A few universities are opening dorms to pets, Ferris State became the latest
When Matt Schmoyer first went away to college, he missed his best friend, Pike.
He'd had lived with Pike, a 90-pound Golden Retriever, since he was a puppy, and it was heartbreaking, Schmoyer said, to have to leave him in Bay City with his parents. In addition, it also got stressful and lonely by himself, especially near the end of each semester.
But Ferris State University started its pet program this year, and the 21-year-old senior information security and intelligence major said he didn't have to say goodbye to his nearly 6-year-old dog. They moved in last week. And, Schmoyer added, his roommate has a pet too, a ball python named Teddi.
"It has been going great so far," Schmoyer told the Free Press on Monday while taking Pike on a walk. "I was thinking about bringing Pike in as an emotional support animal, but that requires filing paperwork and stuff like that, but then I got notified about about the pet-friendly contract."
Most colleges prohibit pets in dorms. Some allow aquariums, and a few — including one in Florida that holds an annual pet graduation — have been allowing students to bring furry and feathered friends as an enrollment privilege, especially as campus recruitment becomes increasingly competitive.
Ferris State's program, which made national headlines over the weekend, permits pets on one floor of Cramer Hall and is part of an effort by the Big Rapids school to appeal to students who, like Schmoyer, don’t want to leave their fur babies behind.
Pet friendly dorms
Ferris State, which started classes Monday, said pets also help students who may be struggling with depression, anxiety and homesickness.
"Students may really miss that dog they’ve had since they were a little kid, or that cat they got when they were 12 years old," Lisa Ortiz, Ferris State’s director of Housing and Residential Life, said. "Sometimes the answer is to bring a little bit of home with them."
In 2018, only about three dozen colleges nationally permitted pets in dorms, but more were considering it.
Eckerd College, in St. Petersburg, Florida, claims it was one of the first schools to offer housing to students and their pets in the early '70s. A private, liberal arts college, Eckerd now even offers its students even more, pet graduations.
In April, the college featured TaunTaun and Bantha, a pair of bunnies, online. The rabbits, and other animals, donned graduation caps and posed for pictures with the college’s president, James Annarelli. And the college posted a photo gallery of photos of student pets.
Overall, Eckerd said, more than 70 student pets, including dogs, cats, lizards and rats, participated in a ceremony that awarded them special certificates and prompted Annarelli to say the college "deeply values companionship across species."
Meanwhile, Stephens College — a private women's college in Columbia, Missouri — bills itself as the "pet-friendliest campus on the planet," touting that it has been "welcoming cats, dogs, birds and other pet friends to campus" for more than a decade.
"Here, we treat pets like royalty," Stephens College said online. "Come to the President’s office and pick up a doggy treat! Think you have the cutest cat ever? Dress him up and enter our pet costume parade during Halloween! Stephens is your home-away-from-home, and that means your pet is welcome here, too."
Ferris State's pet contract
Ferris State was founded in 1884 and was named after Woodbridge Ferris, who later became one of Michigan's governors and then, a U.S. Senator. The university got its nickname, the bulldogs, from a sports writer said the school basketball team's defense was "hanging on like a bulldog."
Before that, the sports team were called the Ferrisites, which sounded too much like parasites.
The story goes the basketball coach liked the sports writer's bulldog description so much that he started calling his team the bulldogs, and by 1931, the school decided to make it official: And the mascot became Brutus the Bulldog.
The school is now opening its doors — all of them in Cramer Hall ― to other dawgs.
Under the new rules, each student is permitted only one pet. Students must have had their pets for at least six months, so they can't go out and get a new puppy — or kitten. And they are required to have proof of shots and spaying and neutering.
They also pay an additional $250 for the privilege of having their pets on campus.
The university, which enrolls about 10,000, added that there is research to show some of the benefits to pet ownership, including companionship, better health and motivation to stay physically fit. Ferris State cited a study published in 2021 in the Georgia Journal of College Student Affairs.
Researchers at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas, concluded pet ownership could lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels. And, the Ferris State said, students who have pets in their rooms report decreased feelings of isolation.
And Ortiz told CNN, which reported Sunday on the university's announcement, the decision also was driven by students who wanted to bring their best animal friends to school with them. The university picked Cramer Hall, she said, because the flooring is vinyl, which is easier to clean than carpet.
Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: At some colleges, homesick students are allowed to move their pets in
