Faith Karwacki
Staff Writer
Spring has finally come to Troy’s campus, yet one of my favorite sights is missing—students and their dogs playing out on the quad and enjoying the beautiful weather.
Due to several complaints, the Office of Student Services has decided to ban pets from all campus areas that have heavy traffic.
I have never once seen an animal behave aggressively on campus, nor have I heard of any dogs behaving in a threatening manner towards other students, faculty, or visitors.
Enjoying a day of Frisbee and fetch with your pup on the quad is one of the finer aspects of the campus experience.
Visit any other college campus this time of year and you’ll see students jogging, playing, or walking with their dogs.
The city of Troy is a small area with very few public amenities.
There is no local dog park for students to use as an alternative to taking their dogs to campus and the remainder of the city lacks sidewalks along the roadsides.
Furthermore, animal behaviorists have proven time and again that dogs who are active and introduced to environments with other people and pets develop better socialization skills and are markedly less aggressive than dogs who are inactive and not social.
This new policy is only exacerbating the problem it wishes to remove.
If anything, the university should look to meet students halfway with this issue.
As Austin Coots, a junior information systems major from Hartselle, suggested in last week’s news story about the policy, clean-up bags and disposal bins could be placed around campus for pet owners to use.
Students could also be issued fines should they neglect to clean up after their pets or keep them on a leash.
My fellow Trojans, I urge you to speak up if you take issue with this policy and contact the Office of Student Services to see what sort of changes can be made to the policy so that you may enjoy the university conveniences you pay to use.
