Chesapeake College is committed to promoting full participation and equal access to college programs and activities for individuals with disabilities, and to complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act. According to these commitments, service animals are permitted on campus for persons with disabilities. As part of this commitment, policies, and procedures will ensure that persons with disabilities are not subjected to discrimination or denied full and equal access to programs offered by the university based on their disability.

A service animal is a guide dog or signal dog individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, as defined earlier in this document. A service animal meeting this definition is not required to be licensed or certified by a state or local government or animal training program.

Chesapeake College allows service animals in all buildings, classrooms, meetings, dining areas, recreational facilities, activities, and events when the animal is accompanied on campus by individuals with a disability or who indicate the service animal provides a specific service to them.

Service animals are allowed to accompany their handlers at all times and everywhere on campus, except in areas where specifically prohibited due to health, environmental, or safety hazards (e.g. mechanical rooms, machine shops, custodial closets, laboratories).

The ADA does not require service animals to wear a vest, ID tag, or specific harness. The handler is also not required to carry a specific identification card for the service animal.

When it is not obvious what service an animal provides, only limited inquiries are allowed:

  1. “Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability?” and
  2. “What work or task has the dog been trained to perform?” Staff cannot ask about the person’s disability, require medical documentation, require a special identification card or training documentation for the dog, or ask that the dog demonstrate its ability to perform the work or task.

Members of the college community who have questions or concerns regarding the behavior of a service animal or the presence of a service animal in a college facility should not direct their concerns to the individual or handler. Rather, direct all questions or concerns to the Office of Accessibility Services.

Service animals are not required to be approved through any accommodation process.

Individuals with disabilities and service animal trainers who are accompanied by an animal being trained or raised as a service animal have the same right as individuals without disabilities to the full and free use of the roads, sidewalks, public buildings, and public space. Under MD law, service animals in training can be excluded if admitting the animal would create a clear danger of disturbance or physical harm to an individual in the place. 2017: MD Human Services Code § 7-705 (a) (4).