Campus Council passed a resolution for a pilot program Thursday that would allow pets on Central Campus, said Vice President Alex Reese, a junior.
The program, designed to start next Fall, will allow 12 rooms on 205 Oregon Street to have a cat or a small caged animal. This week’s meeting took place in the Ubuntu common room on Central as part of a social gathering between Campus Council and Residence Life and Housing Services. The Chronicle did not attend the meeting.
Much of debate focused on whether the pilot program should also allow dogs that may be more problematic in terms of noise and damage control, Reese said.
Edens Quadrangle Representative Tommy O’Malley, a junior, said inclusion of dogs in the pilot program seemed appropriate.
“If we’re trying to create this environment on Central Campus, I felt that having dogs would be more of a community building feature than having only cats and small caged animals that would mostly be confined to the room,” he said.
Although the inclusion of dogs in the program is part of its ultimate goal, junior Elliot Johnson said dogs may present additional problems and risks to the pilot program.
“It would form a better foundation if we just get cats and small caged animals that are generally easier to maintain than dogs,” he said. “Dogs require a lot more attention and work and if something went wrong in one or two rooms with dogs it may endanger the entire program.”
Still, both O’Malley and Johnson agreed that the resolution is a positive initiative. O’Malley added that despite his preference for inclusion of dogs, he is in support of the resolution.
“This is definitely something we can set as a precedent and work with in the future to add dogs,” O’Malley said. “What we’ve done today is a great first step in augmenting residential life on Central Campus.”
President Stephen Temple, a junior, said that although he does not believe the pet initiative can single-handedly make Central as appealing as East and West campuses, it brings residents together.
“These types of initiatives forge a community around a common theme,” Temple said. “This resolution achieves two goals of making Central Campus increasingly appealing while fostering community at the same time.”