Justice Department, KSU reach settlement involving housing discrimination

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department today announced that Kent State University has agreed to pay $145,000 to settle a civil-rights lawsuit alleging the university had maintained a policy of not allowing students with psychological disabilities to keep emotional support animals in university-operated student housing.

Under the settlement agreement, which must still be approved by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, KSU will:

• pay $100,000 to two former students who sought and were denied a reasonable accommodation to keep an emotional support dog in their university-operated apartment.

• pay $30,000 to a fair-housing organization that advocated on behalf of the students.

• pay $15,000 to the United States.

• adopt a housing policy that will allow people with psychological disabilities to keep animals with them in university housing when such animals provide necessary therapeutic benefits to such students and allowing the animal would not fundamentally alter the nature of the housing.

“This settlement shows the department’s continued and strong commitment to ensuring that students in university housing are afforded the protections of the Fair Housing Act,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Civil Rights Division. “Those protections include accommodations for students with disabilities who need assistance animals in order to have an equal opportunity to enjoy the benefits of university housing.”

“Kent State University is to be commended for reaching an agreement that will benefit its students,” said U.S. Attorney Steven M. Dettelbach of the Northern District of Ohio.

The proposed settlement would resolve a lawsuit filed by the department in 2014.