Housing Accommodations

Students seeking special housing and/or dietary accommodations should complete the following steps:

• Complete all Oakland University housing applications and meet the payment deadlines.
• Provide DSS with the Housing and/or Dietary Request form that has been completed by a licensed professional. This form needs to establish that the student has a disability and necessitates an accommodation. (If the request is a special diet, a diet prescription must be included.)
• The completed Housing and/or Dietary Request form and any additional documentation you have should be emailed to [email protected] or dropped off to the DSS office at 202 Wilson Hall.
• The DSS staff will review the documentation and determine if the documentation is sufficient or if additional information is needed to support the requested accommodation(s).
  • The student will be contacted if additional information is being requested. If a practitioner needs to be contacted, a release of information will be required.
  • If it has been determined that sufficient documentation has been submitted, the student will be contacted to schedule a virtual or in-person intake appointment.
• During the intake appointment, the interactive process will be followed, where the student will discuss their specific requests, and the documentation will be reviewed.
• After the intake appointment, the Housing Accommodation Committee, composed of representatives from DSS, Graham Health, OU Counseling and University Housing, will review the request and make a determination on the accommodation request(s).
  • If the committee approves the request(s), the student and University Housing and/or Dining Services will be notified via email. The email sent to the student will include detailed instructions on the next step of the process, which involves contacting University Housing for housing accommodations or Dining Services for dietary accommodations.
  • If the committee denies the request(s), the student will be notified via email. This email will include detailed instructions on the appeals process if the student chooses to appeal the committee’s decision. All appeals are reviewed by a committee chaired by the Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students (or their designee) and begin by completing the University Housing Accommodation Request Appeal Form within 10 business days of receiving the committee's denial.

Important considerations:

• Please do not make a building-specific request, but instead request the accommodation needed (i.e. first floor or building with air conditioning, etc.) A building-specific request is not considered a reasonable accommodation and cannot be evaluated by the DSS office.
• If housing/dietary accommodations are approved, they will be provided based on availability at the time of the request. 
• A request for an exemption from the residential meal plan will only be approved if the following condition is met: The student has a specific prescribed diet consistent with a medical diagnosis that cannot be accommodated by Dining Services.

Students with Food Intolerances or Food Allergies can successfully navigate the Dining Services of Oakland University.

• Food Intolerances
  A food intolerance is a response that takes place in your digestive system. It occurs when you are unable to properly breakdown food. Often, people can eat small amounts of the food without causing problems. Other times it may cause stomachaches and/or gastrointestinal sensitivities.
• Food Allergies
  A food allergy involves the immune system. Unlike a food intolerance, a food allergy can cause a serious or even a life threatening reaction by eating even a microscopic amount of a particular food, or touching or inhaling it. Symptoms are allergic reactions such as hives, itchiness, swelling, vomiting and diarrhea. Severe reactions can include Anaphylaxis which includes difficulty breathing, dizziness or loss of conscious. Without immediate treatment, this can be fatal.
• What Can You Do?
  Typically, if you have a food intolerance, you will want work with Dining Services to become familiar with and aware of the food choices available to you. If you have a food allergy, and it raises to level that it is disabling you from eating with Dining Services, you will want to register with the Disability Support Services. We will verify, through documentation you provide, the severity and nature of your allergy. We will then work closely with you and Dining Services to create a specific and individualized meal plan to meet your needs.
• Who to Contact
  If you have questions, you can contact either Chartwells Dining Services or the Disability Support Services Office (see below). They can provide you with information and direct you to the appropriate office.

Vandenberg Dining
Larry Haacke, Chef
(248) 370-3109
[email protected]

Hillcrest Dining
Ryan Louwaert, Chef
(248) 370-3954
[email protected]

Disability Support Services
202 Wilson Hall
(248) 370-3266
[email protected]

An Emotional Support Animal (ESA) is an animal that provides a therapeutic benefit to an individual with a disability. In order to bring an ESA into campus housing, the student must first obtain approval from the Disability Support Services (DSS) Office.

Students seeking an Emotional Support Animal must complete a multistep process.

• The student will need to provide documentation from a licensed psychologist, psychiatrist or therapist currently working with the student. The student must have an ongoing therapeutic relationship with the provider. The provider must fill out the ESA Request form for review. While it is preferable that this form be used as it includes all of the necessary information, a signed letter on professional letterhead from the individual's health care provider will be considered if it includes all of the following information:
  • The nature of the disabling condition or impairment
  • What major life activity is affected?
  • The provider's professional opinion regarding the relationship between the disability and the support that will be performed by the animal
  • What are the provider's qualifications for recommending an ESA?
  • What symptoms of disability the animal will alleviate that other measures will not
  • The provider's professional opinion regarding the necessity of the animal and why the student could not live in housing without it.
  • The provider's professional opinion regarding the impact that caring for the animal (financially and emotionally) will have on the student.
• The completed documentation should be emailed to [email protected] or dropped off in person to Wilson Hall, Room 202.
• The DSS staff will review the documentation and determine if the documentation is sufficient or if additional information is needed to support the ESA request.
  • The student will be contacted if additional information is necessary. If a practitioner needs to be contacted, a release of information will be required.
  • If it has been determined that sufficient documentation has been submitted, the student will be contacted to schedule a virtual or in-person intake appointment.
• During the intake appointment, the interactive process will be followed, whereby the student will discuss the ESA request, and the documentation will be reviewed. 
• After the intake appointment, the Housing Accommodation Committee, composed of representatives from DSS, Graham Health, OU Counseling and University Housing, will review the ESA request and make a determination.
  • If the committee approves the ESA request, an email will be sent to the student with detailed instructions on the next step of the process, which involves contacting University Housing.
  • If the committee denies the ESA request, the student will be notified via email. This email will include detailed instructions on the appeals process if the student chooses to appeal the committee’s decision. All appeals are reviewed by a committee, chaired by the Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students (or their designee) and begin by completing the University Housing Accommodation Request Appeal Form within 10 business days of receiving the committee’s denial.
• If the Housing Accommodation Committee approves an ESA, the student will be required to contact University Housing for the next step of the process. The next step requires a meeting between the student and a University Housing representative to review the procedures and guidelines for implementation of an ESA in University Housing.