5 Cent Cigar, Housing and Residential Life in national news

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RhowdyRam02
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5 Cent Cigar, Housing and Residential Life in national news

Unread post by RhowdyRam02 »

On Thursday, April 9th, The Good Five Cent Cigar did a feature story on Mike LaPolice, a housekeeper in Peck Hall, and his husky Ivy who accompanied him to work. http://rhodycigar.com/2015/04/09/therap ... ntial-joy/ Ivy is a registered therapy dog, though it seems from the article that Ivy is certified in general and not for a specific condition to help Mike.

Later on Thursday, after the article came out, Jeff Plouffe, associate director of HRL ordered LaPolice to leave with Ivy for the day without pay and that LaPolice would only be welcome back on Friday if Ivy was not accompanying him http://rhodycigar.com/2015/04/10/popula ... ence-hall/.

Well the story of what happened has hit a few websites. Most notably, College Media Matters has the story and an interview with Cigar editor-in-chief Allison Farrelly. http://www.collegemediamatters.com/2015 ... ence-hall/
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Re: 5 Cent Cigar, Housing and Residential Life in national n

Unread post by TruePoint »

I will say up front that I know nothing more about this situation than what RR02 posted here, and sometimes there is an "other side to the story" which clears up misconceptions and paints the story in a different light.

But this seems like another example of rules fetishists run amok. It seems like grown up hall monitors are becoming more and more of a common thing, and there is no reasonableness or thoughtfulness in making or enforcing rules, just blind allegiance to whatever somebody else wrote down at some point and rigid and stubborn insistence on applying those rules no matter how ridiculous the result in any particular instance may appear.

This kind of reminds me of something I read about a few weeks ago, where a school enforced a ban on wearing varsity letterman jackets against a special needs student who was emotionally attached to his. Just seems like anyone who would take a step back would recognize the absurdity in enforcing these (well intentioned) rules in a given scenario, which makes the rigid insistence on enforcing them in all cases just infuriating.
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Unread post by rodfromcranston »

Sounds like a petty bureaucrat pulling a power play.
Therapy dogs are widely used in PTSD cases for former
military, among other uses.
Service dogs are a wonderful thing, and need access to be anywhere
their owners are.
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Unread post by Taylor Swift »

TruePoint wrote: This kind of reminds me of something I read about a few weeks ago, where a school enforced a ban on wearing varsity letterman jackets against a special needs student who was emotionally attached to his. Just seems like anyone who would take a step back would recognize the absurdity in enforcing these (well intentioned) rules in a given scenario, which makes the rigid insistence on enforcing them in all cases just infuriating.
Reading things like this AND what happened to Ivy and her owner make me really sad. It's like "well, there's a rule"... that someone probably came up with 20+ years ago and isn't applicable anymore.

I wouldn't see any harm in this man having his therapy dog with him, Huskies are a VERY friendly and smart breed. I am sure the dog's presence is very welcomed by the students in Peck, too. I do know of other situations of dog owners who have their dog as a therapy dog for their anxiety, etc.. Sometimes I also think discussing mental health is still so taboo in those cases.

It seems like the gentleman in this story just wants to brighten up people's day? I also read he had to go a day without pay. I really hope that this isn't the case. I am sure his union will make sure he gets paid regardless.
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Unread post by RhowdyRam02 »

I'm like you in that I only know one side of it, the side from the articles I posted. It doesn't appear from the articles that the dog helps the owner in anyway, such as being a seeing eye dog. Is having the dog at work interfering with the owner getting his job done? If so, that's certainly a valid reason for wanting the dog gone and HRL would never be able to comment on job performance. Also there is mention in at least one of the articles that at least one resident has a problem with the dog's presence. In some of the comments the student is portrayed as being vindictive, but is that fair? What if they're allergic? What if they had bad experiences as a child and are scared of dogs? What if they simply don't care that much for dogs? Why do they have less of a right to feel comfortable than the worker?
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Unread post by TruePoint »

I haven't done a deep dive into the articles you posted, but the title of the Five Cent Cigar article specifically refers to the dog as a "therapy dog." That is obviously coloring my perception of what happened.
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Unread post by RhowdyRam02 »

In the articles it says the only way the dog could come on campus is to be registered as a therapy dog, so the owner did that. The dog doesn't seem to currently provide therapy for the owner as best I can tell from the articles, and the owner has said if HRL doesn't change their stance then he'll go seek out a doctor, presumably to say that he needs the dog to act in the capacity of therapy dog for which it's registered.
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Unread post by Taylor Swift »

http://www.uri.edu/news/releases/?id=7446

This was just posted. Looks like they had told him numerous times to NOT bring the dog in. I think having a dog on campus is a great idea, but I also understand it from the university's perspective in terms of sanitation, etc.
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Re: 5 Cent Cigar, Housing and Residential Life in national n

Unread post by TruePoint »

RhowdyRam02 wrote:In the articles it says the only way the dog could come on campus is to be registered as a therapy dog, so the owner did that. The dog doesn't seem to currently provide therapy for the owner as best I can tell from the articles, and the owner has said if HRL doesn't change their stance then he'll go seek out a doctor, presumably to say that he needs the dog to act in the capacity of therapy dog for which it's registered.
I guess this is the flip side to what I was saying before. If people weren't always trying to skirt rules just for the hell of it, there wouldn't be such rigid hardasses on the other side hellbent on not ever giving an inch on any rule ever. I love dogs and my personal belief is that if you don't like dogs you have something seriously wrong with you, but I don't try to bring my dogs to the office. If this guy doesn't need a dog with him and just likes his dog a lot, then he is really doing a disservice to people like the special needs students who wasn't allowed to wear his letterman jacket in an indirect way.
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Unread post by Rhody74 »

Interesting.

My wife and I are involved in raising puppies for Guiding Eyes for the Blind, which provides service dogs for visually impaired people. We know a student at URI who volunteers as well. Colleges are great places to raise GEB puppies because of the wide socialization experiences they provide. When the student wanted to raise another puppy in campus housing, she approached Plouffe about it and he gave her a very difficult time. It required the intervention of President Dooley to allow it and now there's a student organization that is involved with GEB.

Makes me wonder about Mr. Plouffe's priorities.
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Unread post by Taylor Swift »

Rhody74 wrote:Interesting.

My wife and I are involved in raising puppies for Guiding Eyes for the Blind, which provides service dogs for visually impaired people. We know a student at URI who volunteers as well. Colleges are great places to raise GEB puppies because of the wide socialization experiences they provide. When the student wanted to raise another puppy in campus housing, she approached Plouffe about it and he gave her a very difficult time. It required the intervention of President Dooley to allow it and now there's a student organization that is involved with GEB.

Makes me wonder about Mr. Plouffe's priorities.
Interesting....about Plouffe.

Guiding Eyes is a great organization. The work that these service dogs do is so heartwarming.
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Unread post by twisted3829 »

I believe Ivy is a registered therapy dog but is not Mr. LaPolice's therapy dog (as in provides a service to Mr LaPolice). I can see both sides of the case and it's kind of a thin line URI is on.
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Unread post by Ramulous »

Some people who do not need a therapy dog still get their dogs labelled as such because they want their dog with them.....it diminishes the plight of those who really need a service animal......

....it seems to me like getting a card to be able to smoke weed.....
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Unread post by Rhody74 »

Sadly, Ramulous, you're right. Fake therapy dogs ruin it for those who truly need one. I believe groups like Guiding Eyes, Seeing Eye and other guide dog schools are trying to get an official certificate approved for genuine guide dogs.
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Re: 5 Cent Cigar, Housing and Residential Life in national n

Unread post by ATPTourFan »

It's sad, but I can understand the University's position stated in their official release.
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