Millikin University faces a federal discrimination lawsuit accusing the college in Decatur, Ill., of forcing a legally blind student with epilepsy to move out of her dormitory in 2006 after she obtained a service dog.
The lawsuit, announced on Thursday, was filed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on behalf of Catherine Nielsen, a student at Millikin during the 2005-6 academic year. She had been living in the university's largest dorm, which was fully accessible to people with handicaps, when she was approved for a service dog. Such dogs are specially trained to detect early signs of epileptic seizures and alert their owners, as well as protect them from injury if a seizure occurs.
According to the lawsuit, Ms. Nielsen had previously asked the university's director of residential life about the dog and had been told that getting such an animal would not be a problem.
When the dog was delivered, however, university officials asked Ms. Nielsen to move to another dormitory because the college was concerned about other students' allergies, according to legal documents in the case, and she was told she could not enter her former residence at all if the dog were with her. (The suit alleges that no students in the dormitory had allergies and that it had sophisticated air filters that could have prevented any problems.) After living at her mother's house with the dog, she moved to another dormitory, which was less accessible than the original one.
The suit alleges that Ms. Nielsen suffered "inconvenience, discomfort, stress, and increased incidents of epileptic episodes" after the move. It is unclear if she graduated from the university.
In a written statement, a Millikin spokeswoman, Amy Hodges, said the university had acted appropriately. Ms. Nielsen's original dormitory had been designed for students with respiratory problems, she said.
"The university has gone out of its way to make reasonable accommodations for the needs of both the students and their service animals in the past, and will continue to do so in the future," she said.
If Millikin loses the suit, it could be forced to pay damages, including Ms. Nielsen's medical expenses and compensation for "emotional and physical distress," and a $16,000 penalty, according to the case documents.
Comments
1. 11134193 - October 02, 2009 at 06:36 pm
11134193
Millikin U. needs a good arbitrator or negotiator in situations such as this one. It appears that both parties are wound too tightly! There are more situations coming. Incidents of special needs are growing, and putting up a special building for each malady is not possible for most institutions. Colleges can expect similar legal
requests and accommodations must be made with contract-type written agreements to be adhered to on both sides. This one, in court, may open the flood gates! Get ready.
Stan Wollock, William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ.
2. uwfuwf2008 - October 02, 2009 at 11:05 pm
If legitimate use of service dog, M U has blown it.
3. smithmic - October 03, 2009 at 12:21 am
She asked the university about the dog before getting it, and was told it wasn't a problem. Then she's asked to move afterward? Yes, MU has blown it.
I could understand her being relocated (due to a legitimate allergy problem, not a "what if") if she had not cleared it with the director of residential life first. But it seems she tried to follow proper procedures.
4. mbelvadi - October 03, 2009 at 07:41 am
What if the residential life didn't know about the student with an allergy until after she got the dog? After all, why would the other student bother to tell the admin ahead of time that she's allergic to dogs when she moved into a dorm that didn't have any? This might be a case of two different students both entitled to ADA protection and with mutually exclusive needs. Then one or the other just has to move. That might not turn out to be the case in this particular situation, if the second student didn't actually exist, but we all know that kind of conflict is coming eventually as ADA has been expanded to cover more and more needs.
5. evergreeners - October 12, 2009 at 01:01 pm
It would be nice to see the service-animal industry bring more hypo-allergenic dogs into service. Allergies are a common reaction to service animals.