campus pet policy trouble

RE: Re: RE: campus pet policy trouble

well, we found a potential loophole that may give us at least extra time until they do something about it. apparently in some states the laws concerning pets label any pet that lives inside a self-contained environment to not be a pet but property. thus they're subject to a different rule. check your local and state laws for anything like this where you're going to college. so far our search of our own states laws have been fruitless, but we've neither turned up anything saying yes they are pets or no they are not. i don't like to think of them as property...but this is a convenient loophole if true for at least a while. it has given us an opportunity to bring our friend's lawyers into this, as they're looking this stuff up now because they have a little better access to this stuff than we do, lol, be back later w/more updates

 

Baller, I'd also be interested in which school you're talking about when you say herpetology school.

 

i havnt really been following this thread...but all i have to say is what a DUMB rule, i mean, comon, there no real threat to anyone...im not staying in rez next year because of that rule

 

it is a dumb rule :-S. even if we win this fight i'm still moving off campus next semester, because the list of other dumb housing regulations at this school (and apparently most schools) are too numerous to name...and i'm tired of dealing with all of them. and some of them are dumb not because they're pointless, but they're just written very stupidly. like the on campus drinking rule, which states that in the row houses (the places i live) that drinking isn't allowed unless everyone in the house is over 21, but then 2 sentences later says that drinking IS allowed in rooms where both roommates are 21! wtf mate!? lol, sorry, digressing a bit there. just saying, to anyone who is on their way to college, get ready for this kinda stuff :-s. it's apparently rather nation-wide.

 

thats cool about the loophole. that is the way most leases for rental properties are...animals that are kept in self-contained environments are not considered "pets" and you dont need to pay a pet fee to keep that animal in the rental property. i know a lot of people who wanted to get a pet, but didnt want to pay a pet fee, so they got fish, reptiles, or some rodent that they could keep in a tank.

and yeah, campus rules are insane and stupid. i had to go through a nightmare mess to get off campus. the housing admin said i had signed a contract for 2 semesters. i didnt, our housing is paid by semester and you sign a lease each semester. in the end, i had to claim i was too poor to afford to live on campus so they dropped the case and i moved off campus. they really just wanted my money and when i proved i couldnt pay them, they let me go. pretty ridiculous huh?

 

I feel the need to play a little devil's advocate here. Mostly cause I'm bored, but also because I'm good at it
The rules regarding pets are set up to satisfy both the comfort and needs of all students in the dorms, and to reduce damage/housekeeping bills as much as possible. Keeping reptiles in the dorms often requires the keeping of live insects and/or rodents in the dorm. Big problem if either gets out. Then there are issues like some peoples' snake phobia to keep in mind. And the safety of the other people. If you allow snakes, do you allow all snakes or just some? How about lizards? An adult iguana can do some bodily harm if it so chooses, and a large snake can kill someone. So you'll have to set size limits, which is still going to piss off some people. My mother has a snake phobia and would not be able to live down the hall from someone with a snake. In those cases the university is forced to relocate someone, which is a painful process and often can't be done quickly enough for the affected party.
As for booze, don't complain. We had a dry campus, so it wasn't even an issue. The age thing is there to protect the school from legal issues. If you get caught providing alcohol to minors, the school is safe from recourse because of the rules you broke. You however, are screwed.
Yes, dorm life sucks and is loaded with restrictions. But it's just a fact of life when you go to college. But you do gain some valuable experiences, one of which is learning how to compromise with others and adapt to non-ideal situations. And in your case, a couple bad owners may have ruined your chances. The fact that a snake already got out and freaked out a bunch of people is not going to help, along with the aquarium gravel in the sink.
My advice is to deal with it for a year, then move off-campus. Give it a shot, as the friends you make in the dorm may very well last for years to come.

 

you do raise some good points, DaCubs, but they are issues we're addressing. we realize we can't make everyone happy, and arent' going to try to. what we want to pitch are changes in the roommate agreements, and pet registration that will tell the university the who has what and whether or not they can handle them successfully. if someone brings in something outside of that or doesn't register, then fine them. we just want it to go back to the way it was, anything that had to live in a tank under 30 gallons is okay, anything outside that is not. this rules out most things like iguanas, monitors and larger snakes. we're not supporting having venemous pets, or snakes in general for that matter, sorry to anyone who has them who's been watching this thread :-S. nor mammals of any kind or birds. i hate to be too blunt, but, we're not stupid. we're having a council meeting between the administrators of the group tonight, going over our main goals and concerns, and sometime next week we'll put out petitions and flyers and hold a group meeting for anyone to come and express their own concerns and viewpoints.

i'm not knocking dorm life, i'm just saying there could be a little more thought to some of these things. i've had a blast so far living in the dorms, and have indeed made the best friends i've ever had. i'm just saying that this year we've done nothing but run into one problem with our housing department after another. but the list is far too long and irrelevant to go into. we agree with fines if owners do something negligent, such as letting their pet get out. honestly...i really shouldn't go into all of it here, we should have the website outlining our goals up sometime next week, lol. i'm not attacking you, DaCubs, and i apologize if i came off that way, just many of us on this campus feel very strongly about this issue, not just me, and we see a chance to actually get something done. determination, compromising and perseverence, just more stuff i'm learning from dorm life, right? lol.

and also dealing with it is not really an issue. if the school finds out about them it's a 250 dollar a day fine until they're gone, and i have no place for them to go...so my choices ARE move off campus or change the rules...

 

I know you're not attacking, don't worry. Just making sure the other side was seen, but it's clear you guys have already done that. Sounds like you're on the right track and on being pretty rational and reasonable about it. Lots of people react differently and go after a school with unreasonable demands. I could tell a little story from Purdue involving a hunger strike and lots of famished, defeated hippies, but this is not the place. The school was doing the right thing, the group were just being unreasonable and lost.
As long as you show the housing dept that you guys are being reasonable and are willing to act rationally, you may get somewhere.
I kinda miss the dorms some times. "Free" meals, friends around constantly, running around like morons at all hours of the night. I don't miss all the sobriety and not having my own bathroom, though.

 

My snake lives with me in the dorms. =) At my school the rule is that we can have anything "small and easily cageable" as long as we submit a pet registration form with the signatures of any roommates and the dorm president. The dormitory affairs committee votes on the forms just in case someone's roomie and prez agree that it's ok for them to have an anaconda or something. =P Part of the pet registration involves agreeing to accept responsibility for any damage...smells or otherwise...that the pet causes.

 

Wow, that's really gotta be stressful. I'm planning on going to my local college next September. I just have way too many pets to leave them behind. And why go so far if my program is available right here? It's not like I need to stay on campus to make friends. Half my current friends go there anyway! I just love how things work out lol.

 

::thinks of taking yavie out of her 60g and putting her in a 30g::

Nope, I don't think that would work too well...

Again GL with everything!

 

*sad sigh* i know what you mean...Baby is already out growing her 30g, which is why i'm moving off campus anyway next semester. we should be ready fairly soon, w/in the next couple of weeks to finally present our case. we're gonna have an in person forum w/students across campus to come and express their concerns and wants, and see hat can be worked out there. mostly something to show that we really do have the support of the student body to the school. anyway, thanks for hte wishes of good luck, will be back w/more updates soon.