one unequivocal sentence in the Handbook for Students: “No student may keep an animal in a building owned or leased by the College.”

Administrators cite several reasons for forbidding animals in the dorms.

“A concern, obviously, is the health issue. People might be allergic,” says Katie W. Steele, director for freshman programming. “Also, the health of the pet: Is a college dorm really the best place for it?”

During his time as resident dean of Lowell House, Secretary of the Administrative Board John “Jay” L. Ellison says that one student requested to keep a dog in her room.

“We just felt that having a dog in the House was not appropriate,” Ellison says. “Students are allergic to dogs and some are scared of dogs, and this is a place for [students] to be comfortable.”

Ellison adds that the transitional nature of student life is ill-suited to pet ownership, saying that some students have abandoned pets when they left for the summer.

Freshman proctors and resident tutors—who live at the College year-round and usually have larger rooms—are allowed to keep pets in their suites.

While administrators agree that pets are verboten for students, there is no clear penalty for students caught with pets in their dorms.

Dean of Freshmen Thomas A. Dingman ’67 says that if a resident dean were to learn of an animal in a dorm, the first response would be “to make sure the pet has a new home.”

In addition, Dingman believes that the student might receive a Dean’s Warning—a disciplinary sanction which is reported to the Ad Board but requires no further action from the board.

In the case of the Lowell student with the dog, Ellison says that the student agreed to move off-campus in order to keep the pet.

He says that such cases only reach the Ad Board if the student refuses to cooperate with the House’s request to remove the pet.

Bryan J. Martin ’12 and James W. Nitze ’12 have experienced the College’s reaction to a pet firsthand. During his freshman year, Nitze purchased two chinchillas at a cost of about $200 each, he says. About a month later, he added two turtles to his dorm room menagerie.